What happens when people who have been marginalized for years take center stage and begin to decide for themselves how they want to be seen?<\/p>\n\n
The protagonists of the documentary *Freak Show*, directed by \u0141ukasz Ronduda and Filip Pawlak, are a group of young artists with disabilities who were invited by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw to stage a provocative \u201cfreak show\u201d for the opening of the museum\u2019s new headquarters. However, rather than simply replicating the historical format of \u201cfreak shows,\u201d they reclaim it and use it on their own terms\u2014to challenge norms regarding the body, ability, and beauty, and to confront the audience with the stigma and isolation experienced by people with disabilities. <\/p>\n\n
The camera follows the characters as they create the play, but also as they build a community. We learn about their motivations, doubts, and ambitions. The premiere takes place on Halloween\u2014a night traditionally associated with confronting fear\u2014which serves as a starting point for questioning what we are actually afraid of when we look at bodies that defy socially established norms. The film reverses the perspective: it is not people with disabilities who must conform to the majority\u2019s gaze, but rather the viewer who is confronted with their own habits and categories of \u201cnormality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The film was screened in 2026 as part of New Horizons and Millennium Docs Against Gravity, where it was included in the Polish Competition. <\/p>\n\n
One of the film\u2019s protagonists is Daniel Kotowski, who will be a guest of Agata Siwiak the following day at a festival event dedicated to Deaf culture, language, and identity. <\/p>\n\n
Directed and written by: \u0141ukasz Ronduda, Filip Pawlak<\/p>\n\n
\u0141ukasz Ronduda\u2014director, screenwriter, writer, researcher, and curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. In his work, he consistently explores the relationship between contemporary art and cinema. A graduate of the directing and screenwriting program at the Wajda School, he is an expert on experimental film and the author of numerous publications on contemporary art. His filmography includes, among others, Performer, Heart of Love<\/em><\/em>, All Our Fears<\/em>, Rave<\/em>, and Tell Me What You Feel<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n Filip Pawlak\u2014theater artist, independent curator and producer, and advocate for artists with disabilities. A graduate of the Film School in Katowice, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroc\u0142aw, and the performing arts program at the Malm\u00f6 Academy of Theatre and Lund University. As an artist and producer, he works to increase the presence of people with disabilities in culture. Since 2025, he has been a doctoral candidate in film and theater arts at the University of Silesia. <\/p>\n\n The cast includes: Nadia Markiewicz, Grandma, Agata W\u0105sik, Daniel Kotowski, Marcel Pieczonka, Mariana Hernandez, and Filip Pawlak.<\/p>\n\n The screening is intended for young people aged 12 and above and adults. We invite both those interested in documentary film and contemporary art, as well as anyone interested in issues of representation, disability, social norms, and the right to make independent decisions about one\u2019s own image. The film does not require any prior knowledge of these topics\u2014it can serve as a starting point for examining how we view others and how often social hierarchies are hidden behind the neutral categories of \u201cnormality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n The \u0141\u00f3d\u017a of Many Cultures Festival explores diversity not only through origin, language, or tradition, but also through different bodies, identities, and ways of functioning in the world. \u201cFreak Show\u201d fits particularly well within this understanding of multiculturalism because it does not stop at calling for the inclusion of previously marginalized people into the existing order. Rather, it asks who established this order and why we consider certain bodies and ways of life to be the norm, while viewing others as deviations from it. <\/p>\n\n The film\u2019s protagonists do not want to be merely objects of representation or recipients of someone else\u2019s inclusivity. They take control of the tools for telling their own stories, using art to negotiate their own visibility. In this sense, the film resonates well with the Festival\u2019s vision as a space where the convergence of diverse experiences does not mean subordinating them to a single dominant perspective. <\/p>\n\n The event will take place at the Center for Dialogue in the theater and theater hall, which is equipped with an induction loop. The Center for Dialogue building is accessible to people with mobility impairments. It has wide, non-automatic entrance doors, an accessible restroom, and an elevator. The theater hall is located on the ground floor, has a ramp, and the auditorium includes spaces for people in wheelchairs. In front of the building, there is a large parking lot with marked spaces for people with disabilities. Assistance dogs and guide dogs are welcome both inside the building and in the auditorium. The building is equipped with the ToTuPoint audio navigation system. The entrance to the parking lot is on Wojska Polskiego Street. Nearby bus and tram stops include: Wojska Polskiego\/Centrum Dialogu and Wojska Polskiego\/Sporna. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On September 26, there will be a screening of the film \u201cFreak Show,\u201d directed by \u0141ukasz Ronduda and Filip Pawlak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4895,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[23,25],"class_list":["post-4832","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-en","category-pjm-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor Whom?<\/h2>\n\n
Why is it worth it?<\/h2>\n\n
\n\nAvailability<\/h3>\n\n