Trains

The carefully composed images unfold a chronicle of the 20th century, condensed from archival footage of European history. Scenes from train stations, train cars, and compartments show people in a wide variety of life situations—from festive moments to the everyday lives of workers to military transports. The documentary collage refrains from any subsequent evaluation and juxtaposes images that tell of social upheaval as well as political violence and war. This approach makes the film an impressive example of found footage cinema and at the same time demonstrates the importance of historical archives as a source of collective memory. TRAINS received the Best Film Award in the International Competition at IDFA 2024 and the Best Editing Award. Further festival stops included ArtDocFest/Riga, where it won the Grand Prix BALTIC FOCUS, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024, the Trieste Film Festival 2025, the Göteborg Film Festival 2025, and Dokfest München 2025 in the International Competition. Director Maciej J. Drygas has been pursuing a method of recontextualizing extensive archival material for many years. With his precise use of image and sound, he creates a dense cinematic structure that follows in the tradition of European independent documentary film and is significant for both historical cinema and contemporary festival audiences.