You are a cute doll — debate, film screening

Movie Cute you are a doll! Aleksandry Kubiak is a unique example of art in which personal experience becomes a starting point for reflection on memory, loss and the possibilities of artistic processing of trauma. The central point of the realization is an attempt at a symbolic meeting with the tragically deceased mother of the artist. Kubiak not only directs the entire project, but also becomes its participant and protagonist, undergoing an emotional and therapeutic experiment. A special role here is played by actress Elżbieta Lisowska-Kopec, who gradually takes on the role of a mother, reconstructed on the basis of her daughter's memories and tips. In this way, an extraordinary situation arises in which the boundaries between reality, memory and artistic creation are blurred.

Kubiak's work can be seen in the context of Hanna Segal's concept, according to which art has a reparative function — it allows to symbolically recover the lost world and reconcile with the experience of loss. At the same time, the film takes up the age-old theme of recalling the dead, present in both mythology and literature. The attempt to “revive” the mother raises questions about the nature of memory and identity: who is the recalled person—a memory, a projection, a specter, or a symbolic substitute for a lost person? Is it possible to relive unspoken emotions and fix a relationship brutally interrupted by death? The discussion of the film allows us to reflect on how art can become a tool for confronting trauma and whether it is really capable of filling the void left by the loss of a loved one.

participants: Paweł Dybel, Aleksandra Kubiak, Elżbieta Lisowska-Kopec

Co-financed from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund — a state special purpose fund