Skip to main content
EO film image, director Jerzy Skolimowski

EO

This event has passed

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

Director
Cast

Hola, Tako, Marietta, Ettore, Rocco, Mela, Sandra Drzymalska, Tomasz Organek, Mateusz Kościukiewicz, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Isabelle Huppert

Credits
Country of Origin

Poland/UK/Italy

Year

2022

Language

In Polish, English, French, and Italian with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Animal Cruelty

19+
88 min
Award Winners Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Blue Trail
The Blue Trail film image; woman admiring a giant garden sculpture of a human face

The Blue Trail

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
86 min

In a near-future Brazil, elderly citizens are forcibly relocated to live out their days in a senior housing colony. When 77-year-old Tereza learns that she will soon be taken away, she embarks on a fantastical odyssey into the Amazon.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema Granville Island Stage

Shifting Baselines

Dir. Julien Elie
100 min

Towering rockets rise as wetlands vanish in this sly black-and-white documentary about SpaceX’s conquest of Boca Chica, Texas. With sci-fi aesthetics and observational calm, the film exposes how cosmic dreams begin with the quiet erasure of Earth.

International Village 8
A Poet
A Poet film image; man shouting while running

A Poet

Dir. Simón Mesa Soto
120 min

When embittered poet Oscar Restrepo takes a job at a local high school, he meets Yurlady, a talented student from a poor background. Seeking to help her cultivate her art, he draws her into the poetry world — to disastrous and comedic results.

International Village 9

La Salsa Vive

Dir. Juan Carvajal
103 min

An exuberant celebration of salsa that traces the genre's evolution from New York City in the 1960s and 70s to Cali, Colombia — the salsa capital of the world. Carvajal’s documentary highlights the rich legacy of this musical form and the joy it inspires.

International Village 7
Memory of Princess Mumbi
Memory of Princess Mumbi film image; two people leaning on each other sitting in a falling-apart jungle city

Memory of Princess Mumbi

Dir. Damien Hauser
80 min

Can a filmmaker depict the future without AI? Damien Hauser crafts a genre-blending Afro-speculative fable about love, war, and the future of storytelling in a resurrected African kingdom. A micro-budget epic fueled by digital invention and heart.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 9

Winter Light

Dir. Cho Hyun-suh
90 min

Da-bin has a broke mother, a runaway brother, and a sister who’s going deaf, but gets by thanks to his best friend and caring girlfriend. Poignant and poetic, this is a film that explores the pain of adolescence and the stress of competing loyalties.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

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

Jerzy Skolimowski headshot, EO 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)