The 4th edition of the Habitat International Film Festival (17-26 March 2023) returned with a line-up of award-winning and critically acclaimed cinema from around the globe. Polish Institute New Delhi in collaboration with the Habitat World, India Habitat Centre organized a screening of movie The Perfect Number by Krzysztof Zanussi on 18th of March and EO directed by Jerzy Skolimowski on 21st of March.

The Perfect Number tells a story of Joachim (Andrzej Seweryn), a mature man who no longer has to prove anything to anyone. He is wealthy and his life has been a success story. A whim of fate puts thirty-year-old David (Jan Marczewski) in his path. The young man is a mathematical genius who abandoned a promising business career abroad and is now looking for the right field to use his talents in Poland. Things get complicated when Ola (Julia Latosinska) enters David’s life. Joachim and David are two men at completely different stages of life. What can they learn from each other? How to choose between intellect, faith and love? In The Perfect Number Krzysztof Zanussi returns to the most important themes of his work and presents them in the unexpected form of an intellectual thriller.
Krzysztof Zanussi on his film:
The Perfect Number is a film about mathematics and God. It’s a story of a man renouncing wealth in favour of a passion that turns out to be worth even more. It’s also about emptiness in life and fullness of life, about selfishness and the joy of sharing with others. I return here to my first films: The Structure of the Crystal and Illuminations examining the relationship between science, life and faith.

EO is portraying the world as a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

EO by Jerzy Skolimowski premiered in 2022 at the Cannes Film Festival winning Jury Prize. The film was an Oscar Nominee for Best International Feature Film.

In addition to mentioned screenings, Kieślowski Film School (University of Silesia, Poland) presented documentary film packages and selection of short films.