May 27, 2023, 18:30
Forum cinema, 5 Legionowa Street
tickets: 35 PLN (presale) / 40 PLN (on the day of the event), available at the Forum cinema’s box office, Ludwik Zamenhof Center’s box office and on bilety.bok.bialystok.pl
Q&A host: Piotr Czaban
for adult audience

 

On the stage, three actors are telling stories similar to the ones we have always told at the theater. Stories of justice, one right fighting with the other one, war, power, heroism and death. However, this time the actors do not transform into fictitious characters and they don’t talk about Denmark or Athens. They talk about what is happening right now, what is happening in our country this year. 

“Responsibility” is a story of the refugee crisis happening at the Belarusian border. Many of us, citizens, know the facts about death, hunger, violence and helplessness, but we cannot piece them together into a coherent story. When someone asks, why the state was able to take in 2.5 million refugees from the Ukrainian border, but not the few thousand from the Belarusian border, we are unable to answer.

“Responsibility” tells the story of one of the victims – Issa Jerjos fleeing war-torn Syria, looking for a better future in Europe. He expected what Syria could not guarantee: peace, rightfulness and respecting human rights, the possibility of work and sorting his life out. What he found in Poland was an extremely militarized emergency zone where armed soldiers search the forest for defenseless people and force them to cross the border with Belarus again without asking any questions. Issa Jerjos died on the Polish side of the border, in the state of emergency zone. He was hiding from the officers of the state whose constitution says that respect for the inherent dignity of man, his right to freedom and the duty of solidarity with others has as its unshakable foundation.

“Responsibility” tells the story of how the state of emergency zone was created, who keeps it going, and which laws could have been violated, and whether anyone will be able to be judged in a court of law for these violations. 

In Polish, the name Issa means Jesus. “Responsibility” tells the story of Issa/Jesus’ passion, the story of the last days before his death, and it poses the question of responsibility of the politicians – those who make the decisions and those who wash their hands of the matter.

“Responsibility” tells the story of what happened in Poland this year.