Szumowska & Englert Complete 'Bodies (of War)'
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- Bodies (of War) completed production, with directors Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, documenting the Ukraine war’s impact.
- Małgorzata Szumowska began filming in Lviv shortly after the Russian invasion, following wounded soldiers at a rehabilitation center.
- Michał Englert served as cinematographer and noted the shift to Warsaw as fighting intensified, prompting the team to find new subjects.
- Millennium Docs Against Gravity will host the film’s competition premiere in Warsaw on May 8.
- Dana Vitkovska is a Ukrainian transgender multidisciplinary artist in Warsaw whose story of rebuilding identity amid bureaucracy is featured in the documentary.
- Open Group is a Ukrainian contemporary art collective that represented Poland at the Venice Biennale and uses artistic practice to transmit war trauma, with one member staying in Ukraine to fight.
- Lviv veterans at a rehabilitation center are shown rebuilding physical and psychological strength, providing an “unexpected form of heroism” highlighted by the filmmakers.
Why it matters: The documentary amplifies the voices of wounded Ukrainian veterans, a transgender refugee, and avant‑garde artists, giving them international exposure while offering Polish and audiences a visceral, human‑scale portrait of the war’s lingering societal wounds. The film’s premiere at a Polish documentary festival ensures the stories reach critics, curators, and policymakers, shaping cultural memory and influencing artistic responses to conflict.
