Plot

Ela is a rebellious young artist struggling with the grey mundane life of 1980s Poland. She becomes a star of the alternative art scene but still needs to cope with her personal demons originating in bipolar disorder.

It is 1987 and the wind of change will soon also be sweeping across communist Poland. Ela is a young woman seeking refuge from the insipidness of a life hallowed by the regime, mixing with artists on the alternative scene, singing in clubs with her post-punk band, and attending alcohol-fuelled parties... In her second film director Olga Chajdas summons up vital energy to invigorate the music scene of the Baltic Tricity and, aided by the charismatic actress and co-scripter Lena Góra, she offers the viewer a vivid portrait of a multilayered character - an inspirational artist forever enveloped in cigarette smoke, a woman struggling with her inner demons, yet also a fragile creature yearning for motherly love.—Lenka Tyrpáková (from KVIFF programme)