Woman Of...
Aniela Wesoły wishes to express her true identity as a trans woman, but that’s easier said than done in Poland, a conservative country with limited protections for her kind. This journey will take over 40 years, with her nation’s own identity shifting around her.
Come to the May 13 screening for a chance to win tickets to TRANSlations, the Seattle Trans Film Festival!
The road to self-knowledge can be long and full of both joy and sorrow. For one trans woman in a hostile land, it will take decades of sacrifice and strife to find what is missing in her life: acceptance. We meet male-presenting Andrej (played first by Mateusz Więcławek and later Małgorzata Hajewska) in restrictive 1970s Poland and follow her unrelenting transformation into Aniela, the true version of herself. What follows is an emotionally powerful and nuanced look at the political and familial tribulations LGBTQ members endure for gender recognition and the strength it takes to challenge the perception of the world you were born into. This compassionate portrait is full of wonderful performances, most notably Małgorzata Hajewska’s, whose physical evolution manifests before our eyes. Woman Of... challenges you to behold the possibility of the power of kindness and humanity, but only if you are brave enough to take the journey.
—Sandra Woolf
- Original Language Title: Kobieta z...
- Director: Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
- Principal Cast: Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Joanna Kulig, Mateusz Więcławek, Bogumiła Bajor, Franciszek Englert
- Country: Poland, Sweden
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 132 min.
- Producer: Klaudia Śmieja- Rostworowska, Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień, Katarzyna Jordan-Kulczyk, Gregory Jakilevitsch, Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
- Screenplay: Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert
- Cinematographers: Michał Englert
- Editors: Jarosław Kamiński
- Music: JIMEK
- Filmography: Szumowska and Englert: Infinite Storm (2022), Never Gonna Snow Again (2020), The Other Lamb (2019), Mug (2018), Body (2015), In The Name Of (2013), Stranger (2004), Happy Man (2000); Szumowska: Never Gonna Snow Again (2020), Mug (2018), Body (2015), In The Name Of (2013), Elles (2011), 33 Scenes from Life (2008); Englert: Never Gonna Snow Again (2020), Body (2015), In the Name Of (2013)
- Language: Polish
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Memento International