Capo / Permit

PL 2025, 90 mins, ori­gi­nal ver­si­on with German and English sub­tit­les, Dir: Robert Kwilman / Screenplay: Robert Kwilman, Malwina Górecka, Kirk Kjeldsen / Cinematography: Kasper Lorek / Editing: Ming-Wei Chiang Cast: Daniel Felipe, Jimenez Vaquez, Ivan Sharan, Josiana Costales, Justa Beatriz Blanco Rojas, Alejandra Herrera, Victor Venecia Fuentes, Gerson Isai Lam Lopez, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Michał Balicki and others

A group of men and women from Latin America are dri­ven in a small mini­bus to a remo­te part of the Polish coun­try­si­de. There, they are pre­sen­ted with con­tracts writ­ten in a lan­guage they do not under­stand, in which the 3,500 dol­lars pro­mi­sed back home have sud­den­ly beco­me 3,500 zło­ty. Worse still: they are forced to hand over their pass­ports and, ins­tead of working in a hotel, the­se con­tracts bind them to mono­to­no­us, gruel­ling work in a butcher’s shop. They are also fleeced for extra money for the shab­by hos­tel, and health and safe­ty is a for­eign con­cept. What was plan­ned as a stay to earn money soon feels like a pri­son with forced labour.
Robert Kwilman brea­thes new life into social cine­ma in the style of Ken Loach and skilful­ly employs his tech­ni­ques. In the style of a docu­men­ta­ry, with a shaky hand­held came­ra, wit­hout music or arti­fi­ci­al light­ing, he brings us as clo­se as pos­si­ble to the film’s tra­gic heroes, who soon ask them­sel­ves: should they sil­ent­ly endu­re this bla­tant inju­s­ti­ce, rebel, or flee? Without sugar-coa­ting any­thing, Kwilman por­trays a Poland that has trans­for­med from a coun­try of emi­gra­ti­on to one of immi­gra­ti­on, with all its dark sides. [Rainer Mende]

12 September / 8.00 pm / fsk Kino / Guest: Robert Kwilman
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