Jerzy Czachowski

In the basement of the Academy of Fine Arts building in Warsaw, a club-restaurant called "Eufemia" is being created. The place begins to gather young people with artistic ambitions, becoming the center of their lives. It quickly gains a reputation as a unique spot on the artistic map of the entire country. That is until it has to be closed... Then the regulars of "Eufemia" begin to collide with the reality that exists outside this safe haven. Through depicting two parallel time frames, the film shows the protagonists both during their time spent in Eufemia and several years later - in completely different places, with different dreams, and under entirely different life circumstances.

Jerzy Czachowski’s atmospheric and darkly comic short deftly explores themes of guilt and paranoia. An unnamed couple furtively bury a casket, only to have their secret exposed by a local farmer. From this sparse premise, Czachowski digs into Poland’s troubled attitude towards abortion, property rights, and heteronormativity.

Alina is in Kyiv, taking a French lesson online. Outside the sirens are sounding, and she keeps conjugating. On the other side of the screen, in Paris, her teacher checks the time and would rather end the call and go to dinner. As the lesson unfolds, their conversation becomes more than an exercise in vocabulary: for her it is a fragile refuge and a way to stay connected to another person, for him an encounter that quietly unsettles the comfort of his everyday life.