We will talk to Tomasz Sekielski about “Hide-and-Seek” and the emotions the film evokes in its viewers and creators.
A few days after its premiere, the film is being widely discussed in the media, as well as on LGBT activists’ websites.
Is there hope that the film itself will change anything? Is something more needed for paedophiles in clerical collars to be fairly judged and no longer pose a threat to children in Poland?
Tomasz Sekielski:
The film shows this ecclesiastical doublespeak, with many lofty, smooth words being spoken, appeals to God’s will, and references to Satan’s temptation—which, as we know, tempts priests above all. All of this reveals the callousness of church institutions.
The only member of the clergy who shows genuine feelings and empathy for those harmed is Sister Elżbieta.
I am not opposed to people of faith. This is not an anti-religious or anti-church film. It is directed against the perpetrators and those who protected and continue to protect them.
We do not address religious issues. We show that officials operate within an institution that teaches us about mercy, yet they think primarily about their careers rather than the people who have been harmed.
People such as Bishop Janiak and Father Hajdasz cast a shadow over the entire institution of the Church.
After the second film, only someone who wants to remain deaf and blind will remain deaf and blind to these problems.
Years of this kind of upbringing are bearing fruit: the belief that a priest is God’s representative on earth, that he is like Jesus.
There is clericalism in Poland that places priests on pedestals. A parish priest in his parish or a bishop in his diocese is more important to the faithful than God Himself.
I am not talking about fighting the Church; I am talking about fighting pathology. For years, the Church systematically concealed criminals who harmed children. The Church is the only institution that organized the concealment of perpetrators of sexual crimes.
In September, a law entered into force establishing a state commission on paedophilia. To this day, the commission has no members. The entire political class should strongly acknowledge its responsibility.
A question for President Andrzej Duda: what does he think about the fact that these matters have not been resolved? And what does he, as president, have to say on this issue? Does he still intend to ignore the problem, or will he take a bolder approach?
I would like to live to see a situation in which the state does not end an investigation with the direct perpetrator, but, when there is information that a given priest was transferred from place to place, the prosecutor’s office follows that lead. What about the people who allowed that member of the clergy to operate with impunity for years?
No one in the film equates homosexuality with paedophilia. It discusses the concealment of the phenomenon and a conspiracy of silence.
The conspiracy of silence is connected with the operation of the so-called lavender mafia.