Papusza

Bronisława Wajs, known by her Romani name Papusza, was born into a Polish Roma family in 1908. She was married off as a child. She taught herself to read and write and started making poems. Her name became known when the poet Jerzy Ficowski found her and published her verse. But Ficowski also wrote about Roma customs and inner life; the community took that as a betrayal and cast Papusza out. The film was co-directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze. It was shot in black and white and follows Papusza's life from birth to old age: nomadic life before the war, the war, forced settlement in communist Poland and poverty in the city. Jowita Budnik plays Papusza. The question at the centre of the film is this: is making somebody's voice heard a good thing if the price is tearing that voice out of where it belongs? The film does not answer.