Veteran director Jerzy Skolimowski returns in triumphant form with this lovely tale of animal life. Sometimes harsh, sometimes sweet, always beautiful, EO tells the story of a donkey and its journey through a world dominated by humans. As the film begins, EO is living a happy life as part of a circus, performing alongside Kasandra (Sandra Dryzmalska). When animal-rights protesters disrupt the situation, the poor creature is shipped off to Italy; the rest of the film portrays its subsequent adventures, which include becoming part of a petting zoo, getting involved in a Polish soccer game, and encountering a countess.
As certain readers might have gathered by now, EO is an homage to Robert Bresson’s masterpiece Au hasard Balthazar. Though their methods are different, Bresson and Skolimowski both use their animal protagonists as litmus tests for humanity, with their varying treatments showing the best and the worst in us. Where Bresson is austere and suggestive, Skolimowski is emotive and lyrical; this is a wonderfully moving film.
Prix du Jury (tied), Cannes 2022
Community Partner
Hola, Tako, Marietta, Ettore, Rocco, Mela, Sandra Drzymalska, Tomasz Organek, Mateusz Kościukiewicz, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Isabelle Huppert
Poland/UK/Italy
2022
In Polish, English, French, and Italian with English subtitles
Animal Cruelty
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
You Had to Be There
In a strange quirk of fate, the legendary Toronto '72 production of the musical comedy Jesus hit Godspell launched a constellation of comedy stars, all unknown at the time but now known to us as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, et al
House of Hope
"House of Hope" is the name of a Waldorf elementary school near Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, founded by Manar and her husband Milad. This documentary follows their efforts to go about their lives before, during, and after the events of October 7.
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
Alex Gibney's doc relates the near-lethal attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022, the writer's painful rehab and recovery, and his reflections on life before, during and after the publication of The Satanic Verses.
The Sandbox
Borders are the faultlines of the world. Kenya-Jade Pinto's doc examines how modern surveillance technology, bio-metrics and AI are combining to make land and sea borders as impenetrable as air travel, and suggests the unspoken cost is our own humanity.
Atonement
A former Marine suffering from PTSD seeks a meeting with the Iraqi family to which he did great wrong ten years earlier in the Gulf War. Atonement navigates challenging, politically-charged psychological territory with diligence and sensitivity.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
Credits
Executive Producer
Jeremy Thomas
Producer
Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
Screenwriter
Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
Cinematography
Michał Dymek
Editor
Agnieszka Glińska
Original Music
Paweł Mykietyn
Director
Photo by Michał Englert
Jerzy Skolimowski
As an actor, Jerzy Skolimowski has appeared in White Nights, Eastern Promises, and The Avengers. His 2008 thriller Four Nights With Anna opened the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes and won the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Essential Killing (2010) won Best Film at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the Polish Film Awards, and Gdynia FIlm Festival (where he also won for Best Director), and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Skolimowski is an accomplished painter who has taken part in the Venice Biennale and exhibited across Europe and the US.
Filmography: 30 Door Key (1991); Four Nights With Anna (2008); Essential Killing (2010); 11 Minutes (2015)