- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Imagine being so desperate and uncertain
about what is next in life
that you get into a van driven by a stranger
because that is you and your family's best chance at safety.
This was the experience for many people in Ukraine
who, due to the war, lost their homes
and in many cases, loved ones.
Tonight, we meet a man who helped evacuate many Ukrainians
and documented all of it,
turning his experiences into an award-winning film
called In the Rearview.
At the start of the war in the Ukraine,
Maciek Hamela risked his life to help others.
He bought a van to help drive oftentimes homeless people
out of war zones and into safety.
He navigated through military checkpoints, minefields,
and all kinds of unforeseen danger.
The film allows us to be in the car
and experience firsthand the words, emotions,
interactions, and trauma of his weary passengers
as he drives them out of harm's way and into his native Poland.
The film allows us to connect with those
who lived through a war that most people just see on TV,
and how Hamela's van, while not completely safe,
provides a brief and peaceful respite for his passengers.
Hamela is more than just the brave man behind the wheel
driving people to safety.
He is also the film's director.
Hamela has worked in media and on movies for almost 20 years,
but In the Rearview
is his directorial documentary feature film debut,
and having world premieres
at the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals,
it's a pretty impressive one.
The film has racked up a slew of awards from festivals
all over the world.
The director says his first cut was three hours long
and he had no idea what to cut.
Hamela decided to start with himself
and be on camera as little as possible
to keep his focus on his passengers
and their experiences.
Once he got the film to a length he was happy with,
he started screening it.
He knew he had something when after a showing,
a member of the French press who praised the film
asked Hamela, the director,
how he ever found a driver willing to risk his life?
With a devastated, war-torn nation as a backdrop,
In the Reaview expertly offers little portraits
throughout the story.
In one scene that exemplifies the film's intimacy,
passengers sit silently as the camera focuses on a young boy
looking deep in thought who says, "I love my grandmother."
In the Rearview starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.