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Maria Zbąska’s award-winning To Nie Moj Film screens at EU Film Festival in India

Screened a recent film festival in Delhi, To Nie Moj Film explores the complex relationship of a couple against the backdrop of a harsh winter.

To Nie Moj Film was screened recently at the 30th edition of the European Union Film Festival (EUFF) in Delhi.

Wanda and Janek have been together for a decade and their relationship has reached a bitter impasse; their woes augmented by Poland’s harsh winter that restricts them to their home. The couple is the subject of Polish director Maria Zbąska’s debut feature To Nie Moj Film (It’s Not My Film) that was screened recently at the 30th edition of the European Union Film Festival (EUFF) in Delhi.

“It is the story of marriages in Poland. If you call someone in Poland around February, they would say they don’t believe in love. We’re sitting at home, not mobile. We start hating our lives. It’s really depressing and boring,” says Maria, whose roots are in documentary making. “The film came easily to me. I find reality to be the most inspiring.”

To Nie Moj Film was among 28 European films showcased at the festival organised by the Delegation of the European Union to India in collaboration with the Embassies of EU Member States and regional partners.

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As the 99-minute-long film spotlights Wanda and Janek’s marriage, we see the two caught in a stagnant relationship that neither wishes to abandon. Janek proposes a radical solution. A 400-km hike along the desolate Baltic coast of Poland. There are self-imposed rules which, when broken, would end their marriage. Despite the film’s serious premise of a make-or-break trek, its witty, dry and cynical dialogues, particularly the ones describing the familiar small irritations of most long-term relationships, offer some comic relief. When Janek breaks a rule (by eating french fries) and confesses to Wanda, she screams in frustration: “You lie stupidly and you tell the truth more stupidly.”

Maria, who is on her first trip to India, already has a favourite Indian film — the Richa Chadha-backed Girls will be Girls (2024). “It’s an amazing movie. I have two daughters so it struck me. It’s a movie that will always stay with me,” she says.

To Nie Moj Film, which has been doing the rounds on the festival circuit — CinEast festival in Luxembourg and the Polish Film Festival in Singapore and London — and has bagged several accolades, including 2025 Polish Academy Award for Discovery of the Year and Golden Claw in Honour of Andrzej Żuławski at 2024 Gdynia Polish Film Festival, will now be travelling to Bengaluru and Hyderabad as part of the festival.