Agnieszka Zwiefka : 2014
The Queen of Silence
Ten-year-old Denisa is in many respects an outsider: she and her family, who are Roma people, have settled close to a neighbourhood in the city of Wrocław where they are not welcome. She is also a girl in a community where men rule the roost, and she is deaf, which is the reason why she never learned to talk. The cause of her condition is unknown, as she has never undergone a medical examination. In spite of it all, Denisa is an outgoing, playful and sociable girl who loves to dance: the one way that she can express the emotions she can't express in words. She passionately loves to dance in the style of the stars of Bollywood musical DVDs she found in a garbage bin. While her community visibly struggles with poverty, exclusion and racism, Denisa dances among scavenging chickens, dogs and children in the improvised camp, and also during heart-warming intermezzos in which Denisa for once is the focus of attention. Then one day she gets a hearing aid, and hears for the very first time. The film follows Denisa and her family through several seasons, and it becomes clear that even the children understand grown-up problems here. They know exactly how hostile people within the European Union are towards those who have no ID, no education, no work and no permanent residence. Agnieszka Zwiefka's feature-length documentary premiered in competition at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2014, and was winner of the Czech Radio Jury Award when it screened in competition at One World International Human Rights Film Festival 2015.
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