Join Fulbright Visiting Scholar Aleksandra Urzędowska and Joanna Kuikelka-Blaser, director of Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays Programs, for a screening of Green Border/Zielona Granica and discussion. The film explores the migrant crisis at the Poland and Belarus border - an ongoing crisis in the heart of the old-growth Białowieża Forest. Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s film has been met with international critical acclaim and awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
"In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so called 'green border' between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the European Union are trapped in a geopolitical crisis cynically engineered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In an attempt to provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage to the EU. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, a newly minted activist who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian family intertwine. 30 years after Europa Europa, three-time Oscar Nominee Agnieszka Holland’s poignant new feature Zielona Granica opens our eyes, speaks to the heart, and challenges us to reflect on the moral choices that fall to ordinary people every day." – La Biennale di Venezia
This event is co-hosted with the Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies.
Presenters:
- Aleksandra Urzędowska, assistant professor, Department of Journalism and Visual Communication, Pontifical University of John Paul, Krakow (2026 Slavic Fulbright Scholar, Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University)
- Joanna Kukielka-Blaser, director, Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays Programs, Office of International Affairs (Fulbright U.S. Scholar IEA award to Germany)
Please register for this session and for more information, please contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.