About Ela - Szkice na Pożegnanie (Ela - Sketches on a Departure)

By Carole Milleliri

Born to Polish parents who settled in Germany before his birth in search of a better life, Oliver Adam Kusio carries with him the remains of the deracination which also haunts his cinema. Ela - Szkice na Pożegnanie (Ela - Sketches on a Departure) is the melancholic and solar portrait of the hope and pain a definite uprooting can stir. Shot "like a jazz piece" in the director's own words, this intimate gesture, yet universal in scope, bears its author's experience in documentary and evokes heroines of the Dardenne brothers and Andrea Arnold. A powerful poem.