Past States

Overview

Polish emigrant—Martynka—living for 15 years in Manhattan, divorces her American husband and decides to look for her new home in Greenpoint. This is a district that reminds her of folksy Polish people and the type of emigrants she does not want to identify with. However now she realizes that the longing for the family draws her just here. Moreover, the district is changing into an intercultural melting pot and this is the last moment to taste life among her fellow Polish people. Martynka makes contact with people who came to New York 20, 30 years ago, completely unprepared for the reality overseas. Her neighbor, Henryk, becomes her friend and helper in difficult times. Helena—an elderly lady living in a senior home—inspires her to create an artistic project. Martynka listens to stories of determination, loneliness, fear, but also stories of finding their place on foreign ground as she deals with her own past, hoping to overcome the feeling of loneliness and alienation in New York.