Ewa Smal

Editor

June 19, 1949 (77 years)

Berlin, Niemcy

Biography

Ewa Smal (born June 19, 1949) is a Polish film editor. Two-time winner of the Film Editing Award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and winner of the Polish Film Award, the Eagle Award for Best Editing (and three-time nominee). Member of the Polish Film Academy. In 2016, she was awarded the Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.

Filmography

8.5

Dekalog

The Ten Commandments, exact and uncompromising, literally cast in stone, continues to provide a source of moral conflict in contemporary society. In the ten part collection of films, The Decalogue, Krzysztof Kieslowski examines the dilemma of fundamental sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens.

7.3

Europa Europa

A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.

6.6

Sara

Sixteen-year-old Sara's father is a wealthy gangster and has a lot of enemies. Her father makes clear that whoever touches Sara will die and he looks for the right bodyguard to protect her.

7.8

A Short Film About Love

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

7.1

Tato

Tato is the story of a divorced father fighting for the right to raise his 7-year-old daughter. When his marriage falls apart, he decides to kidnap his daughter rather than let the court award custody to his mentally ill wife, whom he deems unfit to raise their child. But as he quickly finds out, it’s easier to be a real man than it is to be a real father.

7.9

Decalogue V

Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver, brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief for Piotr the injustice of killing of any kind.

N/A

Inheritance

Krister, a middle-aged Swede of Polish origin, has been retreating from the modern world. His life, on a small island near Stockholm, has turned into an uneventful slow death. His memories of Poland, a country he visited during his teenage years, are just as sad. The only reason he goes back is because he inherits a cottage in the Polish countryside. When he arrives in Warsaw, Krister is surprised by the city's modern infrastructure and by its outward signs of wealth. The butcher's shop he used to go to is now a sex shop, and his teenage friend Grzegorz is now a very respectable eye surgeon and gay. Krister is in for an even bigger shock as he meets twenty something Ewa. Krister thinks he is falling in love with her, which gives him a new zest for life. His discovery that she is a porn actress only adds to his obsession until he learns that their meeting is no accident, she is his daughter.

7.6

A Short Film About Killing

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

7.8

Decalogue IV

A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.

7.6

Day of the Wacko

It is a bitter story about a middle-aged man, who hates his life and other people, including himself. Adam Miauczynski, the character known from director Marek Koterski's previous films, is a 49 year-old teacher, who reads poetry during school lessons and later goes home swearing and calling his neighbours' names. The worst pain for him is the next 5 minutes of living. He doesn't accept himself and even everyday contacts with others cause his aggression. Though constantly dreaming of a romantic love, he is not bold enough to make his dreams come true. The desperate Miauczynski personalizes our own fears and obsessions, which have become so visible recently.

3.7

Enak

The astronaut Charles Enak refuses to come back to Earth after completing a mission in orbit. While he also refuses to give any explanation for his behaviour, the world enters its biggest crisis since the Cold War. As journalists try to find out more about Enak and his backstory in communist Poland, they discover that he possesses the ability to influence people's sub-consciousness.

6.6

7 Emotions

Fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, envy, shame. Adaś Miauczyński goes back to his childhood days when, like most of us, he used to find it problematic to name the emotions that accompanied him. To improve the quality of his adult life, he decides to return to that time – which proves not so carefree after all – to learn how to experience the seven basic emotions. This extremely unpredictable journey into the past features an abundance of hilarious, even comical, situations but is also filled with lots of touching moments and food for thought.

8.1

Decalogue I

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

7.9

Decalogue X

Jerzy and Artur’s father dies, leaving behind a valuable stamp collection, which, they discover, is coveted by dealers of varying degrees of shadiness. The more involved the brothers get in their father’s world, the more dire and comical their situation becomes.

6.4

Nastazja

Andrzej Wajda's Japanese-language film based on the last chapter of Dostoevsky's Idiot, in which Prince Myshkin and Rogozhin return to the past in a conversation over the dead body of Nastassya Filippovna. Bando Tamasaburo, regarded as one of the most outstanding female impersonators in Japanese theater, plays the dual role of Myshkin and Nastassya.

7.3

Decalogue VIII

Zofia, a professor of ethics, is visited by Elżbieta, an American researching the fate of Jews who survived World War II. A daytime classroom conversation turns into a night of confrontation, and Zofia is forced to answer for a decision she made decades ago that directly affected the course of Elżbieta’s life.

7.1

Korczak

The story of Polish pedagogue Janusz Korczak and his dedication to protecting Jewish orphans during the war.

7.5

Aquarium

Film based on the book of Viktor Suvorov, a former Soviet military intelligence officer. The story of the strange friendship between the two GRU officers. That relationship began in the Soviet military range where daring young officer Witek action drew the attention of Colonel Kravcov. With the protection of Colonel Witek gets to the interview. Price to be paid for this "favor" is the total loyalty to his patron.

7.1

Decalogue III

It’s Christmas Eve, and Ewa has plotted to pass the hours until morning with her former lover Janusz, a family man, by making him believe her husband has gone missing. During this night of recklessness and lies, the pair grapple with choices made when their affair was discovered three years ago, and with the value of their present lives.

7.5

Decalogue IX

Roman and Hanka have a loving marriage, but his impotence has led to her having an affair. The unbearable situation drives Roman to extreme measures both physically and mentally, testing their love and his own will to live.