Ukrainian director Kamila Boichenko and producer Iryna Asonova received awards at the 41st Warsaw Film Festival.
As part of the Warsaw Next program of the Industry Days section of the 41st Warsaw Film Festival, Boychenko received the Polish Filmmakers Association Special Award for the best project, Czarna Chusta (Black Scarf).
The award includes a cash prize of 8,000 Polish zlotys.
The film Czarna Chusta is a poignant story about the fragility of human relationships, intimacy, and survival in times of moral and emotional decline.
The jury praised the film for its deep emotional honesty, courage in expression, and relevance of the theme, calling it a work that “transforms silence and pain into a powerful cinematic statement” and reminds us that empathy can be an act of resistance.
The film tells the story of 45-year-old Lesya from Kherson, who finds herself in a Polish camp for displaced persons with her daughter. Convinced that her husband is dead, she gradually becomes close to her former friend Maria, a widow who has learned to live without pretense. Their need for support and human closeness grows into a deeper connection that challenges conventional notions of love and fidelity.
