By Malgorzato Wojtunik
VENICE (Reuters) – The makers of “Woman Of”, which follows a man transitioning to a woman in socially conservative Poland, hope their film will help ease deep-rooted prejudices in the Roman Catholic nation.
“Woman Of”, co-directed by Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, just a month ahead of parliamentary elections that might hand Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party an unprecedented third term in power.
Critics have accused the party of fanning anti-LGBTQ sentiment, but Szumowska said she wanted “Woman Of” to change the debate around transgender issues.
“It’s not a militant film, it has a very delicate tone. What we’ve been trying to do, we’ve been trying to unite,” Szumowska told Reuters TV. “We’ve been trying to build a kind of bridge.”
The film follows key moments in the life of the protagonist from childhood to marriage, parenthood and then her eventual transition, using Poland’s own post-communist transformation as both a backdrop and a metaphor for the main plot line.
Even though Poland has undergone tumultuous change over the past three decades, LGBT rights remain a highly divisive issue and PiS has used opposition to it as a means to build support.
Its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski repeatedly ridiculed transgender people during meetings with voters last year, telling one rally that left-wing sympathisers believed people could say “until 5:30 I was a man, but now I’m a woman”.
His comments drew laughter from the crowd.
“Politicians speak out like it’s an evil, they use it as a threat,” Szumowska said.
Same-sex civil unions are still banned in Poland, while people who want to change their officially recognised gender must first sue their own parents in the courts, meaning unwilling parents can throw up legal roadblocks to transition.
Because transitioning was so rare in Poland until quite recently, the directors could not find a transgender actor to play the part of the older Aniela as she battles bureaucracy and bias in her small provincial hometown.
Instead, they cast a woman — veteran actor Malgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik.
“We discussed the possible casting with a group of our trans consultants, and they said ‘yes’, in this situation we have to have a professional actress to play the part,” Szumowska said.
“Woman Of” is one of 23 films competing for Venice’s Golden Lion award which will be announced on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Alan Charlish; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
