Do Painters Die Elsewhere

Bolko is an 85-year-old painter, who faces childless death . His self-built home of 60 years slowly fades into the surrounding garden.

The film tells the love story of a couple struggling with cancer. Bolek uses a cassette recorder to retain Eve's voice and, after her death, uses it as a medium to keep in touch with the deceased.

Bolesław Gasiński is a mysterious figure from the suburban town of Laski - painter, sculptor, actor, eccentric. In 70’s His paintings were exhibited in France, Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria, Australia, Japan, Germany, the USA and at the Biennale in the Emirates. In the 1980s, Bolesław put aside the development of his career, the successes of which we learn about today only from documents left in his house, in order to devote himself entirely to his art and the love of his life - Eve.

In 2005, Ewa fell ill with cancer. Bolesław began recording audio diaries, at first to make Eve feel better. When Eve died, Bolesław did not stop recording, using the cassette recorder as a medium to continue to contact his dead beloved.

Bolesław’s emotional states enchanted in the cassettes, and his journey through coming to terms with Eve’s passing, lead us through the artist’s desolate home, providing an intimate emotional insight into the world of his painting.

„Do Painters Die Elsewhere” is an immersive, intimate love story portrait, guided by the artist’s life rather than a traditional biographical narrative. It does not follow a chronological retelling of a “great painter’s” life, nor does it rely on conventional talking-head interviews. Instead, the film draws us into an emotional mosaic, woven from archival materials that Bolko himself collected—artifacts that once gave him a sense of purpose in moments of doubt.