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As the best way of showing what interests him the most in human beings - the tangle of passions determining people's conduct - Jan Jakub Kolski has created his own world, dubbed Jańcioland, from "Jańcio Wodnik / Johnnie Aquarius", the title of one of his films. This is a semi-mystical land, visually stylised, beautiful even, but inhabited by imperfect people who nonetheless usually have a supernatural if not miraculous gift. In an interview years ago, Kolski presented the characters from his films as follows: "I call them God's Children. Why? These are oversensitive people, various 'scarecrows'. They experience everyday reality, life, much more intensely, with every nerve. They also suffer more acutely." ("Rzeczpospolita", 26 April 1996)

With time, Jańcioland started assuming various forms, sometimes placed in actually existing reality, at other times hanging a few centimetres above it; sometimes it was even set in history, but often created an alternative history of its own.

"Inviting us into his film world", wrote Grażyna Stachówna in her review ("Kino", 6/2009), "the director usually shows a wide road going towards it, winding seemingly safely among idyllic fields and meadows, leading into picturesque houses that appear to be oases of peace, presenting characters who often look odd but have lively temperaments perfectly suited for experiencing strong emotions. Entering Kolski's films is easy, the beauty of the onscreen world and its people is seductive, the storylines fascinating, time flows lazily, magical events are mixed with real ones, metaphysics promises a revelation of mysteries. All of a sudden, it turns out that gloomy shadows lurk in the sunny landscape, demons crawl out from the characters, great History demands its sacrifice, violent passions cause tragedies, evil deeds from the past demand reparation, death takes a heavy toll."

This is precisely the case with "Afonia i pszczoły / Afonia and the Bees". Afonia and her husband Rafał live somewhere outside the world, in a tiny railway station next to disused tracks. They are a mature couple, with a married daughter who lives in the nearby town. The year is 1953, Stalin has just died and a wrestling match has been called off as a result. For Rafał, wheelchair-bound ever since he fell from a roof, this is a fundamental problem. Years ago, he was a famous wrestler, taking part in numerous contests, concealed behind a black mask. He was unrivalled and his holds were legendary, in fact wrestling even saved his life when he was sent to a concentration camp. Now he spends his time in bed inventing new holds and jotting them down in a notebook. Afonia takes care of her husband and their home as well as running an apiary on a nearby hillside, but her true passion is filming - a desire to capture every important moment in life. One day a Russian turns up at their place. Without asking who he is, Afonia offers him shelter, gives him masculine chores to do, and with time offers him love - boundless, wild, possessive. Rafał guesses they are having an affair and it pains him. One day it turns out the Russian didn't come here for Afonia but for the secrets of wrestling victories which Rafał has been recording. When his attempt to steal them fails, he disappears. Will Afonia, despite her promises made in front of a priest, leave to follow him?

Kolski's classic melodrama confronts love with a series of other passions - hatred, jealousy, a desire for revenge, etc. The most prominent, however, is a passion for victory which can only be awakened by a sport as unique as wrestling. The director portrays it with a special understanding - is it because his great-uncle was a wrestler a hundred years ago? Or maybe because a drive for victory at any price has become the current style? At the same time, the family element linking Kolski with wrestling can be interpreted as supplementing the "film about filmmaking" theme characteristic of his works. Jan Jakub Kolski comes from a family with a strong cinematic tradition (his grandfather ran a cinema in Łódź, his father was a highly regarded film editor, as was his sister) which he has already used as an element of a magical storyline ("Historia kina w Popielawach / History of the Cinema in Popielawy") or as an important component of his film imagery. The films made by Afonia (in reality by the director himself) are an example, treated as a filter for reaching down into the deepest layers of the artist's sensitivity.

• "Afonia i pszczoły / Afonia and the Bees", Poland, 2009. Scriptwriter and director: Jan Jakub Kolski, cinematography: Krzysztof Ptak, Jan Jakub Kolski, music: Dariusz Górniok, set design: Michał Hrisulidis, costumes: Barbara Sikorska-Bouffał, sound: Jacek Hamela, Krzysztof Jastrząb, editing: Witold Chomiński. Cast: Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska (Afonia), Mariusz Saniternik (Rafał, her husband), Andrei Belanov (the Russky), Krzysztof Adamczyk (Young Rafał), Zofia Zoń (Anielka), Wojciech Solarz (Leszek), Marek Kraszewski (Von Rodhe), Adam Sandurski (the Giant), Izuagbe Ugonoh (the Moor), Dariusz Juzyszyn (Medvedev), and others. Producers: Argomedia Production. Co-producers: IFDF Odra Film, Studio Filmowe Wrocław. Co-financed by: Polish Film Institute, Lower Silesia Province Marshal's Office, Wrocław City Office. Distribution: Best Film. Length: 108 min. Released on 5 June 2009.

Author: Konrad J. Zarębski, June 2008.

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