King Matt the First
Showtimes
What if children could weave their own reality without the rules dictated by adults? King Matt the First follows the two daughters of Polish filmmaker Jaśmina Wójcik in the transition from childhood to its end. The children roam freely in the forest and create fantasy worlds around themselves. Sometimes they are news reporters, sometimes soldiers, sometimes kings.
For four years, the director explores the fictionalised everyday life of her daughters, where the children are allowed both to be children and play adults. At times, it feels as if the parents do not exist. As the film progresses, one of the daughters grows into a teenager, while the other remains stuck in the tangles of childhood. A gap arises between the children when the younger Lea wants to continue playing while the older Zoja moves on to reading and being with people her own age. The separation is tough and each suffers in their own way: Zoja with hormones, Lea with the feeling of loneliness. Amid these growing pains, the children’s mother, the film’s director, balances between a conscious presence and a silent observer.
Wójcik’s second feature-length documentary is a poetic and visually stunning film with dystopian soundscape, an homage to the classic book King Matt the First, in which a young prince becomes a ruler too early. The film ponders where the line between childhood and adulthood is drawn and when do we forget our inner child, who is carefree, innocent and always ready to play.
Sissi Mattos (translated by Kati Kiviniemi)
The screening on Tue, 27 Jan is a baby cinema screening. The screening is aimed especially for those arriving with babies or small children. The screening is free of charge.
