International Premiere
A young man’s house party takes an unexpected turn when his gangster neighbour breaks into his apartment. A carefully crafted morality story, For Real forces its protagonist to make uncomfortable choices. This is a tough survival drama that effectively chronicles a series of bad decisions that lead to life-changing events. Exceptionally well-acted, shot, and edited, the movie takes the audience on a complete journey that’s entertaining and frightening. Tense, unpredictable, and frustrating, this is a complicated scenario where any choice has dangerous consequences.
Community Partner
Dawid Ściupidro, Maciej Kosiacki, Bernadetta Statkiewicz, Daniel Namiotko, Hubert Fiebig
Poland
2022
In Polish with English subtitles
Featured in:
International Shorts: Morality Plays
Morals are being challenged on many fronts. The protagonists in this program of short films are all faced with difficult moral choices and they don’t always make the right decisions.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life follows Jack as he reflects on his 1950s Texas childhood and the death of his younger brother. Deeply spiritual and poetic, Malick’s film moves through grief, memory, time, and space. And there are dinosaurs.
Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party
Fourteen years ago, Daniela Magnani Hüller survived an attempted femicide by a schoolmate. Now a filmmaker, she revisits the events surrounding that fateful incident, creating a moving collage of interviews, personal recollections, and archival material.
Image: © Bildersturm
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s enters a decade shaped by 9/11, war, fear, and politics. Through films such as The Cove and Grizzly Man, these chapters trace the documentary medium's encounter with modernity as it begins to unravel.
Image: © Iraq in Fragments, 2006, dir. James Longley, USA, Daylight Factory Typecast-Pictures
Credits
Producer
Agata Golańska
Screenwriter
Ernest Lorek
Cinematography
Edgar Grishchuk
Editor
Marta Ossowska
Original Music
Michał Lejczak
Production Design
Katarzyna Tomczyk
Director
Ernest Lorek
Director and actor Ernest Lorek was born in Warsaw and studied Philosophy at the University of Warsaw. He is currently a fifth year student in the directing department of the Polish National Film School in Łódź. He creates music videos for leading Polish rappers and others. He has directed many short films including Into the Forest (2018), which was awarded as Best Student Film at Opavský páv.