Ida

Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) is a young woman about to take her vows as a Catholic nun in 1960’s Poland. She is told to discuss her history with her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), who reveals that she was orphaned as an infant in World War II. To add to the shock, she learns that her birth name is Ida Lebenstein and her parents were Jewish. The two commence a road trip into the countryside and discover the fate of Ida’s family. This is the first Polish film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and rightfully so with it’s portrayal of Stalinism and the Holocaust in beautifully shot black & white cinematography. The two leading ladies deliver jaw-dropping performances in Paweł Pawlikowski’s masterpiece; echoing films of the the French New Wave, this is a must-see for cinephiles.