“Women Lockdown” is a social-film project that with the help of stories told by five women (Anna Maria Szymkowiak, Agata Wittchen-Barełkowska, Anna Orska, Natalia Stefaniak, Joanna Rubin), try to find an answer to the question of how important it is to follow one’s own path and how the reality around us affects the points we are in.

The film’s starting point are conversations with five women who, by making conscious life decisions, have trodden paths that reflect their desires and built connections that help them, despite many barriers, find and pursue their passions. Although each of them comes from a different world, what they have in common is that at the centre of their stories are “the way” and “passion”.

– What resonates most from these conversations is that passion is linked to the path, to gathering experience, to learning sometimes again and again, to trying things out. There is inspiration, joy, happiness, but there is also frustration, a sense of loneliness or rejection. Particularly important to me were the words of one of the interviewees, who spoke about the courage to fall over, to fail. That not all our attempts have to end in success, but they are nevertheless crucial in achieving it, which can be understood in different ways – says the director and producer of the film Agata Nawrocka.

The title of the film is a response to how some Women feel today due to social, religious and cultural contexts. The reference to “lockdown” is meant to remind us of how we all felt during the so-called hard lockdown in 2020. It is also meant to make the Audience realise that some people feel this way throughout their lives.

The short documentary “Women Lockdown” is accompanied by five extended interviews in which Viewers will find a continuation of the stories outlined in the film. We talk to: social activist, President of the Akceptacja Foundation, Anna Maria Szymkowiak; Doctor of Humanities, researcher and President of the NU Foundation Agata Wittchen-Barełkowska; jewellery designer Anna Orska, founder and head of the MUG software agency Natalia Stefaniak and Joanna Rubin, journalist associated with the editorial team of TVN24Biznes.

Premiere

The premiere of the film took place on 25. 10.2022 at the Palace Cinema in the Zamek Cultural Centre in Poznań as part of the Poznań Women and Poznań Women’s Week. It was accompanied by a discussion with the filmmaker, Agata Nawrocka, and the film’s protagonists Anna Maria Szymkowiak, Natalia Stefaniak and actress Monika Chudziak. The main sponsor of the project is the SOLAR S.A. brand. The event was realised with the support of the City of Poznań and Estrada Poznań, and hosted by Jane Knap.

Just one month after its official premiere, the film “Women Lockdown” was noticed by the first festivals, including ShortedFilm Festival (Shorted Film of a Day), Berlin Indie Film Festival (Official Selection) and Hollywood’ s Monthly Film Festival (All Awards Winners, Dramatic Shorts).

The film is available for the hearing impaired and with Audiodescription.

Let’s Talk – continued

The next stage of the project, after broadcasting the material in a dedicated virtual space, is the festival screenings and panel discussions and podcasts with psychologists, sociologists, entrepreneurs, artists.

In the discussions, we will look for answers to how social and economic contexts affect the way we live our daily lives: how does the narrative around us affect the way we think about ourselves, our needs, our possibilities? Do we feel we need to have a role, and if so, how do we find ourselves in it? Finally, how do we define and what do we feel when we think about “path” , “passion” and “fulfilment”?

It is no coincidence that the form of writing appears: Wo/Men Lockdown. Men also play an important role in the project. Although we will not see their profiles in the film itself, we find a common place in the discussions, and they also appear in the stories of the Women themselves.

After all, in the 21st century we are more numerous and better connected to each other than ever before.