POLISH FILM MAGAZINE 2/2018 by Film Commission Poland

POLISH FILM MAGAZINE 2 (7)|2018

Paweł Pawlikowski fights Cold War for Palme D’Or

Polish Fugue plays in Cannes

Bill Pullman checkmates in Warsaw

EDITORIAL

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This year is definitely a successful one for the Polish cinema. The Oscar nomination for the full-length animation Loving Vincent by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, the award for Małgorzata Szumowska’s Mug at the Berlinale, and the selection of Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War for the Main Competition of the 71st Cannes International Film Festival are the most striking examples of Polish artists competing with the best for the highest laurels in the film world. But that is not all. At the Polish Film Institute, we are keen to support young filmmakers, and this is also recognized around the world. Polish cinema has been present in the Cannes Short Film Competition with films from young directors for the second year running. Our young students and recent graduates are receiving prizes all over the world, and are also taking part in international workshops and industry meetings. We also focus on co-productions, and we try to get the largest global film studios and internationally-acclaimed Polish names involved. We want to enrich the global market with both genre cinema and family productions appealing to people of all ages. We also know that the VOD market and online platforms present a huge opportunity to achieve global success. Our efforts and successes have already caught the attention of the international film world – the annual ranking of the Motion Picture Association of America recently moved the Polish cinema market up to 18th position, thanks in part to the high number of cinema admissions for domestic productions. Polish cinema is looked upon extremely favorably, but we still have a lot of work to do on both the domestic and international fronts. The international audience undeniably has a huge role in this.

Poland has made a very strong showing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (more on pages 4-13) with an impressive five entries in the official selection, including Cold War (dir. Paweł Pawlikowski) in the Main Competition, and The Fugue (dir. Agnieszka Smoczyńska) in the Critic’s Week section. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the Polish contingent in Cannes, just as we are for the Polish football team in the upcoming the FIFA World Cup. An extraordinarily strong pool of highly talented directors, producers, and cinematographers, as well as other film professionals, has made Poland an emerging creative center in Europe, and strengthened the country’s domestic film market. This is also why the Motion Picture Association of America recently ranked Poland 18th in their annual Top 20 International Box Office Markets for 2017. We are confident that after the introduction of the film incentive program over the next few months, Poland will be placed even higher on this prestigious list next year, and will develop further as an international film and TV production hub. The eagerly awaited first Polish Netflix original series is already shooting, and Tomasz Naumiuk is one of the DoPs. You can read more about him on page 24. If you want to learn more about Polish companies that can rise to every post-production challenge, go to page 14. No special effects are necessary when make-up artist Waldemar Pokromski is part of the creative team (more on page 22). We also encourage you to take a closer look at Poland’s wonderful and versatile locations (pages 32-37). These are sure to enrich any film production.

©© MARCIN KUŁAKOWSKI / PISF, FILM COMMISSION POLAND; COVER: © ŁUKASZ BĄK

Radosław Śmigulski General Director of the Polish Film Institute

Tomasz Dąbrowski Head of Film Commission Poland

CONTENTS Editorial 1 NEWS Production news 2 CANNES 2018 Paweł Pawlikowski 4 Impossible Figures and Other Stories 9 The Fugue 10 The Other 11 The Harvesters 12 Six-pack from Poland 13

TALENTS Post it in Poland 14 The Coldest Game 18 Agnieszka Kurzydło 2o Waldemar Pokromski 22 Tomasz Naumiuk 24 Sound Mind Studio 26 MONEY BANK Get financed in Poland 28 Polish Film Commissions 30 Box Office in Poland 31

LOCATE&SHOOT Get a royal treatment in Poland 32 Modernism talking in Poland 36 REMAINS OF THE DAY Before Neverland was found 38 Czeching out Polish cinema 40

Publisher: Film Commission Poland (Tomasz Dąbrowski, Anna E. Dziedzic, Dana Pohl). Contact details: ul. Chełmska 21 bud. 4/56, 00-724 Warsaw, Poland. email: office@filmcommissionpoland.pl Editor in chief: Ola Salwa. Writers: Vassilis Economu, Darek Kuźma, Magdalena Maksimiuk, Dagmara Romanowska, Sebastian Smoliński, Artur Zaborski. Graphic Designer: Anna Myśluk. Layout Designer: Marcin Kiedio. Photo Editor: Marcin Kapica. English Editor: Steve Canty. Photo on the cover: Łukasz Bąk. Special thanks: Ewa Borguńska (FPCA), Robert Baliński, Marzena Cieślik, Olga Domżała, Marta Sikorska, Magda Wylężałek (Polish Film Institute), Ewa Puszczyńska, Ania Pińczykowska, Piotr Dzięcioł, Paweł Pawlikowski, Stanisław Dziedzic, Michał Weres, Marcin Pieszczyk, Tomasz Florczyk, Magdalena Rychła, Natalia Woda, Michał Wiatr, Magda Wunsche, Aga Samsel. .

NEWS

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Polish actors in Sobibor cast Michalina Olszańska (The Lure, I, Olga Hepnarová), Mikołaj Krawczyk and Michał Olszewski (Baby Bump, below) all worked on the Russian-German-Lithuanian-Polish war drama Sobibor. The film was directed by Konstantin Khabenskiy, who also plays the lead and retells the story of the mass breakout from the Sobibór Nazi concentration camp in 1943.

SZUMOWSKA EDITING NEW FILM Only months after she brought the Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for Mug home, Małgorzata Szumowska is hard at work on her eighth film, All Inclusiv. It’s said to be a contemplative story about a group of Polish women, who go on a trip to Morocco. Each has experienced some kind of disappointment or loss

and they are all either single, divorced or widowed. They rediscover themselves after leaving their hotel and taking their first trip around Africa – partly through their encounters with Arab women. All Inclusiv will combine documentary and fiction in an experimental way, according to Szumowska. The script was written by Szu-

mowska and Michał Englert, who also lensed the film. The cast includes Andrzej Chyra (In The Name of…, Frost), Izabela Kuna and a group of non-actors. The film was produced by Nowhere (Poland) and Lamia Chrabi was the line producer in Morroco. The premiere is scheduled for late 2018 or early 2019. Memento Films is handling world sales.

New York-based Małgosia Turzańska has already worked on the Netflix cult series Stranger Things (she created costumes for Eleven), Lynn Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here (below), and Taylor Sheridan’s Hell or High Water. She is currently working on Casey Affleck’s upcoming film Light of my Life.

Polish part of Gareth Jones shooting finished in April Polish locations for Agnieszka Holland’s new film included Zagłębie Palace of Culture in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Silesia Province Office in Katowice, Dietel Palace in Sosnowiec, Pyskowice, Kraków City Hall,

Goetz Palace in Brzesko, Polish National Opera in Warsaw. Filming has also taken place in Ukraine and is scheduled for completion in the UK in June. The eponymous protagonist of the film is the journalist who reported on the Holodomor. Gareth Jones is produced by Andrea Serdaru-Barbul (who also wrote the script), Klaudia

Śmieja and Stanisław Dziedzic from Film Produkcja (Poland), Angus Lamont from Crab Apple Films (UK), and Egor Olesov from Kinorob (Ukraine). World sales are being handled by WestEnd Films.

©© ROBERT PAŁKA/FILMPRODUKCJA, PRZEMEK CHRUŚCIELEWSKI, PROMO

Costume designer to watch

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Jagoda Szelc finishing new film

Her striking debut Tower. A Bright Day was a sensation at the 2017 Polish Film Festival, and had its international premiere at the Berlinale Forum. Meanwhile, Szelc has been busy preparing and shooting her sophomore effort, Monument, produced by Agata Golańska (The Polish National Film School in Łódź). The entire cast are students from the School’s acting faculty. The short description of the plot sounds mysterious, which is consistent with Szelc’s artistic style. “They didn’t know each other, they were just bunch of

students from different years. They knew that they had woken up one morning in a cold bus. They knew that their professional traineeship was to be carried out in a hotel and that they would be supervised by an experienced manager. They knew it was going to be an ordeal, but they didn’t expect it to be this hard. They didn’t know that time is ruthless, and that space becomes an impossible figure. Monument.” The world sales are open.

Volterra is produced by Marta Habior and Marta Lewandowska from No Sugar Film (Poland), and co-produced by Tank Production,

Motion Group, and Aeroplan Studios. The premiere is planned for 2019. The Polish distributor is Next Film. World sales are open.

Winter Flies (Kawki na drodze) tells the story of fourteenyear-old Mara, who is stopped by the police while driving. He refuses to give his name, tell them where he is from, or whether the car, which has plates from the other side of the country, is stolen or not. Now, the police have to establish who Mara is, and how much of what he decides to tell them is true. The music for the film was composed by Poland’s Paweł Szamburski (and conducted by Jan Młynarski, Michał Skrok, and Piotr Zabrodzki). DI Factory

in Warsaw is handling the post-production work. The producer is Jiří Konečný from Endorfilm (Czech Republic), and the co-producers are Natalia Grzegorzek from Koskino (Poland), Ivan Ostrochovský from Punkchart Films (Slovakia) and Rok Biček from Cvinger Film (Slovenia). Winter Flies were supported by the Czech Republic State Cinematography Fund, the Slovenian Film Centre, the Polish Film Institute, and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund. World sales are open.

Jacek Borcuch wraps Volterra in Italy The Polish writer-director (All That I Love, Lasting) finished shooting on location in Tuscany in late April. The film revolves around Maria Linde, a Polish poet and Nobel Prize Laureate. Under the influence of powerful emotions, brought on by a tragic event, she eschews her courteous “thank you” and launches into a politically incorrect tirade during an honorary citizenship award ceremony. From that moment on, she suffers the severe consequences of her speech. “This is a story about family, love, longing, lost hopes, and fear of the unknown. The fear of hundreds

of millions of people around the world. But above all, it is a story about a great passion for life, about a clash of civilizations,” says Borcuch, who co-wrote the script with one of Poland’s most popular writers, Szczepan Twardoch. The film stars Krystyna Janda (who won the Palme D’Or in 1990 for her role in Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation and was a favorite actress of Andrzej Wajda), and Kasia Smutniak (Perfect Strangers), who became a major star in Italy after leaving Poland. They are joined by Antonio Catania, Lorenzo de Moor, Vincent Riotta and Robin Renucci.

Olmo Omerzu’s latest film is co-produced with Poland

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©© MAGDA WUNSCHE & AGA SAMSEL

CANNES 2018

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SCULPTING FILMS

©© ŁUKASZ BĄK

Ola Salwa

Cold War (Zimna wojna) is the most anticipated Polish film of 2018. It is also the country’s most closely guarded secret – only a few details have been revealed prior to the Cannes premiere. The story is set in the 1950s and 1960s, and revolves around Zula (Joanna Kulig), a talented dancer, and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a pianist. Zula and Wiktor are one of those couples that cannot be together and cannot be apart. But if you were expecting another conventional love story set against the backdrop of cold-war Europe, you are in for a surprise. Pawlikowski never follows obvious narratives, always deviates from the rules of the genre, and is more interested in cracks than smooth surfaces. His films are always highly personal - not in a direct, autobiographical sense, but rather as the result of an ongoing creative process. Pawlikowski has frequently said in interviews that this poses an unrelenting, albeit positive and welcome, challenge for his producers and his team. Pawlikowski takes his inspiration from everything around him – an image, a conversation, a Czech New Wave or Italian Neorealist film he saw decades ago, a half-forgotten feeling. Once he has enough material to work with, he goes into the reduction phase, stripping away the pieces that don’t feel organic. This process, of “sculpting” the film continues through casting, location scouting, and even shooting. Pawlikowski asks his producers for a few weeks’ break in the middle of the filming period, so that he can edit some of the material and rewrite the rest of the film. His special style of work results in a very coherent, complex oeuvre. His screenplays are usually around 60 pages long, and are more of a sketch of the final picture, and a document required by financiers, than a bible. Pawlikowski pens the script alone, but usually has someone to, as he puts it, “bounce his ideas off”. For Cold War, these collaborators were the late Polish writer Janusz Głowacki and script consultant Piotr Borkowski. In conversation with Polish Film Magazine (2/2016), he said that he had been working on the Cold War story for ten years and that the “characters are inspired by people who were close to me, but it’s not based on anything that actually happened.”

Oscar-winning director Paweł Pawlikowski brings his fifth film, Cold War, to Cannes’ Main Competition and demonstrates that the only cinema worth fighting for is that which emerges from the heart and the mind

Joanna Kulig

Life reflected in the eyes Pawlikowski’s films are like exploring a country that feels both familiar and unfamiliar and is inhabited by people with mysterious and complex inner lives that are sometimes seen reflected in their eyes in long shots. Take Diana Korzun, who plays the lead in Pawlikowski’s Last Resort. Her character, Tanya, moves from Russia to the UK with her pre-teen son to meet her British boyfriend, but ends up in a grim high-rise while Pawlikowski never folher spurious political refugee application seems to be lows obvious narratives, held up indefinitely. Stuck always deviates from the in limbo, she tries to find rules of the genre, and is a way out of the situation, more interested in cracks but only succeeds in making things even more complicatthan smooth surfaces

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Ida

ed for herself. Last Resort was often reduced to “refugee tale”, but transcends that description on every level. Pawlikowski is not interested in the social or political angle - he stays focused on Tanya and her son, who both struggle with loneliness, loss, and disillusionment with their “Western paradise”. Set in a remote location, immersed in a melancholic gray-blue light, it is a timeless story about love and the lack thereof, and liberation – Tanya’s final decision to return to her homeland and to resolve her issues, seemingly illogical, is the right one. The authentic, profound and intense feel of the film is not only a result of the director’s solid documentary background (more about his films on the next page), but also personal input. Pawlikowski has often said in interviews that he based Last Resort on his own experience – he left his native Poland in 1971. That statement shouldn’t be taken literally. While he admittedly puts a lot of his own experience in his films, it is nevertheless transformed. He brings bits and pieces to the screen, like in the the Oscar-winning Ida is set 1960s Poland, and is sculpted from bleak landscapes, jazz, and an atmosphere of apparent calm.

Beyond words Pawlikowski is one of those filmmakers who has an unfailing eye for detail and nuance (both physical and psychological) and a great deal of dexterity in creating onscreen mood. He can also convey as much with words as he can with silence. This might partly be explained by his specific upbringing, and the fact that he has watched as many films as possible from an early age. Back in communist Poland, he used to go to the cinema several times a week, and he also - through his mother, who lectured in English at Warsaw University - had access to the latest British films. He didn’t understand a word of English, but he soaked up the atmosphere and the images. A few years later, after leaving Poland and staying with his mother in Italy and Germany (before finally settling in the UK), he repeated the experience in real life. Not knowing the language, he focused While he on observing and making admittedly puts sense of everything witha lot of his own out the medium of words. That attitude can to some experience in extent be attributed to the his films, it is titular Ida, a young nun, nevertheless who just before giving her transformed vows, leaves the convent to meet her aunt Wanda for the first time. Even though Ida speaks Polish, she knows very little about the outside world, and assumes the position of a keen observer. Traveling through the country with Wanda, who for her part, has experienced too much in life, Ida gets a crash course in the troubled and complicated, but also subtle and alluring, nature of the real world. Ida was the first film Pawlikowski shot in Poland and the first Polish film to win an Academy Award (in the Best Foreign Film Category). Ida was heavily criticized in the conservative press, and by conservative politicians, in Poland for reopening a painful chapter in the country’s recent history (the protago-

THE POLISH PRODUCERS SAY…

EWA PUSZCZYŃSKA

PIOTR DZIĘCIOŁ

This is a spare and simple love story, but the real challenge here was to show the audience how universal it is, and to leave them a lot of space for their own interpretation. As usual, Paweł’s film is multilayered and he tackles many themes, including that of an artist in exile, and that of identity - he poses the question as to whether identity remains unchanged wherever we are, or whether it adjusts to the location in which it finds itself and the rules that apply there. For Paweł, there is nothing more important than his film. As his producer, I trusted him completely, and I agreed when he decided to delete some expensive scenes, because they didn’t fit. It was a difficult decision for me, but the end result was worth it.

As regards the production, the film posed enormous challenges, as it is set in Poland, Berlin, Paris, and Yugoslavia in the 1950s. Cold War was mostly filmed in Poland, but some scenes were shot in Paris and Croatia. This was made possible thanks to some brilliant set design from Kasia Sobańska and Marcel Sławiński.The producers also faced an uphill battle to complete the financial plan. Despite financial backing from PFI, Canal+, Eurimages, BFI, Film4, CNC, and Arte France as well as 3 distributors from co-producing countries and four Polish regional funds, we had to resort to bank loans to secure the cash flow. We are happy that Amazon will be the American distributor of the film. noted by Artur Zaborski

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The Last Resort

My Summer of Love

nist’s Jewish parents were murdered by their Polish neighbor). That case serves as a perfect example of how Pawlikowski’s body of work is often misunderstood. An ancillary element in the film somehow becomes what it is almost exclusively identified with. In Last Resort it was a refugee theme, and in My Summer of Love - a lesbian coming out, and the clash of social classes. The latter film, which won a BAFTA award, and helped launch Emily Blunt’s career, shows Pawlikowski’s mastery in combining tones and extremely different moods that can either instantly change or coexist. The story revolves around two girls in their late teens, Tamsin, who is on a summer break from her boarding school, and working-class Mona, who leads a chaotic but

colorful life in the country. They become fast friends and experience love, loss, anger and disappointment in all its juvenile intensity. Almost as important as the plot, is the English landscape - sunny and bucolic one minute, and ominous the next, reflecting the inner word of the protagonist. The visual aspect, whether it’s framing, lighting, or final choice of color temperature and palette, is assiduously planned and executed in every one of Pawlikowski’s films. Contradiction is another feature of his work – all his films are painstakingly and conscientiously designed, carefully planned to the very last detail, but at the same time they are full of life and have very spontaneous feel.

PAWEŁ PAWLIKOWSKI’S FEATURE FILMS Last Resort

My Summer of Love

The Woman in the Fifth

Ida

Cold War

2001

2004

2011

2013

2018

COLD WAR: THE LEADING ACTORS

JOANNA KULIG She has worked with Pawlikowski twice before (on The Woman in The Fifth and the Oscar-winning Ida). The director got to know her well, and discovered that she had impressive vocal skills, as well as being a talented actress. Pawlikowski thoroughly and seamlessly integrates music into his imagery, so the muliti-talented Kulig was a perfect fit. In Ida, she performs popular Polish songs from the 1960s. Kulig also played a supporting role alongside Juliette Binoche in Małgorzata Szumowska’s Elles.

TOMASZ KOT One of Poland’s most successful and talented actors. In Cold War he plays Wiktor, the pianist. “For Kot, it was very different way of working, as only Paweł knows what he wants from his actors. But the actor gave everything he had in order to please the director. I think this role could catapult his career, and make him an international name,” says Ewa Puszczyńska. Kot recently appeared in Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor and Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods, which topped Polish box-office in 2014. Cold War was supported by four film funds from Poland: Łódź Film Fund, Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund, Podkarpackie Film Fund, Silesia Film Fund.

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AROUND EUROPE WITH PAWEŁ

Before moving on to feature films, Pawlikowski made a few astonishing documentaries. These are still available on his website: www.pawelpawlikowski.co.uk

1991 From Moscow to Petushki A poetic, subtle and melancholic documentary. The title alludes to the famous Russian samizdat book Moscow-Pietushki (also published as Moscow to the End of the Line) Venedikt Yerofeyev. The author is omnipresent in the film. He appears personally. He talks about his life, and is the subject of stories told by people who knew him. He is also present in his poems (read by an English narrator) and the spirit of his writing is transferred to the screen.

1992 Serbian Epics Pawlikowski goes to the Balkans during the Bosnian War. Instead of doing a conventional reporting job, however, he observes Serbian culture close up – its myths, history, and folk music – and examines how they are fuelling nationalistic sentiments. During his journey, Pawlikowski meets Radovan Karadzić, leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and accompanies him to a family meeting and a war cabinet. The extent to which the normal is interwoven with the horrible is gruesomely captivating. Another person he stumbles upon is Russian writer Eduard Limonov, who will be the protagonist of Pawlikowski’s upcoming feature.

1992 Dostoyevsky’s Travels The titular Dostoyevsky is a great-grandson of the great Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He accepts an invitation from the Dostoyevsky Society in Germany to give a lecture. Once there, he travels further West, retracing the footsteps his famous forebear had made over a century earlier. He is given the royal treatment on account of his name and tries to find a way to capitalize on it, so that he can purchase his dream car - a Mercedes. The film plays out like a black comedy, but leaves a bitter aftertaste – the West is not as heavenly nor the East as profound as popular conceptions would have us believe.

1995 Tripping with Zhirinovsky The subject is ultra-nationalist Russian politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. We follow him as he campaigns for the 1996 presidential election. He meets with potential voters (offering them his own brand of vodka and a ridiculous, rousing song), and outlines his great plans for Russia. From his conversation with Pawlikowski, the scenes at his rallies, and his dancing on the ferry, Zhirinovsky comes across as a preposterous figure that might have been created by a talented novelist. Sadly, though, he is for real.

1998 Twockers The last short film made by Pawlikowski is a hybrid of documentary and fiction. It follows Trevor, a teenager, who, similarly to the other characters in the film, should not be pigeonholed. He seems to be a tough juvenile delinquent (he is one of the titular Twockers - car thieves), but deep down, he is very lonely and is looking for love, just like everyone else.

MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA

ŁUKASZ ŻAL Cold War’s cinematographer His talent for telling a story visually was acknowledged with an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography for his work on Ida (shared with Ryszard Lenczewski, who was replaced by Żal when he fell ill). Pawlikowski is one of those directors who have immense influence on the visual aspect of the film, so his

choice of cinematographer is crucial. “It very soon became obvious that Paweł and I understood each other very well, that we had a similar way of looking for means of expression and thinking about the picture,” Żal explained to IndieWire. In Cold War they work with both minimalism and black and white once more,

but the rest was made as a contrast to Ida. There are no stills, and the camera constantly moves in time to the rhythm of the songs, making them both integral storytellers. Żal has also recently worked on Dovlatov directed by Alexey German jr. and Loving Vincent directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman. (AZ)

©© PIOTR BERNAŚ; PROMO

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Magdalena Maksimiuk

A CHINESE BOX With the second installment of the triptych Impossible Figures and Other Stories, simply but perversely called III, Marta Pajek has landed a spot in the Cannes Short Film Competition and is in the running for the Short Film Palme D’Or

The Polish animated short, produced by Animoon in Warsaw, is a story about a mature couple who meet in a waiting room. Despite their differences, they slowly but steadily get closer to one another, but their first romantic encounters quickly turn into a passionate, violent game from which no winner emerges. III is a continuation of the first film in the triptych (entitled II). The Kielce-raised and Kraków-educated director has already written the script for the closing film. This will follow the motif of impossible figures, i.e. objects that can be drawn, but not constructed in reality. “I’m thinking about showing the three films in a gallery, in the form of an installation,” she says, when I ask her about the overall composition and concept of the project. Pajek studied under the famous Jerzy Kucia in Poland and the legendary Priit Pärn in Turku, Finland. Her work in animation is a wonderful synthesis of her major interests: not just the visual arts, but also dance, music, sounds, and graphics. “My films are like Chinese box stories - open, meticulously planned, and developed in a very detailed way. They can also be interpreted freely,” she adds. III is produced by Animoon (with producers Piotr Szczepanowicz, Grzegorz Wacławek and production manager Zofia Jaroszuk) and co-funded by the Polish Film Institute. “I’ve been very lucky with the financial side of my projects, and from my perspective, I have to admit that the system actually works,” she explains when we talk about the difficulties of financing short animations. “The main thing is that Polish shorts, both animated and live-action, are watched and appreciated around the world,” she continues, still not quite believing that she will soon be showing her film in Cannes.

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KEEPING IT REAL

Magdalena Maksimiuk

In The Fugue, Smoczyńska follows the story of Alicja, who suffers from memory loss. After coming to terms with what happened, she returns to her family, reluctantly resuming the roles of mother, wife and daughter. “It’s a completely different story than The Lure,” explains Smoczyńska, adding “definitely more of a psychological thriller than a fairytale.” Smoczyńska’s sophomore feature comes on the back of some huge successes in the U.S. After the Sundance triumph of her predatory mermaid tale, the Wrocław-born director was invited to create a well-received installment of this year’s SXSW’s entry, an anthology horror The Field Guide to Evil. The film deals with myths, folktales, and our

Gabriela Muskała (upper right) and Łukasz Simlat (bottom left) play leading roles in The Fugue.

darkest fears – which underlie the horror genre. “Sadly, genre movies are not as common here in Europe as they are in the U.S.,” Smoczyńska tells me an hour after the official Cannes announcement. “The films I make, like The Lure, are much more likely billed as arthouse movies than cinematic experiments with different genres on the continent,” she adds. The Fugue, written by Polish actress Gabriela Muskała (These Daughters of Mine), who also plays the lead, might just be a mixture of the two worlds the director has in mind, viz. a meticulously planned arthouse movie, and a genre film that everyone talks about. The film is produced by the Warsaw production house MD4 and co-produced by Sweden’s Common Ground Pictures, Film i Väst, Axman Productions from the Czech Republic, the Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund and Odra Film. “The success of The Lure helped me get financing abroad,

©© PROMO; RAFAŁ PLACEK

Three years after winning the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her unique vision and design for The Lure, Agnieszka Smoczyńska is back. Her latest offering, The Fugue, premieres in the Critics’ Week section. And things have suddenly taken a much more serious turn

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DON’T JUDGE In her latest short, presented in the Cannes Cinéfondation section, talented young Polish animator Marta Magnuska confronts us with The Other Dagmara Romanowska There are whispers in the crowd. A girl is looking over a barrier. She is the first to notice HIM. “He looks a bit different than we do… Two arms. Two legs. One head. Everything seems to be the same. But it’s not,” an elderly man grins with disgust. Marta Magnuska, The Polish National Film School in Łódź and Strzemiński Academy of Art student, whose previous short Foreign Body won festivals in Lisbon and Utrecht, doesn’t reflect upon a particular event. Her story stays universal (there is no scenography, just faces, a bit caricatural, imperfect), yet has this very current

since I wasn’t entirely anonymous anymore, but neither was the producer Agnieszka Kurzydło* of MD4. She’d produced films by Małgorzata Szumowska, Katarzyna Rosłaniec and Marcin Koszałka before we even got a chance to work together. I have to say, however, that we received support for this film from the Polish Film Institute before The Lure even premiered,” says Smoczyńska as she dashes off to add the finishing touches to The Fugue.

*read more on page 20

Agnieszka Smoczyńska

feeling. “The problem of relating to the other has been triggering a lot of feelings in me for some time,” she says. The reactions in the crowd are rapidly changing. With each simple yet powerful pencil stroke dynamics change, and feelings grow stronger - from fascination to anger, from black and white to color. But there is no definite conclusion. “I intended the film to have an open ending, not to impose any interpretation nor to be a lecturer,” explains Magnuska. “I don’t judge, I just observe and try to understand why the values and ideals so widely declared by society don’t find coverage in reality, and how easily we can be manipulated in the face of a threat, real or imaginary.” She is right, isn’t she?

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Polish cinematographer Michał Englert lensed the film.

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW Etienne Kallos’ debut The Harvesters, a French-Greek-Polish-South African co-production that premieres in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard section, focuses on the last conservative African white minority Vassilis Economou

Greek-South African filmmaker Kallos’s previous shorts were selected in multiple festivals. Firstborn (2009) won the Corto Cortissimo Lion at the Venice Film Festival, while Doorman (2006) was entered into the Cannes Cinéfondation. The Harvesters is set in the Free State Province – one of the most conservative in South Africa. The Province remains the sole haven of Africa’s only white ethnicity, the Afrikaners. The minority is still going through the postcolonial transitional period, and its rural farming culture values strength, and imposes masculinity and strict bigotry. This is the environment in which teenager Johan is trying to hide his sensitive character and his homosexuality. When his mother decides to adopt Pieter, a homeless orphan, former drug addict, and womanizer, the balance changes, especially when the newcomer aims to become Johan’s brother. The two boys, who could not be more different, now have to prove themselves worthy of their roles in both the family and society, and defend their positions without disclosing their hidden lives. “I am extremely happy and thankful to be part of The Harvesters,” says Mariusz Włodarski from Lava Films (Poland). “When Sophie Erbs from Cinéma Defacto, offered me the project, it was hard to get Polish support, but at that point, the Polish Film Institute opened

a scheme for minority co-productions. We submitted The Harvesters in the first opening of the fund and we received the support. We also brought Polish talents on board - cinematographer Michał Englert, editor Agnieszka Glińska, and several technicians. The color grading was handed to DI Factory in Warsaw. I think we had a great cast and a hardworking crew. People devoted themselves to this project.” As for the Polish-Greek collaboration, Heretic’s producer, Giorgos Karnavas, added: “Working with Lava Films was an extraordinary experience. The Polish crew was truly stellar, and we are looking forward for the next opportunity to collaborate.” The Harvesters is produced by Cinéma Defacto (France), and co-produced by Heretic “The Polish (Greece), Lava Films (Pocrew was truly land), and Spier Films (RSA), stellar, and with the support of CNC, the Greek Film Centre, the we are lookPolish Film Institute, Foning forward dation Gan, Eurimages, and for the next ERT SA. The French outlet opportunity to Pyramide International is collaborate” handling world sales.

Actor Brent Vermeulen plays one of the leading roles in The Harvesters.

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THE PROGRAM:

SIX-PACK FROM POLAND New Horizons, together with the Polish Film Institute, will be presenting Polish films in progress as a part of “New Horizons Polish Days goes to Cannes” in Palais K-Level 4 on Sunday 13th from 10 am to 12 pm “I’m very happy that New Horizons has found itself among the international events invited to participate in the ‘Goes to Cannes’ project for two consecutive years now,” says Marcin Pieńkowski, artistic director of New Horizons IFF. “This time, together with the Polish Film Institute, we will be presenting 6 projects. We tried to make this selection varied, so it includes long awaited debut features (Michał Szcześniak’s Fisheye), as well as new films from established filmmakers (Jan Jakub Kolski’s Pardon). We chose projects that are distinct, courageous, universal

Hurray, We’re Still Alive! (Hura, wciąż żyjemy!) dir. Agnieszka Polska About: A film crew waits for an influential director to come back. Instead of him, a member of a farleft militant group arrives to get back money the missing filmmaker has borrowed. D

Fisheye dir. Michał Szcześniak About: A girl is kidnapped and held prisoner. During her captivity, she learns that she was adopted and her family have buried the uncomfortable truth. In order to break, free she needs to solve a mystery from the past. F

The Language of Birds (Mowa ptaków) dir. Xawery Żuławski co-dir.: Jan Komasa, Jacek Borcuch, Piotr Kielar About: A collective portrait showing people from different backgrounds, lost in the chaos of a big city (Warsaw). It channels the social unrest currently sweeping Poland, in a confusion of the time in which we live. F

POLISH REPRESENTATIVES AT THE PRODUCERS NETWORK IN CANNES

Of Animals and Men (Żabińscy. O zwierzętach i ludziach) dir. Łukasz Czajka About: Some 300 people, mostly Jews, took shelter in the Warsaw Zoo during WWII – right under the Nazis’ noses. The surreal atmosphere of those events is brought back to life with the help of reenacted scenes with animals, interviews with survivors, and archive footage. D

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and whose directors have immense imagination (hence the presence of Agnieszka Polska, Xawery Żuławski and Adrian Panek). We chose films that have international potential, because those meetings are dedicated for international professionals, mostly sales agents. That’s why we included Łukasz Czajka’s film about Jan and Antonina Żabinski. I hope that the presence of the Polish producers on the biggest film market in the world will result in deals with top-notch sales agents and that finished films will be selected for major film festivals.”

Pardon (Ułaskawienie) dir. Jan Jakub Kolski About: A story written into the dramatic history of post-war Poland, which remains universal in its telling - the struggle of two parents to regain their dignity and balance in life after losing their child. F

Werewolf (Wilkołak) dir. Adrian Panek About: Summer 1945. Eight children released from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp arrive at an orphanage housed in a palace in the forest. They are slowly trying to recover, but the nightmare returns. F

F - feature; D - documentary

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1. SEBASTIAN PETRYK 2. JAN PAWLICKI

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3. AGATA SZYMAŃSKA 4. NATALIA GRZEGORZEK 5. ZUZANNA KRÓL

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POST IT IN POLAND

Darek KuĹşma

Polish post-production houses are competing successfully for a slice of the global entertainment industry pie

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“Internationally, portfolio is king, but it’s not a matter of specializing in one area. At least not in our experience” (Matt Tokarz, Head of VFX at Platige Image)

©© WARNER BROS.

post-production work, with top companies striking up relationships with Hollywood studios, streaming giants, and the most recognizable global brands.

Poland might be a relatively small market, especially when assessed against its limited cinematic visibility outside the region and the glaring lack of any government incentives or financial schemes that would make it easier to attract a large body of clients from various backgrounds. Be that as it may, the Polish film industry is expanding in a number of interesting ways, the most obvious being increasingly strong box-office figures. The Motion Picture Association of America’s Theatrical and Home Entertainment Market Environment report for 2017 ranks Poland 18th among the Top 20 International Box Office Markets – All Films. It is worth an estimated $300 million, which makes it the 8th biggest in Europe. Another way Poles are making their mark on the global entertainment industry is through their

From batttlefield to Hollywood studio The largest Polish post-production house is Platige Image, which has 20 years of experience and a number of success stories under its belt, including Tomasz Bagiński’s Oscar-nominated fantasy short The Cathedral, the upcoming full-lenght animation Another Day of Life (you can read the invterview with the film’s directors in PFM 1/2018) and the dazzling cinematics for The Witcher series of video games. Last year, the company created the painterly, stylish animated prologue to Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman which grossed $821 million worldwide. The company had flirted with Hollywood before, but this was its first big studio project – and a breakthrough that should bring its wide array of services to the attention of other major clients. “The big players look for a particular set of skills,” says Platige’s Head of VFX Matt Tokarz. “We were contacted by Warner Bros. because of a stereoscopic reproduction of the Jan Matejko painting The Battle of Grunwald we had made for the National Museum in Warsaw. This medieval battle changed the course of European history. It was one of their references for the opening to Wonder Woman. We weren’t in the loop to start with, but our previous work tipped the scales.” Tokarz explains that the company had to apply for all the necessary certificates and documents to work for a Hollywood studio, but once the paperwork was done, they seized the opportunity and took their game to the next level. “Internationally, portfolio is king, but it’s not a matter of specializing in one area. At least not in our experience,” continues Tokarz. “Each and every project is slightly different and requires a unique approach, so when you take on bigger clients, you inevitably have to perform additional services, things you haven’t done before but which you can specialize in after a while. And so it goes.” Platige Image makes over 300 minutes of animation a year and estimates that almost 50% of its sales value comes from exporting services. “It took us a while to get Animated prologue to where we are now, but we’ve learned how to share the to Wonder Woman experience and know-how of our various departments is the work of and implement it in different projects, thus creating Platige Image. original content,” adds Tokarz. Portfolio is King One area in which Platige Image is a world-class producer is cinematics. These are, basically, animated promos, intros, and sophisticated ads for video games. “You might find this hard to believe, but this is not a big market. There’s only a few companies that do what we do. This was one area in which we’ve become a recognizable brand and are treated by everyone as equals,” explains Tokarz. “Another thing is that video games don’t require anything like tones of paperwork that feature films do.

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Chimney Poland was involved in creating the VFX and overseeing the DI process for Atomic Blonde.

pation. We had to be very disciplined. You learn your way on these kinds of sets, and get prepared for bigger and bigger challenges.” Another immersive project is Ambition directed by Tomek Bagiński, which was a collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA). The the story is about one of the most important space exploration endeavors of this decade. “Platige’s extensive experience in building the narrative and producing stunning visual effects helped to prevent scientific adventure in a way that has never been done before,” says Tokarz. Top secret projects Zuzanna Hencz, CFO of Chimney Poland, another upand-coming Polish post-production company, stresses the same points: “What you need nowadays is a strong portfolio. Local companies cannot compete with international power-players in terms of human resources or workflow, but it is entirely possible to get noticed through your work. It can be even more important than the money aspect. Big studios and global players aren’t afraid to hire a post-production house that is unknown to them, but which has proven time and again that it can provide a quality service and cater for their specific needs,” she says. Another thing is that the globalized world has opened many peculiar opportunities. “Some projects require the utmost secrecy - our graphic artists cannot share anything, even with us - but because we handle it professionally, our reputation grows. Safety

And it definitely helps that the market doesn’t have any tax incentives, which can still be a big barrier for using Poland.” Making its name in the cinematics’ industry with a number of highly artistic creations has helped Platige Image to be even more competitive outside of it. “There are dozens of companies which can create explosions and space battle effects for blockbusters, but when it comes to a more artistic, painterly approach, like the one we perfected through our work with cinematics, we offer a unique kind of service.” says Tokarz. One of the giants who noticed Platige Image’s approach was NBCUniversal. The project was a promo trailer for second season of their popular Shades of Blue’s series starring Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta. “We were involved in the process from an early stage, which is always a good thing for a post-production company. We prepared very detailed storyboards and knew exactly what we’d have to shoot on the set. There, time is money, and you are also judged on how you can handle the pressure,” says Tokarz, adding that the company experienced the same thing when working on the two-minute teaser for the History Channel’s second season of Vikings. “We had two Saturdays to shoot what we required with the actors. Our time was taken out of the project’s shooting schedule, and we shared it with other promotional activities that required the actors’ partici-

Going international can be tough, but at the same time, it can be quite easy. A lot depends on luck and circumstances issues are, apart from all the paperwork, one of the most important requirements of major clients,” continues Hencz. The sky is the limit That Chimney Poland produces quality work is beyond dispute, though the company’s international reach is enhanced by the fact that it is one of the fourteen subsidiaries of the Chimney Group. “It definitely makes life easier – we can use graphic designers, colorists, directors and other professionals from other companies in the group, if they fit a project,” says Hencz. “The Polish post-production market is still in its infancy, at least in terms of feature film work, and this can make it a difficult training ground. Because we work closely with American, German and Swedish subsidiaries, our artists get a boost of skills and experience, and then use it in their own projects.” One of the most recent examples of Chimney Poland’s services is David Leitch’s spy thriller Atomic Blonde. “The job was split between German,

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Amanda Seyfried plays one of main roles in Anon.

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Safety issues are, apart from all the paperwork, one of the most important requirements of major clients

Swedish and Polish subsidiaries. Our part involved VFX work and overseeing the DI process throughout the project’s development and post-production.” Chimney Poland’s other projects include Andrew Niccol’s science fiction feature Anon, John Curran’s historical thriller Chappaquiddick, and Simon Kaijser’s drama Spinning Man. More and more Polish post-production companies are following the lead of Platige Image and Chimney Poland every year. WJTeam/Likaon, responsible for some quality puppet work in Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, is a case in point. “It started with Balbina Bruszewska’s The Wizard of U.S., which was made in Los Angeles. It brought us, through a series of purposeful and accidental contacts and conversations, to the attention of the producers of Isle of Dogs,” explains WJTeam’s Justyna Rucińska. What’s most important when it comes to getting noticed internationally? “Experience. And efficiency and effectiveness in working with a fixed time-frame without sacrificing quality. Going international can be tough, but at the same time, it can be quite easy. A lot depends on luck and circumstances,” she stresses. “Fortunately for us, puppet film is a niche market, so if you can establish contact and prove that you can do what you say you can do, it’s entirely possible to forge a relationship.” And then there’s Human Ark Animation Studio, which found its way to the Asian market through commercial work for a Vietnamese production house. “It’s a dynamic economy that’s looking for ways to transfer European and American know-how. We got in touch with them through a Polish post-production house, it always starts with one thing and leads to another,” remarks the

company’s CEO Maks Sikora. “Once we’d established our presence in Vietnam, we went there, showed our portfolio, met various production houses, and it clicked. The market is changing, though, and nearby Bangkok has a booming animation and post-production industry. As we don’t have an Asian branch, we have to work with regional companies. This makes it easier in terms of paperwork, but definitely harder when it comes to signing new brands. Our producers, through laborious research and work, have been reaching potential clients any way they can. Thanks to them, we’ve also worked in Indonesia,” adds Sikora. Brave New World With the digital age came thousands of opportunities for local companies to find ways of entering the international market, which has been expanding into a number of new and exciting areas, previously unimaginable. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of the Internet has made the world basically borderless, at least in virtual terms. Polish companies are relative latecomers, but they’ve had to overcome numerous internal and external obstacles. But they’ve managed it, and they’re getting better with every project, developing the necessary workflow, know-how, and experience to hold their own against the best. There is a lot that still needs to be done to make Poland a major player in international post-production, but as the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And you have to remember one thing about Poles: they never back down and will always find a solution to any problem – whatever the cost in terms of time, money, and sleepless nights.

The 20+ puppets used in Isle of the Dogs were made by Polish artist.

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LET’S PLAY CHESS The Cold War political thriller The Coldest Game, starring Bill Pullman and Lotte Verbeek, is the first Polish film shot in English with a view to international distribution Darek Kuźma

Palace of Culture and Science.

What if the fate of the free world depended on one man’s ability to maneuver an agent of a malevolent empire into voluntarily resigning with an army of 16 wooden pieces moving through an 8x8 checkered grid? What if, instead of a gun-toting desperado using deadly violence to tip the scales, the hero was an alcoholic and introvert with a strong aversion to any kind of authority? Would you watch such a film, knowing that maybe, just maybe, everything you saw had really happened in some form or another, and that in an alternative version of reality, it could have led to a Soviet totalitarian world order in the 21st century? Well, of course you would, and you are in luck, because The Coldest Game, a Polish-produced, English-language 1960s political thriller, with an international cast to die for, will soon be dazzling viewers worldwide. The Coldest Game is the latest production from Warsaw’s Watchout Studio, the company behind much celebrated biopics as Gods and The Art of Loving. The film is the feature debut of veteran producer/screenwriter/ director Łukasz Kośmicki, who wrote the original script with Marcel Sawicki, and sees Poland’s Palace of Culture and Science, the country’s most grandiose and controversial Communist-era edifice, transformed into a CIAKGB battlefield. The main rivalry is of course played out over a chessboard, but fear not, there will still be plenty of spy gimmicks, hard decisions made under tight time constraints, and brutal betrayals, as the protagonist, forgotten former chess champion Joshua Mansky (Bill Pullman of Lost Highway and Independence Day fame), navigates the turbulent waters of Cold War politics, fights his inner demons, and comes to grips with the fact that nothing is what it seem.

Game of smoke-and-mirrors The supporting cast includes America’s Corey Johnson (Captain Phillips), the Netherlands’ Lotte Verbeek (Nothing Personal, TV series Outlander), Poland’s Robert Więckiewicz (Walesa. Man of Hope), Russia’s Aleksey Serebryakov (Leviathan), and Britain’s James Bloor (Dunkirk). Kośmicki’s crew comprise the crème-de-la-crème of the Polish film industry, led by Academy Award-winning production designer Allan Starski (Schindler’s List) and Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Paweł Edelman (The Pianist). The project was partially funded by the Polish Film Institute The main and is supported by sales agent Hyde Park International rivalry is of course played and veteran distributor K5 International, whose Daniel Baur out over also has a producer’s credit. a chessboard The Coldest Game was shot in Warsaw and was wrapped in April. The producers are hoping for an early 2019 premiere, although at this point, with the demanding post-production process, everything is up in the air. All the pieces are, therefore, in place for a riveting combination of thriller and superb historical fiction. “I love political thrillers, John le Carré novels, and the duplicity of espionage, all of which have made their way into Łukasz and Marcel’s script,” says producer

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THE COLDEST GAME Director: Łukasz Kośmicki. Screenplay: Łukasz Kośmicki, Marcel Sawicki. Cinematography: Paweł Edelman. Cast: Bill Pullman, Lotte Verbeek, James Bloor, Corey Johnson, Robert Więckiewicz. Producers: Piotr Woźniak-Starak, Krzysztof Terej, Daniel Baur.

James Bloor, Bill Pullman, Lotte Verbeek.

Krzysztof Terej. “We’ve been Kośmicki’s working on this project conlabor of love sistently for a couple of years. may become We knew from the outset the poster boy that we wanted to make it an international contender,” for Poland’s explains Terej. And he hints exceptionality that in addition to the fun and excitement of experiencing the story’s twists and turns, international audiences should appreciate that The Coldest Game is a commentary on modern society. “Just read the headlines and you’ll see that the world hasn’t changed all that much. Geopolitically, the world is on fire. The major powers are still playing a game of smoke-and-mirrors, and individuals are left to fend for themselves.” adds producer. Checkmate in Poland The director has yet another ace up its sleeve – Warsaw locations. The many faces of the Polish capital are still relatively unknown internationally, but the city can hold its own against Prague and Budapest for urban color and production values. The sheer flamboyance of the architecture of the Palace of Culture and Science, which still dominates the Warsaw skyline, is a positive factor in its own right. The producers have assured us that the building will be an invisible yet compelling character in the story. But some scenes were also shot in the elegant and memorable Palace on the Water in the Royal Łazienki Park, and on the streets of Warsaw – altered to suit with a visual panache by the production design team. The filmmakers additionally leased an old building in which they have painstakingly reconstructed the 1960s US Embassy. Not surprisingly, Terej is

confident that the viewers will fall in love with Warsaw. The film industry is increasingly interested in projects that can deliver gripping local stories with a potential for international resonance. The Coldest Game is indeed a fictional story, but the setting and the atmosphere is based on how Poland looked, sounded and felt in the 1960s. It should work for anyone interested in multi-layered, twisty political thrillers, history buffs, and conspiracy theorists, as well as those who simply want to be entertained. If it delivers everything it promises, it could (deservedly) catapult Watchout Studio and a number of its filmmakers to the international front rank. With a cash rebate scheme reportedly in the pipeline, Kośmicki’s labor of love may become the poster boy for Poland’s exceptionality, after years of losing interesting projects to Hungary and the Czech Republic.

James Bloor

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MAD ABOUT FILM Agnieszka Kurzydło, the producer behind The Fugue, which premieres in Cannes, runs a small production company, but knows how to keep herself and everybody around her busy

Sebastian Smoliński

Kurzydło is a restless mind, and her need for new challenges aptly explains her artistic choices. “I never want to do two things the same one after the other. I don’t want to repeat patterns that have already been used. You can’t compare Grzegorz Jaroszuk’s Kebab & Horoscope with Kasia Rosłaniec’s Baby Blues, and that’s something I’m proud of,” she says, adding, “All the films we make, I hope, contribute something to the world. A lot of thought goes into every one of them. Even if they only influence one or two people. Generally speaking, making films is awesome. But we want our films to be important as well, to bring something into people’s lives. This is my idealistic ambition.”

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“We are focused on co-productions. We are some - how naturally drawn to the international market and we like working with our colleagues from abroad”

Extra’s promotion Kurzydło is quite open about her own beginnings in the movie industry: “I never wanted to be a director or a film producer, so it’s a bit funny that I now have my own company. I mostly consider myself a viewer. I studied archeology, so my only link with films back then was the Indiana Jones franchise”, she explains. However, growing up in Kraków in the 1990s gave her a lot of opportunities to visit a film set. “A lot of Holocaust productions were being shot in Kraków back then, including Schindler’s List. I started out as an extra when I was 18 years old, and I very soon became a coordinator of extras.” A few years later, Kurzydło was working as an assistant director and unit production manager, teaming up with people like the documentary filmmaker Maciej Szumowski. “I was still studying at the time, and I wanted to finish archeology – but I also needed a job,” she adds. In 2009, Kurzydło joined Zentropa International Poland, a local subsidiary of the Danish film company founded by Lars von Trier and Peter Aalbaek Jensen. Zentropa co-produced Elles, a French-Polish-German drama about young girls dating rich men for money and goods directed by Małgorzata Szumowska. The two filmmakers later made the art-house hit In the Name Of…. It was around that time that Kurzydło decided to commit herself wholly to films. Her production company MD4, which is short for “Mental Disorder 4”, was founded in 2011. 2013 was a bumper year. The first two films the company produced - Baby Blues (dir. Katarzyna Rosłaniec) and the aforementioned In the Name Of… - won awards at the Berlin Film Festival (the Crystal Bear and the Teddy Award, respectively). This was Polish cinema’s greatest Berlinale success in years. Both Szumowska and Rosłaniec have gone on to have fruitful careers, with Szumowska winning two Silver Bear (in 2015 for Best Director for Body, and in 2018 Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for the film Mug). Matching game “MD4 has no shortage of foreign partners to work with,” says Kurzydło, whose projects are all veritable labors of love. “We are focused on co-productions. We are somehow naturally drawn to the international market

and we like working with our colleagues from abroad. Czech composer Petr Ostrouchov wrote the music for Marcin Koszałka’s The Red Spider. Grzegorz Jaroszuk collaborates with the Norwegian cinematographer Magnus Borge. VFX for most of our films are made by Michal Křeček and MagicLab from Prague. I would also like to mention our great co-producers: Karla Stojáková, Viktor Taus, Bettina Brokemper, Jonas Kellagher are fantastic and truly devoted to films. I like meeting people with each other so that they could make a film together.” Team is everything The Fugue (dir. Agnieszka Smoczyńska) is the latest film produced by MD4. Smoczyńska’s previous film, the horror-musical The Lure, won a great deal of critical acclaim in the United States and was released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection. The Fugue’s post-production was a complicated process that took place in two countries, but it was certainly worth the effort. The film was admitted to the prestigious Semaine de la Critique section at Cannes this year. MD4’s another important upcoming production, Via Carpatia, was directed by Klara Kochańska (winner of the Student Academy Award) and Kasper Bajon. “The film was made in unusual circumstances. We only had 15 shooting days, which coincided with key political and social events, including the refugee crisis in Europe. Directors and actors are co-producers of the film. Shooting took place in five countries. I’m really excited about bringing Via Carpatia to audiences soon,” says Kurzydło. When asked about everyday experience of being an independent producer, she conjures up a picture of a group of friends working closely together. “Our company is very small. We do not want to hire more people and expand – we want to maintain the same quality and have enough time to take good care of every project. Dagmara Piasecka is the managing director of MD4 and a junior producer as well. Kamila Kuś is our line producer. We also collaborate regularly with the director and editor Krzysztof Komander. Kinga Krzemińska is our script supervisor. Grzegorz Jaroszuk, whose new film is in production, is one of our dearest directors. I like all these people and I like to work with them.”

MD4 FILMS IN ORDER

Baby Blues

In the Name Of...

Kebab & Horoscope

The Red Spider

The Red Captain (co-production with Czech Republic and Slovakia)

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Via Carpatia The Fugue

2018

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MAKING FACES Prolific hair and make-up designer Waldemar Pokromski, who worked on this year’s Palme D’Or contender Cold War, and the upcoming Terrence Malick film, keeps his eye on new challenges Sebastian Smoliński

His best known films include Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Polański’s The Pianist and The Ninth Gate, Haneke’s Funny Games and The White Ribbon, and Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters, not to mention a steady output of Polish films stretching back to the 1970s. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Pokromski, consummately versatile and imaginative, never hesitates to try something completely new. Earlier this year, a science fiction film by Duncan Jones (known from his debut feature Moon with Sam Rockwell) premiered on Netflix. Mute is set in 2050 and features extravagant nightclub scenes. Pokromski designed the hair and make-up for this demanding production. “I guess you need to come up with more ideas when it comes to these sorts of futuristic visions. We had to imagine how women would be doing their make-up, and how men would be having their hair cut to go to a party. My intuition was that they would be using more and more make-up. And that’s the point we make in the film.” Powdering the vision Since the premiere of Schindler’s List, Pokromski has been considered the go-to person in bringing the look and feel of World War II to the big screen. His upcoming film, Radegund (directed by Terrence Malick), is set in 1943. Shooting took place in Austria, Italy and Germany. Pokromski has a relaxed approach to his work and values collaborative effort. “Every filmmaker has his or her own vision. I read the screenplay and make my own suggestions before talking to the director. It’s also essential to conduct make-up rehearsals with key actors. I look through the camera to see how the actors’ faces are lit.”

The Oscar-winning director of Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski, invited Pokromski to prepare the makeup for his latest feature set in the 1950s and 1960s. “Cold War is a black and white film, so I had to use a different approach. I’ve had some experience with black & white films thanks to the Schindler’s List and The White Ribbon. In Cold War, the story of a great love, we wanted to capture the 1950s – the post-war period in Poland. We wanted to transport the viewer back to that time, bring back the look of things and faces from that period. I think we accomplished that. I’m satisfied with the visual style of the film.” explains Pokromski. Cold War was shot in Poland, Paris and Split. These rapid location changes are part of Pokromski’s daily life. “All artists are cosmopolites, we have no home. We are also nomads, going from country to country, depending on where the film is being shot. I recently made Snowden with Oliver Stone. We shot it in the United States, but we also visited Germany and many other countries along the way – the shooting locations corresponded somehow with the hero’s journey.” Pokromski is a leader admired for his professional attitude on the set. “I’m most often the head of the make-up department, so I have many people working with me. When we were making Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Tom Tykwer, we had a crew of 60 make-up artists. So, it’s not just about giving everyone instructions, but also managing the logistics.” Dreaming about the future Although Pokromski has worked on blockbusters like Captain America: Civil War, he finds low-budget films particularly challenging. He says that Małgorzata Szumowska’s Mug was “a smaller production, but I consider it one of my most important. The film is based on the make-up effects, since it tells the story of a man who goes through a face transplant. I’ve never had to change an actor to such an extent before, keeping the shape of his previous face in his new look. There were plans to hire two actors for both roles. But you cannot change the eyes – they have to stay the same, so Mateusz Kościukiewicz had to play both roles. I think it worked well – we synchronized the makeup with his mimics and facial muscles. After Sokurov’s Faust, where we had to do Mephisto’s make up for six hours a day, it was the biggest challenge in my career – we needed three hours every day to prepare Kościukiewicz for shooting. The tight collaboration with cinematographer Michał Englert was what made it work.” Pokromski’s biggest dream today? “I’ve made films set in virtually every period. What I would love to make now is an incredible, mind-blowing science fiction film. I would also like to design a fantastic creature from the scratch, like I did in the 1980s – but using contemporary technology.”

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CREATING SPACE Agnieszka Holland’s Gareth Jones, Netflix’s 1983, Claire Denis’s High Life. Polish cinematographer Tomasz Naumiuk is on a winning streak

Darek Kuźma

There are as many attitudes towards cinematography as there are people who have made it their vocation. For Tomasz Naumiuk, the job’s technical aspects – knowing the cameras inside out backwards, designing the lighting schemes, having all the technological knowledge necessary for a given project – come first. “I find my profession to be subservient to the director’s vision. I always try to be their partner, assist in the storytelling effort, but I fully respect the on-set hierarchy,” explains Naumiuk. “The more efficient I become in handling the technology, the more time and space the director and actors will have to tell the best story possible. I’m a technician first, because only when everything is prepared, can I be an artist.” Naumiuk’s approach seems to be bearing fruit. He is currently shooting two difficult projects back-to-back – Agnieszka Holland’s historical drama Gareth Jones and Netflix’s first original Polish se-

©© ROBERT PAŁKA; PROMO

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NAUMIUK’S FILM PICKS

FIRST ONE: Agnieszka Holland’s The Secret Garden

FAVORITE ONE: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker

ONE HE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO WORK ON: Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane

After more than a decade of working on feature films and television projects, Naumiuk has become one of Poland’s most exciting cinematographers ries 1983 (directed by Holland, Kasia Adamik, Agnieszka Smoczyńska and Olga Chajdas). In the meantime, he has somehow found time to shoot the “Earth” part of the story of Claire Denis’s ambitious science fiction High Life, continuing the work done of Yorick Le Saux. Shooting in blizzards Gareth Jones, a Polish-British-Ukrainian co-production being shot on location in Poland, Ukraine and Scotland, is based on the true story of the eponymous Welsh journalist, who discovered and publicized Stalin’s orchestrated famine and genocide in Ukraine and other parts of the Soviet Union. “It is a challenging project,” says Naumiuk. “We’ve been working 14-hour days in freezing temperatures - down to -27 °C - with strong winds, heavy rains, and blizzards, in Ukraine. But we were also constantly surprised to see just how relevant this 1930s

story is today. It was a hideous crime, and shooting it in conditions like these was tough on everyone, but knowing that the film could inspire people to talk about those events gave us strength, a sense of purpose,” he adds, admitting that this was an emotional project for him. “We were preparing it with Agnieszka for a year, and even if we initially felt horrified, we had to somehow become accustomed to it in order to tell the story properly. But I tend to have a close relationship with my crew, and they had a very strong reaction on the set. So I experienced it once again with them.” The last few months have been difficult for Naumiuk for another reason - Netflix’s 8-part alternative reality TV series in which the Soviet Union never collapsed. The story is set in 2003, twenty years after a terrorist attack has consolidated the dictatorship’s iron grip over Poland, while the main characters uncover evidence that may finally annihilate the Communist behemoth. “We had to establish our world based on how Poland looked in the early 2000s, but at the same time tweak everything to create a reality which is slightly different and somehow threatening,” explains Naumiuk. “Like, we don’t have smartphones in our version of 2003, but the characters use a certain kind of entirely believable communication devices,” he says, adding that he shared the job with his friend and mentor Arkadiusz Tomiak. Thank you kiss After more than a decade of working on feature films and television projects, Naumiuk has become one of Poland’s most exciting cinematographers. He still recalls a moment from his days as a camera operator as one of the most formative of his entire career. He was working with Emily Watson on Marleen Gorris’s Second World War drama Within the Whirlwind, shot by Tomiak. “Since watching Breaking the Waves, I had dreamt of working with Emily one day. And when it happened, knowing that it was an extremely tough project for her, I did my best to create a space in which she could feel safe,” he explains. “I must have succeeded, because at the end of the shoot, Emily came to me, hugged me, and gave me a ‘thank you’ kiss. I couldn’t have imagined a better reward,” he continues, saying that this changed his way of working with actors. “I have the utmost respect for them, how they become vulnerable before the camera to build their characters’ emotional arcs. I see my job as helping them to do that.” Naumiuk has never forgotten this lesson, even when he started working with more established stars and hot young talents, from Peter Sarsgaard and James Norton on Gareth Jones to Juliette Binoche and Robert Pattinson on High Life. He is now on the cusp of another career breakthrough, but what makes him most happy is getting the job done. “After all this time, I can tell stories that fascinate me with images and present my take on reality through them,” he says. “I’d like to have an eclectic body of work, I try to navigate through genres and styles.”

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EARS WIDE OPEN Sound Mind Studio has worked on many Polish box-office hits and a few international projects. Now they’re starting to turn up the volume Dagmara Romanowska

It’s not a big team. Just a few friends. Michał Fojcik, Bartłomiej Bogacki and Jan Rey. Professionals with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a passion for recording, editing and mixing sound, and the way it works in cinematic narration. The studio was established in 2015, and despite being compact, is equipped with state-of-the-art sound production tools. It has a large and varied selection of mics, recorders, and modern tools that allow it to work without having to compromise. Fojcik is a geek, who just has to try out new things. That’s his approach to everything he works on. “I get bored easily, and I just don’t want to keep reusing the same old patterns, tracks, combinations, and sounds,” he says and adds. “Legendary Raging Bull’s sound designer Frank E. Warner used to burn the sound tapes once the film had been finished. It’s a beautiful, unsurpassed example and metaphor of how we can think about creating unique sound for film. I always have to find a different way, since every film is different. Sound in film isn’t about editing. That’s the easy part. I learnt that from Stephen Hunter Flick, whom I was lucky to have as a mentor. Sound design is all about making choices and creating dramaturgy. You need to approach sound the way a composer writes notes. Sound has huge emotional power and changes the way you perceive time

and visuals. That’s how Sound Mind approaches every new project, no matter how big or small, independent or commercial it is, or whether it’s a feature, short or documentary film, or museum installation.” he says. Fojcik is a member of the Motion Picture Sound Editors Society, the Polish Film Academy, and the European Film Academy. He has been running his boutique Sound Mind postproduction studio in Kraków, Poland, for over three years now. Before that, he was head of sound postproduction and sound designer at Alvernia Studios. He specializes in sound design and field recording. “It was Tim Prebble, a sound designer from New Zealand, who opened my eyes and ears to the value of my own field recording in sound design,” explains Fojcik. “I’ve stayed faithful to this idea. That’s why we are constantly expanding our sound library. 4TB sound effects as of now. We have unique collections of cars, trams and other vehicle sounds, atmospheres from many places around Europe, animals, big and small machines and tons more. We recorded some of them for particular projects. Others – I’ve just always loved to listen and record. And you always need a snowy atmosphere in June, and a sunny one in January. That’s why I always have a recorder with me. Even, or especially, on holidays.” he adds. We’re about to hear sounds he recorded in Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and a few other Hollywood productions. He is just too shy (and contract bound) to reveal details. Moomins, Gods and van Gogh “Award winning films always use original sounds. That’s how uniqueness and character are created,” says Fojcik. “Every film has its own visual style, so why shouldn’t it have its own sound style and aesthetics? Sound has its own personality and is an important character in every story.” Sound Mind credits include some of Poland’s most popular productions and co-productions in recent years – the box office hit Gods, children’s animation Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, the biographical comedy The Art of Loving, and the kids action comedy Double Trouble. Yet Fojcik’s experience is much broader and ranges from independent short fiction, features and documentaries to such ambitious arthouse projects as Loving Vincent, a renowned Oscar and BAFTA nominated animation by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman in which he recreated the sounds of 19th century Europe. This is kind of his thing – to create something out of “nothing”. In documentary film 21 x New York directed by Piotr Stasik (European Film Academy Nominee), he had to create the ephemeral feel of the Big Apple’s subway. “There wasn’t much material recorded on the set. We only had the off-screen interviews recorded by the director to go on,” says Fojcik. In the serial killer thriller Red Spider by Marcin Koszałka, he managed to recreate the soundscape of 1960s Kraków. “We just love these sorts of challenges at Sound Mind,” says Fojcik. “The more challenging and demanding, the better.” There is really a lot of going on now in the studio – it has just started to work on Dorota Kędzierzawska’s Speedway, and is about to start Łukasz Kośmicki’s thriller The Coldest Game (more about the film on page 18).

©© WOJCIECH ISKIERKA

MONEY BANK

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HOW TO FIND MONEY IN POLAND Daugavpils

OPERATIONAL PROGRAM FOR FILM PRODUCTION Polish Film Institute

Ternopil

FOR PRODUCERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD Participation of Polish co-producer neccessary DEADLINES There are three application sessions per year

2018

SESSION 1

SESSION 2

SESSION 3

January 17-31, 2018

April 9 - 23, 2018

August 16 - 31, 2018

REQUIREMENTS The Polish producer’s own contribution must amount to no less than 5% of the amount of the subsidy

To be eligible for consideration, applications must include the following: script, director’s statement, synopsis, budget, estimated production costs, script rights agreement.

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTIONS •• A separate selection commission for minority co-productions; •• Bilateral treaty not necessary, even for non-European projects; •• One more session in 2018 (August 16-31).

FINANCING For a Polish co-producer, the maximum subsidy is:

PLN

2 000 000 approx. EUR 470 000

4 000 000 approx. EUR 932 000

POLISH BUDGET

MAX. PFI SUBSIDY

30%

50%

70%

E IR T T GE EN UD B

REQUIREMENTS •• For bilateral co-productions, the Polish contribution must be at least 20% of the total budget; •• For multilateral co-productions, the Polish contribution must be at least 10% of the total budget; •• At least 80% of the subsidy must be spent in Poland; •• There must be at least one Polish Head of Department.

MAJORITY CO-PRODUCTIONS

subsidy of up to 50% of the total budget

WHO TO BOTHER FOR MORE INFORMATION: Karol Makowski, tel. +48 22 42 10 386, karol.makowski@pisf.pl; Konrad Tambor, tel. +48 22 42 10 579, konrad.tambor@pisf.pl

50%

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POLISH-GERMAN FILM FUND Funding institutions: Polish Film Institute, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Mitteldeutsche M edienförderung (MDM) and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. FOR PRODUCERS FROM Poland | Germany Applications for development may be submitted on condition that an agreement has been signed by at least one Polish producer and one German producer. In the case of a production application the German producer must be based in the region in which the MDM or Medienboard operate. REQUIREMENTS Two sessions per year in 2018 (application forms and application dates are available on the websites on the Funds’ websites);

The budget of the film should not exceed EUR 750 000;

FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT the maximum subsidy is:

EUR 70

For: animated films, creative documentaries, low budget narrative films and/or first films and/or films that present an innovative approach;

FOR CO-PRODUCTIONS the maximum subsidy is:

000

Television projects are eligible in exceptional cases, with the exception of television feature films.

Annual budget approximately:

EUR

150 000

500 000

WHO TO BOTHER FOR MORE INFORMATION: Robert Baliński, tel.: +48 22 42 10 387, email: robert.balinski@pisf.pl.

REGIONAL FILM FUNDS The Polish regional film funds solicit film projects by announcing competitions, usually once a year. Basic requirement for projects applying for support is the relation of the production with the local city or region. At least 100-150% of the funding (depending on the region) must be spent in region for the project to qualify for support. The Polish regional film funds differ in the size of their annual budgets, the types of support they offer, and the amounts that have to be spent locally. All the Polish film funds provide support of up to 50% of the film budget. This may be higher in the case of documentaries and animated films. Foreign producers are also welcome to submit projects, preferably as partners of Polish producers.

1 BIAŁYSTOK FILM FUND emozyrska@um.bialystok.pl 2. GDYNIA FILM FUND www.ckgdynia.pl 3 LOWER SILESIA FILM FUND www.wroclawfilmcommission.pl/dkf 4 LUBLIN FILM FUND www.film.lublin.eu 5 ŁÓDŹ FILM FUND www.lodzfilmcommission.pl

12 1

6 KRAKOW REGIONAL FILM FUND www.film-commission.pl 7 MAZOVIA WARSAW FILM FUND www.mff.mazovia.pl 8 PODKARPACKIE FILM FUND www.podkarpackiefilm.pl 9 REGIONAL FILM FUND POZNAŃ www.poznanfilmcommission.pl 10 SILESIAN FILM FUND www.silesiafilm.com

11 WESTERN POMERANIAN FILM FUND www.pomeraniafilm.pl 12 WARMIA-MASURIA FILM FUND www.funduszfilmowy.warmia.mazury.pl

MONEY BANK

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REGIONAL FILM COMMISSIONS If you want to make your film in Poland, these are your guides and trusted partners, always ready to roll

1 KRAKOW FILM COMMISSION

3 MAZOVIA WARSAW FILM

www.film-commission.pl

COMMISSION

dnosal@film-commission.pl

www.mwfc.pl

+48 508 120 413

a.spisz@mwfc.pl

supported films:

+48 667 550 565

● Denial, dir. Mick Jackson

supported films:

● True Crimes, dir. Alexandros Avranas

● All These Sleepless Nights, dir. Michał Marczak

● The Mighty Angel, dir. Wojciech Smarzowski

● The Man with a Magic Box, dir. Bodo Kox ● The Last Family, dir. Jan P. Matuszyński 5 POZNAN FILM COMMISSION www.poznanfilmcommission.pl

2 ŁÓDŹ FILM COMMISSION www.lodzfilmcommission.pl

4 PODKARPACKIE FILM COMMISSION

m.ferlak@poznanfilmcommission.pl

m.glowacka@ec1lodz.pl

www.podkarpackiefilm.pl

+48 691 637 752

+48 605 054 235

m.kraus@podkarpackiefilm.pl

supported films:

+48 721 288 004

● Chronology, dir. Kipp Tribble,

● Maria Curie, dir. Marie Noelle

supported films:

● Cold War, dir. Paweł Pawlikowski

● Speedway, dir. Dorota Kędzierzawska

● A Heart of Love, dir. Łukasz Ronduda

● Who Will Write Our History,

● Pardon, dir. Jan Jakub Kolski

● Mersal, dir. Atlee Kumar

dir. Roberta Grossman

● Ether, dir. Krzysztof Zanussi

Derik Wingo

6 SILESIA FILM COMMISSION www.silesiafilmcommission.pl p.mlynarczyk@silesiafilm.com

2009

+48 698 353 147 supported films: ● Valley of the Gods, dir. Lech Majewski ● Cold War, dir. Paweł Pawlikowski ● I Am Lying Now, dir. Paweł Borowski

marks the establishing the first film commission in Poland, in Łódź.

7 WROCLAW FILM COMMISSION www.wroclawfilmcommission.pl rbubnicki@wroclawfilmcommission.pl +48 601 384 194 supported films: ● Bridge of Spies, dir. Steven Spielberg ● I, Olga Hepnarová, dir. Tomás Weinreb, Petr Kazda

FILM COMMISSION POLAND

● Spoor, dir. Agnieszka Holland

www.filmcommissionpoland.pl office@filmcommissionpoland.pl +48 693 477 607

What a regional film com-

•a ssist in negotiations with

mission can do for you:

the owners of buildings,

FCP coordinates efforts to promote

• location scout;

facilities and land;

the Polish film industry and Polish

•a dminister and update

locations internationally. It serves as the first point of contact for filmmakers

a database of locations; •a ssist in obtaining

interested in working in Poland. All the

permits to film, use

regional film commissions are managed

roads etc.;

independently but collaborate closely with Film Commission Poland.

• s horten the time required to obtain permits;

•a ssist in liaising with mu-

and contacts on local professionals and production companies; •p rovide information on

nicipal offices and gov-

the infrastructure and

ernment departments;

film resources available

•a ssist in arranging accommodation often with discounts; •p rovide information

in their region.

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POLISH NUMBERS Box-office in 2018

Films that have received support from the Polish Film Institute’s minority co-production scheme (session 1/2018)

17 million admissions in Polish cinemas

2.02 million admissions to the most popular Polish film Women of Mafia

1.36 million admissions to the most popular foreign film Fifty Shades Freed

200,1

2014

2015

235,9

195,5

in million USD

315,5

POLAND’S BOX–OFFICE 2014-2017

TITLE

DIRECTOR

POLISH PRODUCER

SUBSIDY IN EUR*

Wolka

Arni Asgeirsson

Film Produkcja

234 000

Even Mice Go to Heaven

Jan Bubeniček, Denisa Grimmová

Animoon

188 000

Dockers

Matthieu Serveau

Madants

164 000

Sunburned

Carolina Hellsgard

Staron Film

140 000

The River

Emir Baigazin

Madants

98 000

The Paths of my Father

Mauricio Osaki

Stowarzyszenie Film Kraków

54 000

Skin

Mauro Mancini

Agresywna Banda

47 000

*1 EUR = 4.26 PLN 2016

2017

KEY FILM FESTIVALS

july

Lubuskie Film Summer łagów www.llf.pl

Transatlantyk Film Festival łódź www.transatlantyk.org.pl

october

Two Riversides Film and Art Festival

Warsaw Film Festival warsaw www.wff.pl

july

www.dwabrzegi.pl New Horizons International Film Festival wrocław www.nowehoryzonty.pl

Animator International Animated Film Festival poznań

www.animator‑festival.com

American Film Festival wrocław www.americanfilmfestival.pl Etiuda & Anima International Film Festival kraków www.etudiaandanima.com

kazimierz dolny

Krakow Film Festival kraków www.krakowfilmfestival.pl The Koszalin Youth and Film Festival koszalin www.mlodziifilm.pl

Polish Film Festival gdynia www.festiwalgdynia.pl

november

Krakow Film Music Festival kraków www.fmf.fm

september

Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival warsaw www.docsag.pl

august

NETIA OFF CAMERA International Festival of Independent Cinema kraków www.offcamera.pl

december

june july

june

may june

may

april may

in Poland

Camerimage International Film Festival bydgoszcz www.camerimage.pl

Ale Kino! International Young Audience Film Festival poznań www.alekino.com

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GET A ROYAL TREATMENT IN POLAND It comes as no surprise that country with a rich history has so many glamorous, prestigious and sparkling interiors to open. Feel invited to enter castles, palaces and manor houses in Poland

LOCATE&SHOOT

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4 1. Aula Leopoldina Baroque assembly hall of University of Wrocław (Lower Silesia) was being built in 1728-1732.

2. Goetz’s Palace completed in 1900, was built in the baroque and rococo revival style. Brzesko (Małopolska).

3. Royal Castle Warsaw is a city landmark. It was completely reconstructed after being demolished in WWII.

4. Collegium Maius, Kraków (Małopolska) which dates back to the 14th century, is the oldest part of Jagiellonian University.

LOCATE&SHOOT

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6 5. Nieborów Palace is a residence near Łódź designed by the brilliant Dutch architect Tylamn van Gameren in the 17th century.

6.Zamojski Palace in Kozłówka (Lublin) is an impressive rococo and neoclassical building, erected in 1736-1742.

7. Łańcut Castle situated in Podkarpackie region was built in 1629-1642 and was the residence (and entertainment center) to the aristocratic Lubomirski and Potocki families.

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5 8

8. Świerklaniec Castle situated in Śląsk was called “little Versaille”, and it is not hard to see why. It was completed in 1876. 9. Pszczyna Castle in Śląsk was initially built in the 12th century, but has been frequently remodeled in line with prevailing trends.

LOCATE&SHOOT

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1. Katowice, Residential building.

2. Warsaw, “House without Edges”, 11 Krakowskie Przedmieście.

3. Wrocław, Centennial Hall.

MODERNISM TALKING IN POLAND According to modernist architects “function follows form.” According to us, these buildings are multifunctional film locations

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4. Katowice, Polish Radio.

5. Warsaw, Gutt building, ul. Hoene-Wrońskiego.

6. Białystok, Aleksander Węgierko Drama Theatre.

WANT TO SEE MORE? Check out the latest Film Commission Poland publication. You’ll fall in love with Poland’s diverse and versatile locations. www.filmcommissionpoland.pl/about-fcp/ poland-lookbook/

7. Warsaw School of Economics 9. Wrocław, Kameleon Department Store.

Białystok Warsaw Wrocław Katowice

8. Warsaw, Służewiec Horse Race Track.

REMAINS OF THE DAY

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Total Eclipse

Computer technology, a horror film, and a baptism of fire – was what it took to make it in Hollywood, says Oscar-winning composer Jan A. P. Kaczmarek* I moved to America in 1989. “Communist Poland” had just ended and I found myself in a civilization that couldn’t have been more different from my own – Los Angeles, California. It wasn’t my first trip to the United States. I’d been there before on tour with my band (The Orchestra of the Eighth Day), I spoke English and I knew a few people. But this time, I’d moved there with my entire family, I had no money in my pocket, and was going to have to use all my survival skills to get ahead in a world

I knew so little about. I never considered working on the side until I settled down. I know that Philip Glass was a taxi driver at the beginning of his career, but it was not an option for me. I moved to the US because I wanted to learn more about my craft, particularly about computer technology, which was in my opinion, the future of art. Back in Poland, I’d been fascinated by the new media, I’d composed music using computers (to the extent that this was possible at that time) and made video installations. I thought

that having access to cutting-edge technology would take me to the next level. And the funny thing was, that in a miraculous way, it did. With all the technology at my disposal, I fell in love with and built my American career on composing for a symphony orchestra. When I was in Poland, I used to compose chamber music - for film or theatre - but working with a symphony orchestra is something else. Nevertheless, when I was offered the chance to write this sort of film score, I jumped at it. When you land in a new world and want to succeed professionally, you have to have courage. If I’d said “no”, because I wanted to learn how to write for a symphony orchestra first, I might have waited years for another chance.

©© PROMO

BEFORE NEVERLAND WAS FOUND

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The first film I was offered to score was a horror movie called Pale Blood. I was really lucky to get this commission. A friend from Boston was in LA for few days, and when we met for lunch, he suggested we visit a producer he knew, and whose name resembled my own - Omar Kaczmarczyk. Even though it’s not very common to drop in on someone in LA, we went to meet Omar, who was working on Pale Blood and just happened to be looking for a composer - “someone new, cheap and exotic”. I send him a tape with my music and I was hired. Writing this score was a challenge for me – and not just because I’d never seen a horror film before. The film wasn’t very good, but it gave me an opportunity to learn new skills and to experiment. It also taught me that I was never going to build a serious career by writing music for B movies. At the same time, I was composing music for theatres (I had rich and diverse experience in that department back in Poland), e.g. the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the Public Theatre in New York City, but that wasn’t enough either. In 1992 I won a Drama Desk Award for ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, which encouraged me to pursue a career in film even harder. Which I did. I quickly learned that no matter how successful a person is internationally, they need to prove themselves from scratch in America. Over the next few years, I met new people, and started to write music for independent films and for American television. I even got an agent, who created a buzz around “this extremely talented composer from Poland”, as she called me. After working in the US for 5 years, I learned the technology, the work culture, and got my break – I met Agnieszka Holland, fresh from her Secret Garden success. We did three feature films - Total Eclipse, Washington Square and The Third Miracle - and two television movies - Shot in the Heart and A Girl Like Me – together. I soon learned that sometimes hard work and luck are not enough – you need persistence and will power as well. In 2002, I worked on my biggest studio film to date, Unfaithful, directed by Adrian Lyne.

I had a virtually unlimited budget for music, and was working with a team of over 80 people. Almost a dream come true. When Adrian listened to the music I’d scored he was touched, thanked me many times for it, and left for the editing room. A few hours later, he called me and said that something wasn’t working and that he wanted to hear different music the next day.

2 weeks, and the producers from 20th Century Fox were keeping book on whether I’d jump out the window or go crazy. I decided to fight. I knew that Adrian was fighting for his survival too, because his previous film Jacob’s Ladder, was a flop. In the end, he chose the music I’d presented in the first place. Scoring Unfaithful turned out to be my Hollywood baptism of fire.

I never considered working on the side until I settled down. I know that Philip Glass was a taxi driver at the beginning of his career, but it was not an option for me

Diane Lane as Unfaithful.

Coming up with a new score is difficult enough at the best of times, but in this case I additionally had to record it with a symphonic orchestra, which in normal conditions, takes around 3 days. So, I worked till 2am, ran home to get a few hours’ sleep, went back to studio in the morning to record new material and present it to the director. Luckily, Adrian liked it a lot and left for the editing room again, only to call me again in the afternoon to ask for changes. This cycle went on for about

It got me promoted to the A-list, and I won the battle of wills, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the Unfaithful soundtrack for at least a year.

In 2005 Jan A. P. Kaczmarek became the first Polish composer to win an Oscar – for his score to Finding Neverland.

noted by Ola Salwa

* Jan A. P. Kaczmarek is an Oscar-winning composer, founder and the director of the Transatlantyk Film Festival in Poland. His recent film credits include Paul, Apostle of Christ and the Valley of the Gods.

REMAINS OF THE DAY

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CZECHING OUT POLISH CINEMA

I studied Russian and Ukrainian philology at university, and afterwards, I continued with my Russian and East European studies. While I was there, I met this amazing professor who got me interested in Polish language and culture, and recommended me for a scholarship in Poland. In the beautiful city of Lublin, which is infused with history, I learned the language, got to know the Polish mentality, and fell in love with its culture, especially its cinema. I had already started working for Karlovy Vary, but I wasn’t part of the Selection Committee at that stage. This was in 2005 and the 40th edition of the festival turned out to be extremely successful for Polish cinema. My Nikifor, directed by Krzysztof Krauze, won three awards - the Crystal Globe, the Best Director award, and the Best Actress Award, presented to Krystyna Feldman. Actually, My Nikifor is a perfect example of what we are trying to find for our program: an original, daring film, that stays with you long after you leave the dark screening hall. A little later, I lived in Warsaw for two months while I wrote my master’s thesis. I used to go to the cinema without knowing what was on. One of the films I saw was Savior’s Square, another film directed by Krzysztof Krauze, together with his wife, Joanna Kos-Krauze. It was a very moving and disturbing experience. When I got back home, I was really happy to learn that my colleagues had already entered Savior Square into the competition at

Floating Skyscrapers

a Best Screenplay award in Berlin, and Karlovy Vary. Joanna and Krzysztof had the screening hall was packed with a very special bond with our festival a young audience. And it was a really they presented four of their films in the moving moment when our Artistic competition here, including the last one Director, Karel Och, introduced him to they made together, Birds Are Singing in our audience as “our Tomek”. Kigali, which received the Best Actress This is a part of the job I really Award in 2017. like - discovering talented directors Tomasz Wasilewski is another Polish and introducing them to the audience. director who has a special relationship Take for example the eccentric and with Karlovy Vary. We even became entertaining director Bodo Kox, who close friends. I remember watching brought his debut feature The Girl in the his feature debut, In the Bedroom. Wardrobe, in which he draws the viewer I was really impressed. It was a small, into a visually rich, fairy-tale-like intimate film with a simple plot, but it world, to Karlovy Vary. Then there’s showcased his directorial assets - his Łukasz Grzeability to create an amazing gorzek, a former onscreen atmoprofessional tennis They’ve been playing with player turned sphere and to genres, mixing film forms, filmmaker. He and paint in-depth provoking the audience his wife/producer psychological Natalia presented portraits. My their low-budget, indie movie Kamper colleagues and I were convinced that at Karlovy Vary. It’s very cheering to this rookie director, with his disarming, see that the old masters, who are conboyish smile, was only a short step away from a big career. Karlovy Vary tinuing the tradition of the Cinema of was his first international festival, and Moral Anxiety, e.g. Agnieszka Holland, when he came here, he fell in love have been joined by so many fresh with it, and we fell in love with him. new voices, e.g. Agnieszka SmoczyńsHe presented his second film here the ka, Jagoda Szelc, Kuba Czekaj, Kafollowing year. This was the visually sia Rosłaniec, and Michał Marczak. compelling romance Floating Skyscrapers, They’ve been playing with genres, and it was awarded the main prize in mixing film forms, provoking the authe East of the West competition. The dience, and portraying contemporary year after that, he returned as a jury Poland in unorthodox ways. I’m really member, and in 2016 - only four years curious to see their next films and after the premiere of his first film - he I really hope that the current political came to present his third title, United situation doesn’t hold back the rise of States of Love. This had already won him Polish cinema. noted by Ola Salwa

Programmer Lenka Tyrpakova talks about discovering films from Poland and bringing them to the Karlovy Vary Film Festival