We're Leaving

All her life, Anna’s lies have kept her family apart – now, with little time left, she spins one final deception, hiding her illness as she leads her teenagers to Spain, where the truth about their long-lost parent could either shatter them forever or bring them together at last.

Anna (46), a chaotic small-town hairdresser and widowed mother, is raising well-behaved Julka (18) and rebellious Daniel (16). Though they share a home, they've grown distant. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, Anna hides the truth and proposes a road trip to Spain, hoping to reconnect with her children. As emotional walls fall, the family begins to support one another – yet Anna conceals the trip’s real purpose: their father, whom they believed dead, now lives in Spain as Maria, a woman. Years ago, Anna cut ties after he came out as transgender. Now, facing the end of her life, she must confront the past and entrust Maria with her children's future.

Director's note

For me, cinema is above all about people – their emotions, their relationships, the paths they take and how those paths change them. In“We’re Leaving” I place Anna at the centre: a chaotic hairdresser in her forties who rarely bites her tongue and who carries a polished mask for the world. The film begins where that mask starts to slip. When Anna loses control of her life she must reveal what she has been holding inside: her fears, her fragility, and the mistakes she thought she could bury.
Anna raises two teenagers on the brink of adulthood. They live under the same roof, but they cannot talk to one another. You cannot build a family on a lie – and that lie is the fragile foundation of their home. Anna has been living with the consequences of the secret she created, and she has never had the chance – or the skill – to attend to her children’s emotional needs. Illness and the vision of death force a turning point: one last chance to step out of the lie, to try to repair the damage, and to do so on her own terms.
I approach the subject of society’s hostility towards transgender people indirectly: by showing its effect on a family. Too often in public debate – in Poland and beyond – we hear that LGBTQ+ people “destroy” families. The truth is frequently the opposite: it is exclusion, fear, and rigid social expectations that break relationships. Anna is terrified by the person she once loved not because she hates them, but because she does not know how to respond. Is it easier to bury someone than to accept them?
Visually, I want to be as close to my characters as possible – sometimes even closer than is comfortable. I want to capture the tiny, passing emotions that would otherwise slip away. Handheld camerawork will follow them: dynamic and breathing, but punctuated by moments of stillness and quiet. Close-ups will allow the audience to read the smallest changes in expression, to feel as if they know these people intimately. Some sequences will be naturalistic; others slightly stylised – I imagine moments with the emotional cadence of Mommy.
The palette will be slightly faded, with warm, sandy contrasts. I want to film the Europe of late spring – just before the summer rush – and to root the story in the visual grammar of American and Latin road films such as “Thelma & Louise” and “Y tu mamá también.” Landscapes and nature are characters: the open road, parking-lot motels, sunlit beaches. The more picturesque the surroundings, the more evident the characters’ interior dramas become. Formally, the film will balance the feel-good energy of “Little Miss Sunshine” with the weight of intimate dramas like “To Leslie.”
Before shooting we will hold extensive improvisational rehearsals so the actors truly inhabit their roles. I want the siblings – their language, their gestures, their silences – to feel like real young people today. I maintain contact with teenagers through my sister and her circle; that raw familiarity informs the dialogue, but I will give the actors freedom to shape the truth of each moment. Because we are filming on the road, I will remain open to chance and “found” life on the journey; many of the truest moments in film appear in silence and in shared glances.
I am especially glad that Maria will be played by a transgender actress. Giving this role an authentic voice is vital to the film’s honesty. As a gay man from a small town in Podhale, I carry memories of stigma, gossip, and violence from my youth – experiences that informed my debut “Elephant.” In Poland, stories like these remain underrepresented. With “We’re Leaving” I want to invite viewers to be more mindful, more humane, and more attentive to each other’s inner lives.
In the end, Maria is the one who dared to live honestly. Her family turned away, but she chose life on her terms – at great cost and with no regrets. That question hangs with me: are our choices really only to conform or to disappear? I hope this film opens a different answer: that courage, truth, and tenderness can create new possibilities for love and for families.

Screenwiter's note

Subjects:
child parent relationships, sibling relationships, motherhood, journey, LGBTQ, coming of age, women, interpersonal relationships