In Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida, a dark family secret dating back to the Nazi occupation of Poland may alter the future of a young novitiate nun.
Pawlikowski sets the stage in 1962 as Anna — an orphan brought up by nuns in a Polish convent — is a novice planning to take her vows. Before she can do so, her only living relative Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. The revelation sends both women on a journey to discover who they really are and unearth their family’s tragic history.
Ida won numerous awards including Best Film at the 2013 London Film Festival and the 2014 Polish Film Awards, as well as the International Critics’ Award at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
Following the screening in the DGA Theater in Los Angeles on October 15, Pawlikowski discussed the challenges of making Ida in a conversation moderated by Global Cinema subcommittee Chair Victoria Hochberg (The Chris Isaak Show).
A Polish-born, UK-based filmmaker, Pawlikowski’s other films include the documentaries From Moscow to Pietushki, Dostoevsky’s Travels, Serbian Epics and Tripping with Zhirinovsky, the movie for television, Twockers, and the BAFTA Award-winning features Last Resort and My Summer of Love.
The DGA Special Projects Global Cinema subcommittee members are: Victoria Hochberg (Chair), Jon Amiel, Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Drake, Alexander Payne, Barbara Roche, and Arthur Allan Seidelman.