DER BREITENGRAD DER LIEBE

“Cold War” (Poland, 2018) by Paweł Pawlikowski begins in 1949 in the Polish countryside. The musician Wiktor travels through the villages with a recording device, collecting folk songs for a state-run folklore ensemble. At the auditions he notices Zula, a young woman with a past and an unruly voice. The two become a couple as the ensemble turns into a showcase for the regime. On a guest performance in East Berlin in 1952, Wiktor plans to flee to the West – Zula fails to come to the meeting point. Over fifteen years and stops in Paris, Split and Warsaw, the two keep finding each other again and losing each other again.

Pawlikowski dedicated the film to his parents, whose story served as its basis. Shot in black and white and in an almost square format, “Cold War” is a love story told in ellipses: what lies between the chapters is left out. Pawlikowski won the award for best director at Cannes in 2018. The film opened Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2018, in the Opening Night section.

Shown at the 2018 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2018 · Film Archive