Synopsis

Extreme poverty, constant presence of police forces, segregation, isolation, and disgrace. This is what constitutes the everyday life of Polska Roma - a group of Romani people living in Poland. This is where a ten-year-old Denisa lives with her family, and the sordid state of life in the community is not the only trouble she is faced with. As a child she lost hearing and hence never learned to speak. Although she can more or less express thoughts with help of sounds and gestures, it is only when she finds a DVD with a Bollywood movie in the trash that she, taken by the film’s rhythmic beats, learns to put the most complex feelings into her own choreography. Eventually there shines a ray of hope for the girl and her wildest dream of being able to hear again gets fulfilled with help of medical aid. Nevertheless there are not only positive consequences that follow. Talented director Agnieszka Zwiefka created out of The Queen of Silence a very moving and poetic, as well as entertaining and thought-provoking story that reveals the grave fact of discrimination of Roma communities in Europe still existing. Masterfully performed sequences of Bollywood dancing which help Denisa flee from crude reality, are one of the strongest ingredients that make the movie absolutely exceptional.

Guests

Agnieszka Zwiefka

Agnieszka Zwiefka 
Director, writer, producer, cinematographer Queen of Silence 
In Vienna: October 8-11