Leonora

"Leonora" is an innovative, dramatized documentary set in the interwar period. Leonora Aszer must choose between a safe home in Sosnowiec and escaping to Paris with a communist, Wolf. Her grandson observes actors breaking the fourth wall to embody figures from the past. A story of freedom and rebellion, where the heart ceases to hesitate.

  • Jędrzej Gorski
    Director
    "From you", 2024 - short fiction
  • Mateusz Motyka
    Director
    "Lovely", 2025 - short fiction
  • Jędrzej Gorski
    Writer
  • Mateusz Motyka
    Writer
  • Maciej Ślesicki
    Producer
  • Ewelina Oleś
    Key Cast
  • Dominik Mironiuk
    Key Cast
  • Anna Sarna
    Key Cast
  • Tomasz Schimscheiner
    Key Cast
  • Filip Pasternak
    Cinematography
  • Bartosz Kucharczyk
    Editing
  • Tomasz Mąka,
    Sound editing
  • Franciszek Papis
    Sound editing
  • Jonas Ceballo Hechavarria
    Production manager
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Leonora
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 31, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Poland
  • Language:
    Polish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Jędrzej Gorski, Mateusz Motyka

Jędrzej Gorski - Graduate and lecturer at the Warsaw Film School, specializing in film directing. Graduate of the Directing Department, Screenwriting program, at the Leon Schiller National Film School in Łódź. Director of short films awarded at Polish and international festivals. His most recent film, “Because of You, After You”, which premiered at the Krakow Film Festival, received the Grand Prize Golden Grape at the 53rd Lubuskie Film Summer and the Grand Prize at the Sokołowsko Film Festival “Hommage à Kieślowski.” His television series screenplay “Szmal” won the Grand Prize in the ScriptFiesta 9½ competition. Jędrzej Górski is also a finalist of the Script Pro Audio competition for the series “Myślami przy sobie” (“Together in Thought”). In 2022, he created the libretto for the folk musical “Przesilenia,” which received the Grand Prix. In 2023, he created the theatrical musical “44” about the Warsaw Uprising. In 2024, he completed postgraduate studies in Cultural Management at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH).

Mateusz Motyka - Film director, screenwriter and educator. He studied literature at the University of Tromsø in Norway and is a graduate of the Warsaw Film School. Recipient of the “Young Poland 2023” scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and a fellow of the Mazovia Film Commission’s Script Mentoring programme. His screenplays have been awarded at Script Fiesta, Gdansk Script and Script Wars. He has participated in Film Script Open, Warsaw Next and Camerimage Talent Demo workshops.

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Director Statement

"Some decisions are made so quietly that the heart doesn’t even realize it has stopped hesitating."

This single sentence holds the essence of our story: the moment before the irreversible. The story of Eleonora Aszer—who survived the hell of Auschwitz—conceals many dark chapters, but we turn the camera in the opposite direction. We focus on life before the tragedy. Living in Sosnowiec, our protagonist slowly falls for a German communist. Rebellious, brave, and driven by forbidden love, she flees to Paris, unaware that the world is about to be set on fire.

For us, the film noir aesthetic is not a mere stylization, but a language of love. The contrast of light and shadow serves as a metaphor for fate—the tension between innocence and the encroaching darkness. Immense passion, desire, and betrayal are themes intrinsic to noir. The theatrical documentary form allowed us to move away from historical reconstruction, creating a universal space suspended beyond the literal. We sought not an archive of facts, but an archive of emotions.

This story is deeply personal to us. Eleonora was the grandmother of our lecturer and mentor, cinematographer Andrzej Wolf. We felt a great responsibility from the very beginning. The most profound moment was watching the film with him—finally sharing this project together. Leonora is an attempt to view history through the prism of love. It is a portrait of the beautiful and sublime moments in the life of a woman forever bound to the tragic events recorded in history books.