Psychological meeting: Brâncuși. Father: absent or non-existent? Film screening and discussion

We invite you to a screening of the documentary film “Searching for the Lost Father”, which will be accompanied by a discussion with experts – film scholar and journalist Anna Taszycka and psychologist and psychotherapist Agnieszka Kurtyka.

15 November 2025, 16.00

The documentary “Searching for the Lost Father” (“‘În căutarea tatălui pierdut”, Romania 2016), directed by Ionuț Teianu, tells the story of the son of sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. Its protagonist, John Moore, was born in 1934. His mother gave him three names: John, Constantin and Brâncuși. Vera Moore, a pianist from New Zealand, told her son that his father was a renowned sculptor, but stressed that he should not tell anyone about it. John kept this secret for years. Finally, at the age of 78, he decided to start searching for his father. He was also a photographer himself and apparently  has taken one photograph of his famous father.

The film's director, Ionuț Teianu, points out in an interview that in his film he wanted to explore the man behind the great artist. He also shows a protagonist deeply affected by the absence of his father, who is searching for his roots. How did this affect his fate, what is the figure of the absent father and how does it resonate in art, and finally, how do relationships that never had a chance to fully develop affect us? We will discuss this and other topics at a meeting with film expert Anna Taszycka and psychologist Agnieszka Kurtyka.

“Searching for the Lost Father” (“‘În căutarea tatălui pierdut”, Romania 2016), documentary, 70 min., dir. Ionuț Teianu)

Free admission

Agnieszka Kurtyka – psychologist, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, works in private practice with young people and adults, co-creates with Anna Taszycka the series “Cinema and Psychoanalysis”, organised by the Małopolska Branch of the Polish Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and the Mikro cinema.

Anna Taszycka – film scholar, Doctor of Humanities, works at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski University in Krakow. Long-time coordinator of the Polish Film Academy project inKrakow and Tychy, she co-creates the series "Cinema and Psychoanalysis" at the Mikro cinema in Krakow. Co-author of the "Encyclopedia of Cinema" and the "Encyclopedia  of Gender". 

The meeting will be held in Polish.

Warning:
This film contains sensitive content.
This film is intended for adult audiences only.

Film in French, English and Romanian.
Subtitles in Polish.

The event accompanies the exhibition “Brâncuși. Sculpting with Light”, co-organised by the International Cultural Centre in Kraków and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Warsaw.

The event is organised as part of the Romania–Poland Cultural Season 2024–2025.

The Romania-Poland Cultural Season 2024–2025 is organised by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Institute of Culture, together with the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, with the support of the Polish Institute in Bucharest. During the season, several dozen events will take place, including exhibitions, music, theatre, film and literary events.