In 2021, the border area between Belarus and Poland became a “forbidden zone.” Refugees caught there were forced back into Belarus, often in brutal fashion. Mobile phone and internet signals were jammed so they couldn’t communicate with one another. The media was kept at an arm’s length.
“We had this feeling we had to give some response, some answer, some kind of documentation. We don’t know what, but we have to go there and film…we felt it was our obligation, our call, to witness what was happening there,” remembers Polish director Zuzanna Solakiewicz whose film The Guest, co-directed with Zvika Gregory Portnoy, is a world premiere in IDFA International Competition.
“We became residents in the Zone by renting a flat from Kasia – a local person involved in helping on the border. We have never seen the flat [but] that was how to be there. It was our way to get in…” she explains how they gained access to what had, by then, become a no-go area.
Medycy na Granicy (Medics on the Border), a group of doctors and nurses formed spontaneously on the spot, was providing emergency teams to help the migrants and refugees. Visitors to the Zone needed guides to get through the forests. Maciek, who lives with his family close to the border, was one of these guides.
“That was how we met him. Very soon, we felt that this was a protagonist, someone who had a story in him.” Zuzanna recalls. Maciek was open to the filmmakers. They spent over two weeks with him, monitoring routes where the refugees had been walking. They’d find distressing evidence of the refugees’ presence: possessions they had left behind, everything from nappies to flight tickets
What was it like actually filming in the forests?
“It’s a very wide question. It depended on the situation. We weren’t afraid to go to film in the forest…We knew you might meet border police, solders, national guards,” Zvika reflects. “It was stressful but we very quickly adapted to the situation where you have your ears [attuned] 360 degrees…it was a mix of stress, of adventure. I, personally, do have in my private life a military background. You have to film it, you have to record the sound, you do it on your own – so very quick we understood I needed an army jacket with many pockets for batteries and camera cards. It was challenging, it had an aspect of being frightening,” Zvika sums up his many conflicting emotions.
After spending time filming in the Zone, being stopped by the soldiers, the filmmakers were on the point of heading home when an unannounced guest appeared on Maciek’s doorstep and changed their minds. The guest in question was Alhyder, a young Syrian man in fear of his life.
Eventually, the filmmakers were to stay in the Zone for several more weeks. “We didn’t know the direction [of the film]. First of all, we started gathering materials to document it [the ‘Zone’].”
The film is the result of a collaboration between Zvika and Zuzanna. Part of the filmmaking process that took place in the borderland forest was done together with another director, Michał Bielawski. They took shifts at the border for both logistical and safety reasons.
Eventually, the filmmakers decided to focus on Alhyder and Maciek. Early footage in the Zone had been shot “reportage-style,” but in Maciek’s home the aesthetic changed. Zvika’s filming technique became very intimate. Taking his inspiration from Jim Jarmusch’s film Paterson (2016), about the daily routine of a bus driver, he found ways of changing angles and framing so that his footage of his protagonists in the same small rooms would not be too repetitive.
One technique was to film from a low angle. He did this because he didn’t want to disturb his subjects. “You have the frame but you are still in contact with them. They don’t feel you are hiding behind the camera.”
It wasn’t safe for Alhyder to go out. As he regathered his strength, he faced a terrible dilemma about what he should do next. He didn’t want to put his hosts at risk for illegally harbouring him.
During this period, Zuzanna wasn’t in the Zone. She was staying in touch with Zvika via Signal, the encrypted messaging service.
“But the truth is we have worked with each other for over 10 years. We know each other without words. We started with our debut films and we’ve worked in different configurations. It started with me being the director and Zvika being the cinematographer. Then, recently we made a film in which I was the editor and Zvika was the director…usually, we know which of us is the director and which is the second one. But in this case we were so much together and there was so much discussion,” she explains why they decided to share the directing credit on The Guest.
Zvika, who lived and studied photography and videoart at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, met Zuzanna in 2008 at a course at the Sam Spiegel Film School there. Their previous credits together include 15 Corners of the World and The Soil.
As editor, Zuzanna was the one taking all the “repetitive material” (Zvika shot over 100 hours) and shaping it. “It is very difficult to edit because you have all the time faces in the same scenery.”
Both directors acknowledged they discovered their film in the editing. That was when they realised the relationship between the host and his Syrian guest should form “the heart” of the project.
The filmmakers didn’t begin to look for funding until after the main shooting was complete. They took the project to Baltic Sea Docs in Riga [it was here they met Al Jazeera who were to support the film]. They also went to Visions Du Réel in Nyon, to a documentary event in Prague, and to Movies That Matter. The doc was made through Plesnar & Krauss Films.
Eventually, producer Maria Krauss was able to secure financing from the Polish Film Institute and Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Republic of Poland. This only became available after the 2023 Polish election when the Law and Justice Party was ousted from power.
“The politics on the border haven’t changed so much. The difference is that before [the election] talking about it was also censored.”
Krauss submitted the project funding application to the Polish Film Institute at the beginning of the year. Although the institute was still operating in line with the governing party’s political stance, a wind of change was already in the air. The funding was ultimately granted after leadership transitioned from the ‘old order.’
“The politics on the border haven’t changed so much. The difference is that before [the election] talking about it was also censored,” Zuzanna explains how they were finally able to apply for public funding. “Now you can freely talk about it…”
The directors have still had to tread very carefully with their project.
“We have waited for quite a long time for Alhyder’s situation to be quite stable, migration-wise. We didn’t publish anything about him and the film until he was done with his papers…”
The filmmakers have stayed in touch with Amnesty International Poland, trying to work out the best way to protect their protagonist. Alhyder has been kept informed of what is happening with the film. “He understood that it’s important to finish the film, to show the story, the situation on the border.”
When Agnieszka Holland made her recent feature Green Zone, her critically praised drama about the migrants caught in the border crisis, the film was fiercely attacked by Polish government sources and “review bombed” on social media.
“We take in account that not everyone will be enthusiastic because the mainstream is not enthusiastic in Poland about immigration and politics,” Zuzanna accepts The Guest may face a rocky reception in certain home quarters.
