3 November, The Garden Cinema

A debut feature film by Michal Chmielewski, Roving Woman is a Polish-US production, starring Lena Góra in the leading role.

The film will be shown as part of the Raindance Film Festival London and it will be the film’s UK premiere after its world premiere in June 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Michal Chmielewski and Lena Gora.

From executive producer Wim Wenders comes a beautiful, insightful, and quirky road movie. The driver Sara (Lena Góra), has been kicked out of her home amidst a break-up, steals a car, then seemingly falls in love with its owner (John Hawkes,) setting out on a journey to find him

Roving Woman opens on Sara banging on her ex-boyfriend’s door. Locked out, reeling, a little drunk and with nowhere to go, she begins to walk. What follows is a journey through the Joshua Tree desert, in a stolen car, that embraces the anonymity of travel.

With sparse dialogue, a grubby feel and melancholic soundtrack, we are Sara’s passengers on her ride to nowhere. Some scenes play out through dusty car windows, often with the action taking place off screen – we’re just waiting in the car for Sara until we continue roving. Some interactions with fellow wandering souls are troubling, others illuminating. She takes what she needs from these chance meetings and moves on.

In the stolen car, Sara snuggles into a jumper found on the back seat, rifles through loose change and scrutinizes the CD collection. After finding a homemade CD marked “for Mimi” filled with original love songs, she decides to return the car to its owner, played by Academy Award-nominee John Hawkes.

We feel this is a journey Sara has been destined to make for a long time. This film contains the hallmark of a classic break-up film – a search for epiphany – but it doesn’t hand us the road map to self-discovery.

Since its premiere the film has received a string of great reviews, including:

“Roving Woman manages to resonate as a film of reflection and self-discovery… Director Chmielewski’sability to channel Wenders’ aesthetic filmmaking deserves praise here. Roving Woman busies itself with beige tones, tall Joshua Trees and cacti that look like they’ve seen a thousand lifetimes, and cinematography so immersive you can almost feel the onscreen heat scorch your skin.” (TheMovieBuff)

“Directed by Michal Chmielewski, “Roving Woman” is a gorgeously shot film that showcases a woman’s
life-changing journey across the American southwest.” (TheKnockturnal)

To find out more and book tickets: Roving Woman + Q&A – Raindance