The Mafia has changed their lives for ever. After many years of silence, they take a big risk and tell their stories to the camera. The extraordinary, shocking documentary Kobiety i Mafia (Women and the Mafia) offers glimpses into the dark, male-dominated world of Polish organized crime from a unique, female perspective. The documentary series starts airing on Wednesday 9 March at 10 p.m. on 13 ULICA.
The series, which comprises six 45-minute episodes, follows the lives of several women whose experience provides unique insight into the scary world of the Polish mafia. The central characters, who include the mothers, wives and daughters of gangsters, were caught up in the world of crime in different ways. The series not only explores their personal relationships with members of the so-called Polish mafia, but it probes the ways in which the crime world affected these people’s outlook and life choices.
The women talk openly about their failures, losses and the challenges they faced in their everyday lives. Ewa Ornacka, journalist and author of books about organized crime, seeks out women who used to be connected with the mafia and gets them to talk candidly in front of the camera. She helps the women overcome their shame and fear, and break the silence that some of them have kept for years. The series producer is Artur Kowalewski (ATM Grupa S.A.), director of Alfabet mafii (The Mafia Alphabet, 2004), a trailblazing documentary about Polish organized crime. Ewa Ornacka, who was one of the journalists featured in the film, went on to co-author a book of the same title. She has also penned four other books, including Wojny kobiet (Women’s Wars; 2015), the story of the women who challenged the police, courts and the mafia.