By train on an outing, by train off to war. A film from a time when dining cars still had their own kitchens, but also a time when trains carried people to their deaths. Named Best Film at the IDFA, Trains sets out on a journey through collective memory, with hope and euphoria alternating with suffering and destruction. Polish director Maciej J. Drygas has edited together footage from forty-five archives into a documentary collage ranging from scenes of fashion shows in train cars to footage of mutilated soldiers – all without additional commentary. Trains confirms that, although the times may change, Franz Kafka’s words that frame the entire film remain searingly topical: Hope really isn’t for everyone.

Viktor Palák

About the film

80 min / Black & white, DCP

Director Maciej J. Drygas / Screenplay Maciej J. Drygas / Music Pawel Szymanski / Sound Saulius Urbanavičius / Editor Rafał Listopad / Producer Vita Żelakeviciute / Production Drygas Film Production / Coproduction Era Film / Contact Drygas Film Production
www: https://www.drygasfilmproduction.com/en/trains

About the director

Maciej J. Drygas (1956, Łódź). Selected filmography: Hear My Cry (1991), One Day in People’s Poland (2006), Violated Letters (2011), Abu Haraz (2013), Trains (Pociągi, 2024).

Contacts

Drygas Film Production
Augustówka 11B/44, 02-981, Warsaw
Poland
Phone: +48 519 176 150
E-mail: [email protected]