Always on
This project successfully funded on 31st March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Bodies of the Nation: Abortion Rights in Poland
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
A documentary on intergenerational trauma, memory, and Poland’s fight for women’s bodily autonomy.
My name is Lucja Hawking (Jastrzebska), a Polish-British filmmaker, actress and activist working on issues of human rights. Alongside my film work, I am the Country Coordinator for Central Europe at Amnesty International UK, where I focus on human rights monitoring and advocacy across the region. This project grew out of my Master’s research and my own family history, as well as my experience of living between Poland and the UK while watching women’s rights in Poland steadily erode.
While researching my family’s past, I began to notice how wartime trauma continues to shape the way women’s bodies are spoken about and controlled in Poland today. The film follows this connection through personal family testimony, historical memory and contemporary protest. It is not a history film, but a film about how the past is carried into the present, often in ways we do not consciously recognise.
The documentary brings together family members from different generations, activists and experts to explore how bodily autonomy has become tied to ideas of nationhood, motherhood and survival. Some of the people I speak to feel deeply shaped by history, while others want to move forward without it defining their lives. These tensions sit at the heart of the film.
I am working with a small team who share a careful and ethical approach to documentary storytelling. The film’s Director of Photography is Alina Kolosova, whose work focuses on intimate, person-centred cinematography. We are prioritising a quiet, observational visual style that allows people space to speak in their own way.
My aim is to make a film that feels honest and grounded rather than sensational. I want audiences to understand Poland’s current abortion debate as part of a longer story about memory, control and survival, and to reflect on how inherited trauma can continue to shape political choices.
The funds raised will go directly into making the film. This includes filming in Poland and the UK, archival research, sound recording, editing, translation and subtitling, along with paying collaborators fairly for their work. Every contribution helps ensure the film can be made independently and with care for the people who trust us with their stories.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made