04/11/2025 - The Polish filmmaker, who made her debut with 2021’s Silent Land, has finished shooting her sophomore feature, which reunites her with actors Agnieszka Żulewska and Dobromir Dymecki

The upcoming feature-length narrative film by Aga Woszczyńska, one of the most interesting voices in Polish arthouse cinema, has wrapped shooting on the Åland archipelago, an autonomous region of Finland. In her second outing, she continues to pursue her artistic interest: the study of a couple facing their inner fears and re-examining their relationship after an unexpected event. In her debut feature, Silent Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aga Woszczyńska
film profile], which was screened at Toronto in 2021, said event was the sudden death of a migrant worker; in Black Water, it will be the mysterious disappearance of two men. Their partners commence an investigation of their own, as the local police are preoccupied with an oil spill from a tanker in the vicinity of the island.

“Black Water is a story about balance in a world that is off-balance. The environmental catastrophe mirrors an inner collapse, pushing my characters to abandon the illusion of control and to embrace uncertainty as the only way forward. In its mystery and stillness, I want the film to reflect the fragility and hope of our times,” Woszczyńska said in a press release.

The film reunites the director with actors Agnieszka Żulewska and Dobromir Dymecki, who both starred in Silent Land and in her short film Fragments, which was part of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2014. The principal cast also includes Lisa Carlehed (Until We Fall [+see also:
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interview: Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm
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interview: Frida Kempff
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film profile], Corpus Christi [+see also:
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interview: Bartosz Bielenia
interview: Jan Komasa
film profile]) and Erik Enge (Black Crab). Woszczyńska co-penned the script with Łukasz Czapski. Bartosz Świniarski (The Things You Kill [+see also:
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interview: Alireza Khatami
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interview: Christos Nikou
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interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile], Cold War [+see also:
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Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile], Quo Vadis, Aida? [+see also:
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interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile]). Antti Nikkinen (The Gravedigger’s Wife [+see also:
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film profile]) is the production designer, while Jaanus Vahtra (Compartment No. 6 [+see also:
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interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile], Quiet Life [+see also:
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interview: Alexandros Avranas
film profile]) designed the costumes. The producer of the film is Agnieszka Wasiak, of Polish production outfit Lava Films, who participated in the 2025 edition of the Producers on the Move programme (see the interview). She is currently also working on closing the budget of Two Souls by Łukasz Ronduda and We’re Leaving by Kamil Krawczycki, and is producing Tears of Neon by Karolina Bielawska, the long-awaited biopic of legendary Polish singer and performer Violetta Villas.

Black Water is being co-produced by Liisa Karpo, of Finland’s napafilms; Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer, of Germany’s Elemag Pictures; Elina Litvinova, of Estonia’s Three Brothers; and Eva Jakobsen, of Denmark’s Mater Pictures. The project received support from Creative Europe – MEDIA, the Polish Film Institute, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Estonian Film Institute and the Danish Film Institute, as well as regional funds from the Åland Islands, the MDM (Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung), FilmFyn and the Film Estonia cash-rebate scheme. Black Water is expected to be ready for a Q2 or Q3 2026 release. The world sales rights are up for grabs.