Polish film student Tomasz Śliwiński and his wife Magda Hueckel decided to turn the camera on themselves after learning that their son Leo had been born with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, also known as Ondine’s Curse, which is a rare condition that causes Leo to stop breathing when he sleeps.
Their short film called Our Curse, which follows the couple during their son’s first months of life, has now been nominated for an Academy Award.
Tomasz told Today, “We really felt our life ended at that time. We thought we had to be locked at home with Leo, have no friends, so filming was therapy for us.”
The 30-minute film is one of five nominated in the documentary short subject category. The winner will be announced at the Academy Awards this Sunday.
