IDFA 2013
Our Curse
Nasza klatwa
Tomasz Sliwinski
Poland
2013
27 min
Dutch Premiere
is the director's personal story about himself and his wife as they learn to live with their newborn son Leo's rare medical condition. The disease is called Ondine's curse, scientifically referred to as Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome. It causes the sufferer to stop breathing when he or she falls asleep, and there's no cure for it. Though the doctor sends the couple home talking of Leo's illness as "a cool challenge," they can hardly get their heads around it. Director Tomasz Sliwinski uses the camera as a diary in which visits to the hospital, the first day at home, the first outing and other daily activities are interspersed with scenes in which he and his wife voice their thoughts and fears. He doesn't hold back from capturing the intensive care that they must offer their son on their own – care that is truly the difference between life and death. The documentary's form would seem to follow the process that this family is going through. Gradually, their existential considerations disappear and we only see images like in the home movies of any "normal" family.
Credits
Screening copy
Warsaw Film School
Warsaw Film School
Director
Production
Cinematography
Screenplay