We value your privacy

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies. Cookie Policy

Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Powered by Cookieyes logo

The Maharaja's Children – Brave Bunch in India

“The Maharaja’s Children – Brave Bunch in India” is an interactive webdoc, telling the authentic story of eleven-year-old Wiesio Stypuła and a thousand other Polish children who, thanks to an Indian Maharaja, regain the childhood lost during World War II. The documentary is adapted in form and content to the sensibility of the young viewer and presents the fate of the Polish children through a comic strip, interactive maps, animations, short films with child actors, archival photographs and audio recordings. Webdok takes the viewer on a journey to Wiesiek’s childhood: his deportation to Siberia, his crossing of Asia and his stay in India. Together with Wiesiek, the viewer travels through the settlement for Polish children built by the maharaja, getting to know Wiesiek’s peers and guardians, as well as local residents and the maharaja’s family.

See the webdoc

The Nil Desperandum Foundation runs two social media profiles dedicated to the story of Polish children deported to Siberia during the Second World War and evacuated from the USSR to the Camp for Polish Children in Balachadi. On both profiles (FB and IG) the Foundation publishes posts in three language versions: Polish, English and Hindi. On our profiles we post archival material, photos of events related to festival screenings, meetings in schools, ceremonies organised in Poland and India commemorating this history. Thanks to the support of the Polish Film Institute, the Foundation is carrying out a project called:  “The promotion and dissemination of Polish filmmaking through screenings of The Maharaja’s Children – Brave Bunch in India webdoc at international film festivals”. 

The webdoc premiered at the 61st Krakow Film Festival (2021). It has been screened at festivals at home and abroad, where it has received numerous awards:

  • Jaipur International Film Festival, India (2022)
  • Slamdance Film Festival, USA (2022)
  • O?PLA National Independent Animation Festival, Poland, (2022), HONORARY MENTION
  • Echoes of Katyn International Film Festival on Totalitarianism, Poland, (2022), AUDIENCE AWARD
  • Smile International Film Festival for Children, India (2022)
  • New Media Film Festival, USA (2022)
  • Aryan Children’s Film Festival, Jaipur, India, Webdok received AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (2022)
  • Dytiatko International Children’s Media Festival, Ukraine (2022), FINALIST TITLE
  • International Chinh India Kids Film Festival, SPECIAL AWARD (2022)