Lena Góra wants more techno in New York and fewer jobs on a film set—ideally, just acting. But when you have a vision and know how to make it happen, staying in one lane gets complicated. Alongside a fashion story shot by longtime collaborator Anna Bloda, Góra talks to LADYGUNN about the women who inspire her, the politics shaping Polish and American cinema, and why every character she plays begins with a part of herself.

You are a multi-faceted artist. Do you feel like you have an advantage being an actress that comes from a background in fashion and modeling? When you’re on set, do you find that having an awareness of your body in relation to clothes and costumes helps enhance your ability to embody a role on a physical level?

Probably. To be honest, I don’t know how you could separate any of those things. I am constantly studying everything around me. The awareness of clothes, rhythm, senses, space, energy, body, sound. All those are different chords you can play on. The job of an actor gets really transformative when you do it that way.

Tell me about these gorgeous photos of you from your shoot with Anna Bloda, who calls you her inspiration. What is it like collaborating with other Polish female artists?

Lena: I mean, it all depends on a person. I hate to generalize, or label, but I am very lucky to have worked with some phenomenal ladies from Poland. All are sexy, fearless, wise and great business ladies. Natalia Maczek, Martyna VTSS, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, or Anna Bloda (to name a few) happen to be some of my favorite artists out there. Anna and I have a long muse-caste study relationship. She shot me with all my partners, clothed or not, happy or sad, since I was 19. I am honored she is still just as inspired and interested in photographing me so many years later.

As someone who has been a part of New York’s club scene, did you notice any similarities or differences in the nightlife while you were in Poland filming Erupcja?

Poland is techno. I love techno. I need more techno in New York besides the Basement. I live here now and miss techno. Can there be, please, be more techno in NYC? End of my manifest (laughs).

What parts of yourself do you bring to your role as Ewa Oginiec on the television series The Eastern Gate?

Every single part of her is a part of me. I only work with authenticity, so it’s always some part of me, I just reduce some other parts of me my characters don’t lead with, or are unaware of having. She is a gangster, she is mad at her family, at the system, at the bullshit, she learned how to manipulate the world around her and she uses that as a tool to survive. She is an embodiment of the disappointment and strength of a woman chewed up and spat out by how cruel this world can be. I certainly relate.

What would you say is the biggest difference between the TV and film industry in Poland and America regarding the kind of work that’s being produced? Do you find the political state of a country directly influences the subjects of art it centers around, whether consciously or not?

The differences are many; the kind of work a country produces is always rooted in their political system, local propaganda, traumas, hopes, dreams. They are very different in Poland and in the US. Poland makes less fast food cinema, budgets are smaller, the love for the art of filmmaking is still a real thing, the scripts aren’t very daring, millions of Polish PLN is being spent on cinema that hopes to spark some sort of patriotism, and in my opinion, it does exactly the opposite. The U.S. has its own propaganda it’s trying to push on the viewer, here, the budgets are bigger, everything is faster, people get bored quicker, but ever so often, Polish as well as American cinema breaks its own grounds and that’s what I am here to support.

If you could create your dream project at this moment, threading together your background in fashion, screenwriting, acting, and producing, what would be the premise of the project and who would you bring on to collaborate with?

First of all, I would do absolutely nothing besides acting because the team of producers and screenwriters and costumes know how to do their job. I always want to do less. I only do so much because it literally takes a village to make a film, and I happen to be smart or something, so I often have some good ideas and then become the writer or producer or costume designer, but not because I want to! But yeah, I’d take Sean Baker and Sean Price Williams to Cairo and introduce them to Rap Shar3 and I think we got this.

If you can encapsulate who Lena Góra is as an artist in one word, what would it be?

FREE

Where do you see Lena Góra ten years from now?

Free, in nature.