Unable to fit into his surroundings, an Indian filmmaker living in Poland decides to use his camera to his advantage. In “Letters from Wolf Street” the director, Arjun Talwar, begins to film his closest surroundings. The street he lives on turns out to be a good starting point. With a dance school, several Vietnamese restaurants, barbers, shoemaker, numerous shops, various inhabitants and one talkative postman, the place turns out to be a bustling microcosm of Poland. Once a pride march passes nearby, only to be followed up by a nationalist Independence Day celebrations couple of months later.

Letters from Wolf Street is sceening at Berlin International Film Festival

Talwar’s documentary is an example of immigrant cinema largely unique to the Polish documentary tradition. The director migrated to Poland over a decade ago in order to study cinematography at Lodz Film School. Since then, he has been struggling to fit...