Custody

The year is 1967. The prison gates clang shut behind a young woman, Klara (Ewa Błaszczyk), sentenced for embezzlement to the excessively harsh punishment of life imprisonment. In prison it turns out Klara is pregnant. Despite the hopelessness of her situation, she decides to give birth to the baby, despite being fully aware that the child will be taken away from her and brought up without its mother. Nevertheless, the birth of her daughter becomes Klara’s last chance to escape from despair. The child becomes her only hope. The film, based on a true story, is a shockingly authentic record of the life of a woman whom an unfair sentence throws into the brutal world behind prison walls. A psychological drama about the limits of human freedom, justice and the relations between the individual and society. (Warsaw Film Festival)