Directed by: Tomasz Jurkiewicz
Starring: Sandra Drzymalska, Nicolas Przygoda, Anita Poddębniak, Maciej Grzybowski
Rating: ★★★☆☆
A feature-length film made in a provincial setting, with a budget under 700,000 zloty (approximately 160,000 euros) and a runtime of no more than eighty minutes, falls by definition into the category modest cinema. Yet Tomasz Jurkiewicz, despite limited means, demonstrated both tact and intelligence, in his debut effort as a filmmaker.
Każdy ma swoje lato (Everyone Has a Summer) is set in Trzebinia, a small town in Southern Poland midway between Krakow and Katowice, in which Jurkiewicz lived about 30 years. The director is deeply familiar with the reality depicted in the film. Nevertheless, Everyone Has a Summer is not an autobiographical work, being focused entirely on characters and situations conceived from scratch.
Agata (Sandra Drzymalska) secures a summer job in Trzebinia as a cook for the canteen at a summer camp organized by a religious school. Her sudden arrival unsettles seventeen-year-old Mirek (Nicolas Przygoda), who, alongside his pious mother Stanisława (Anita Poddębniak) is already burdened with the care of his grandfather Ksawery (Maciej Grzybowski), who suffers from dementia.
Each principal character is offered a fleeting chance to experience love in the midst of a very special summer. Mirek tries to get noticed by Agata with growing confidence, Stanislawa is swept up in passion for a colleague who is an organist, while Agata’s presence brings back memories of a youthful but controversial love for Grandpa Ksawery.
In Everyone Has a Summer, Jurkiewicz weaves a candid yet tender portrait of a provincial community, reaching for something luminous in a summer unlike any other. Yet, the Polish cineaste does not shy away from sensitively portraying the town’s more deteriorated facets such as its deep-rooted churchiness, environmental degradation, and an enduring attachment to meat consumption.
Together with Damian Kocur’s Bread and Salt (2022), Everyone Has a Summer stands as one of the most compelling portrayals of provincial Poland to grace the big screen in recent years. Jurkiewicz’s debut film won several awards at the Koszalin Film Debut Festival.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on August 04, 2025