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Ania Johnston’s first priority when searching for art for her independent film, “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa,” or “Eternity Continues,” was finding an authentic Polish pottery bowl that captured the traditional Bolesławiec design.`

The design is a major symbol both in the script and in Polish culture, and it’s inspired by peacocks, which are the bird of royalty, Johnston said. She and her crew tracked down an authentic Bolesławiec bowl from a man who makes handmade Polish pottery and used it in the film to roll out dough for pierogi, a filled dumpling that’s a staple in Poland. The bowl they found is blue with a white rim and a pattern of white and blue dots.

Johnston, a Syracuse University sophomore, is studying film in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Her film, “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa,” is based on her relationship with her grandmother, who was like a parent to her and would cook at her house early in the morning.

“I remember as a young kid never really taking the time to appreciate those moments of her presence, but also of my culture in general,” Johnston said.

When she was younger, Johnston felt strange about her culture. In Brunswick, Maine, where she grew up, most people didn’t have the experience of living in a family with immigrants, and she often balanced maintaining her Polish culture at home and American culture at school.

Johnston’s grandmother always emphasized Polish heritage in the household. Now that both of her grandparents have died, Johnston fears that she will lose the Polish language, which is why her mom helped her translate the film into Polish.

Johnston directed the film entirely in the language, which worked out perfectly, as the lead actor who plays the grandmother is of Polish heritage and does not speak English.

“It’s definitely been my priority to preserve my language, and now preserve my culture as well because that was not something that I valued much with my grandmother growing up,” Johnston said.

With “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” reflecting Johnston’s life and experiences growing up Polish-American, many of the film’s details have a personal meaning to her.

The granddaughter, played by Helena Steger, is named Maria, which is Johnston’s middle name. And the grandmother, who is played by Helena Mrosowska, is named Jagoda, a shortened version of the name of Johnston’s grandmother.

Helena Steger plays the character Maria, named after Ania Johnston’s middle name. Lucy Messineo-Witt | Asst. Photo Editor

Steger, an actor from Westchester, New York, said that playing Maria was the first time she portrayed a character close to herself. Like Maria, she is Polish American and loves drawing and art. Steger and the character Maria are also similar in the way that they interact with their grandparents.

Making pierogi is a central part of the film, and to Johnston, it’s a symbol of her culture and years and years of tradition. One way Steger connects to her heritage is by making pierogi with her mom, and learning about Maria has been another.

“Preparing for the role has been really amazing because I’m learning so much more about my heritage, about things that maybe I heard about but didn’t really understand,” Steger said. “It’s been really cool.”

Being a part of “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” has been special for SU sophomore Saachi Jain, an assistant director for the film who is one of Johnston’s friends and a film major in VPA. Jain has never seen Johnston put as much effort into anything as she has into this production. The film has helped give Johnston a lot of direction in her own film principles, she said.

“She’s realized a lot about herself in terms of her organization and her vision and her place in the industry, and just in telling stories and what kind of storyteller she is,” Jain said.

Filming for “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” took place in an Airbnb in Cazenovia, New York, from April 16 through April 18. Up until then, the relationship between the film’s two actors had been entirely virtual. Finally having everyone from the cast and crew together in the same physical space was special, Johnston said.

She was nervous to see how the actors would take on their roles, as Steger is a young actor and Mrosowska does not have any acting experience.

The language barrier between English and Polish was an interesting challenge for Johnston to watch play out. Not everyone involved in the production process spoke Polish, so some communication between the cast and crew had to come from nonverbal means.

“Having these two worlds colliding at the same time and thinking in two tongues was a very interesting experience,” Johnston said.

The crew filmed “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” in an Airbnb in Cazenovia, New York, over three days. Lucy Messineo-Witt | Asst. Photo Editor

Now that filming is over, Johnston must work on the most “daunting task,” she said –– editing the clips and putting them together to create the first version of the film. Although she finds post-production scary at times, it is also a time of creativity and collaboration between herself and her crew.

Johnston anticipates that the final version of the film will be completed by the end of the summer, and she plans to submit “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” to the 2022 film festival circuit. Before then, she and her team may put out a trailer to keep their audience engaged with the film.

Reflecting back on filming and the work she has put into the project so far, Johnston is happy with how everything is turning out.

Steger hopes that “Wieczność Dotąd Trwa” will be a beautiful and subtle way of showing cultural and generational differences to anyone who sees the film.

“It’s a film that not only Polish grandparents and granddaughters will speak to,” Steger said. “It’s something that a lot of grandkids and grandparents go through, the little generational differences.”

Published on April 26, 2021 at 10:19 pm

Contact Gavi: gavi@dailyorange.com | @gavi_azoff