The “back then” of this delightfully performed, laugh out loud funny, episodic family dramedy is the mid-1980s in the People’s Republic of Poland. ‘Tween Marta, her little sister Kasia and their tart-tongued grandmother (who tells the girls gory stories about insurgents rather than fairy tales) all share a room in their tiny apartment. In the adjacent room are the parents, engineer Tadek and factory worker and Solidarity leader Elzbieta. Tadek is frequently forced to grovel at work for coupons for rationed items. Meanwhile, he has perfected a system for Poland’s ever-present queues: he sends Marta to stand in line until just before the business opens. His wife scoffs, “That line freak would buy a tank if people were queuing up for it!” Times are tough. But while Tadek and Elzbieta may secretly covet some of the material goods owned by her more prosperous brother, their own quirky family unit is rich in love and kindness.
Director Biography
Kinga Debska studied at the Film and Television Department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. She directed the documentaries Mix Couple (Para mieszana) (2005) and Aktorka (2015) and the features Hel (2009), These Daughters of Mine (2015), Plan B (2018), Playing Hard (2018) and Back Then (Zupa nic) (2021).
Sponsors
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