19 January 2022
Poland/Ireland
2020
Director: Piotr Domalewski
Writer-director Piotr Domalewski’s touching drama tackles the subject of mass economic emigration within Europe when Poland joined the European Union. Thousands, then millions of Poles moved abroad for work, often separating them from their children who came to be referred to as ‘Euro-orphans’. I Never Cry follows Ola (Zofia Stafiej), a 17-year-old force of nature from Poland whose top priority in life is passing her driving test and getting a car. After her father dies while working in Ireland and her mother is forced to stay behind with her disabled brother, it is Ola who must travel there to bring his body home. Armed with only a backpack and a dwindling pack of cigarettes, she bounces around Dublin chasing down information about her largely unknown father and battling the various layers of bureaucracy that stand in her way. Eschewing clichés for naturalism in an engaging drama of teenage rationale and angst, Domalewski depicts Ola with humour, curiosity and empathy as he explores the emptiness left behind by a missing parent.
Dublin International Film Festival 2021 Winner Michael Dwyer Discovery (Zofia Stafiej)