Slásk / Schlesien

Once a Prussian province renowned for its coal-mining, Silesia became a part of Poland in 1945. Three million Germans were deported; some of them could not or did not want to leave, and felt like foreigners in their homeland where the Polish language replaced German. The film, which was shot in Milkôw, formerly Arnsdorf, a village at the foot of the mountains, rediscovers the traces of a forgotten Germany at a leisurely pace, through places and people. The mine has closed, but the colourfully-dressed miners’ band plays on, the old ladies remember the songs of their youth, and the cemetery testifies to the past. Yet, the film is also concerned with the present, with those fresh feelings of confusion which alter the way the inhabitants perceive their identity, in this post-Communist and post-reunification period.