It is 1939 and 15-year-old Magda is living with her mother in the Tatra mountains in the south of Poland. They are undaunted by the occupation of their land by the Germans. On the contrary, during the day she does the laundry for the Germans and at night she shepherds Polish aviators across the mountains to Slovakia. One day, when 23 pilots have to be smuggled across the border, she comes up with a daring plan. What she hasn’t factored in is that the German soldiers can ski just as fast as her.
Whereas ‘Elisabeth’, shown at the DMFF in 2022, was based on a fictional story about a skiing champion who escaped the clutches of the Germans in the French Alps, ‘Magda’ is based on a true story.
Adela Kaczmarek won several film awards in Poland for her graduation film ‘Zatoka’ in 2008. She produces animation films, documentaries and combinations of the two. In this short film, the two genres seamlessly alternate. ‘Magda’ has been screened at various film festivals and earlier this year won an award for the best animation film at the Pirineos Mountain Film Festival in Huesca.
