Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s first feature film, “The Lure,” was recognized as the best debut at the 2015 Polish Film Festival. “The Lure” has received numerous awards at festivals worldwide, including Sundance Film Festival, where Smoczyńska received the Special Jury Prize for “a unique vision and design.” Smoczyńska was a recipient of the Global Filmmaking Award at Sundance this year.
“Fugue” will premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on May 15.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
AS: “Fugue” tells the story of a woman who lost her memory and does not want to get it back.
W&H: What drew you to the story?
AS: One day, the writer and the lead of the film, Gabriela Muskala, told me how she kept thinking of the face of this one woman she saw on TV. She was on a show about missing persons. [The woman] had no idea what her name was, or where she came from. Suddenly, during the show, the woman’s phone rang, and the voice on the other end of the line said that he knew her. The man said he was her father. The woman apparently had a husband, and a child. She listened in complete shock. She couldn’t even recognize the voice that claimed to be her dad. She had no idea she had a child.
Together with Gabriela, I decided to find this woman and tell her story. We were dying to know why she had this sudden amnesia, and why her closest relatives never looked for her until that one day when the show aired. We both have daughters, and I know that the love for a child is the strongest love that there is — and that’s why I was wondering how it might be possible for someone to forget about their kid.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
AS: I want people to really understand the choice that [the main character,] Alicja, has made. I want them to imagine what it would be like if that happened to them — if they forgot who they are, and who their family is.
I would hope they would wonder about the definition of humanity: what makes us human beings if, with losing our memory, our personality changes? Not only do we lose the knowledge about who we are, but we also lose the feelings that we have for our loved ones.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
AS: I didn’t want to just make a plain psychological drama, so for a while I was wondering how to tell this story in a way that would allow the audience to really come close to Alicja’s experience — how to find the balance between the reality and fiction.
I knew that I needed to make a film that would utilize many genres to create a rich tale about not just this amnesia, but also about fear, depression, and rebirth.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
AS: “Fugue” is a small budget film – 1.32 million Euro [or about 1.6 million USD]. In Poland, we have the Polish Film Institute where you can apply to receive up to 60 percent of a production’s budget. We also got some funding from the distributor MG. Finally, my producer, Agnieszka Kurzydło, found co-producers in the Czech Republic and Sweden. At that point, we were eligible to receive additional money from Eurimages, and we were approved.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Cannes?
AS: Cannes is undoubtedly one of the most important film festivals in the world, and for me it is an unimaginable honor to be invited. The last time a movie directed by a Polish woman director was in competition was 38 years ago. It was Agnieszka Holland’s “Provincial Actors.” For nearly 40 years, we haven’t had any Polish female directors in Cannes. So it does feel like an important shift for Polish cinema.
W&H: What’s the best and the worst advice you’ve received?
AS: Worst advice: “Don’t ever try to become a director. This is not a job for a woman.”
The best advice: “Always do your own thing.”
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
AS: Don’t ever give up on building your personal life. Just look for ways to find balance between life and work, help each other all the time, and do your own thing. Do what you want to do.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
AS: The first one is Věra Chytilová’s “Daisies.” That film helped me understand that you need to constantly cross boundaries.
The second is Agnieszka Holland’s “Provincial Actors,” the first important Polish film directed by a woman.
The third one is Jane Campion’s “The Piano,” because of the first scene which is a stunning vision. “The Piano” made me realize that film can be poetry.
W&H: Hollywood and the global film industry are in the midst of undergoing a major transformation. Many women — and some men — in the industry are speaking publicly about their experiences being assaulted and harassed. What are your thoughts on the #TimesUp movement and the push for equality in the film business?
AS: It’s a shift in the right direction, like many movements that are now bringing women, their rights, and their say to the forefront. The fact that the profession of a director has been perceived for so many decades as a man’s job is a total misconception. Why has it even been positioned in that way? It never made sense to me. Women, just like men, are excellent artists, and directing has been practiced by women since the inception of cinema. Lack of this understanding comes from the same place as lack of the understanding that women are excellent leaders and visionaries. Power suits us just as well as [it does] men.
We have been denied that power for the same reasons that we have been denied power in other areas of our lives — from being paid equally to even having the same opportunities. Some more traditional men have a hard time being led by the women, and this movement – as well as others – is changing that. We are changing.
An assault on anyone, [including] using power to humiliate women in this industry, and stalling their careers because of their lack of consent to do as they are told, is a crime, and we have to talk about it and fight it.
