One of the best directors in contemporary European cinema, Wojtek Smarzowski frequently and mercilessly examines the darker side of Polish society and institutions. While films such as Kler (2018) feature a strong vein of pitch black comedy, others such as Wołyń (2016) are uncompromising and unflinching in their approach to troubling subject matter. Somewhere between the two is The Wedding Day (not to be confused with his 2004 debut feature of the same name), in which parallel stories of a venal family’s wedding celebration and the xenophobic history of their village are mixed to provocative and astonishing effect.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.