PICTURING THE WORLD FOR 75 YEARS. THE POLISH NATIONAL FILM SCHOOL IN LODZ ANNIVERSARY

Monday October 30th, 2023

The National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz is one of the oldest and most renowned film schools in the world. Each year it is listed in the prestigious ranking of The Hollywood Reporter. It has four departments: Film and Television Directing, Cinematography and Television Production, Acting and Film Art Production. The basic principle of our School is to closely integrate all departments, especially during the practical work of our students. Cooperation between directors and cinematographers, screenwriters, actors, editors and production managers begins from the very first year of study and results in establishing creative teams, which often continue to work together for many years.

We believe that the role of the cinematographer is to co-create the motion picture. We educate our students to become fully-fledged artistic partners for directors and producers. The multi-generational tradition of the Department of Cinematography, which has been developed by our graduates, great filmmakers of Polish cinema, such as Jerzy Wójcik and Witold Sobociński, is to view the art of cinematography as a fully established and creative filmmaking profession.

Mastering technology is the basis of our craft, but the main factor that determines the quality of cinematography turns out to be its contribution to the audiovisual work, i.e. the film. The visual form should harmonize with the narrative aspect of the work and enhance the meaning conveyed by the film narrative. The most difficult task a cinematographer faces is to create a form that would be an ideal vehicle for the film content. It is only the works that manage to achieve such harmony between the subject and form that make it into cinematic history. The high ranking and success of our School’s graduates in the international arena, such as Hoyte van Hoytema and Łukasz Żal, stem precisely from this understanding of the role of the cinematographer.

Students of the Department of Cinematography make their own original short films, always on black-and-white and colour negatives and in digital technology. The independent shooting of short films is expected to broaden their experience to include script work, directing, staging and editing. In the course of their five-year studies, our students make an average of about 10 short films (authors and director’s cut) and participate in theoretical and workshop classes conducted by their artistic supervisors. The teaching staff consists of outstanding filmmakers, including three members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, winners of numerous international and national awards. Workshop classes address such basic issues as set lighting, staging, composition and camera handling, as well as commercial filmmaking and new technologies. Theoretical classes that include the history of art, literature and film, as well as optional classes that cover philosophical, sociological, legal and production issues, complement our students’ education and prepare them for work in professional filmmaking. However, our lecturers’ guiding motto is to recognize each student’s individual interests and needs and to accompany them in their creative development.

The Film School in Lodz is not just an address on Targowa Street, but it is also about a genius loci – the sum of experiences, thoughts, emotions, ideas, dreams, creative efforts, the fears and joys that accompany them, the ups and downs of the people, who for years were and still are part of the School. We dream of evoking this spirit for our Jubilee! We celebrate, we recall, we watch, we meet and we never stop to LOOK AT THE WORLD. Take a look with us!

We invite you to the screenings and events taking place at the Film School in Lodz during the 31^st International Festival of the Art of Cinematography EnergaCAMERIMAGE.

The films you will be able to watch in Toruń were grouped into three categories: FEATURE FILMS, ALUMNI SHORTS and STUDENT SHORTS.

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FEATURE FILMS

ASHES AND DIAMONDS

©WFDiF

A young Home Army soldier is ordered to shoot the secretary of the Polish Worker’s Party Voivodeship Committee just before the end of World War II. Meanwhile, he meets a girl, a bartender at a hotel. Torn between his sense of duty and emerging affection, he will have to make a choice.

Original title: Popiół i diament
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cinematographer: Jerzy Wójcik
Produced by: Zespół Filmowy KADR
Country and year: Poland, 1958

MIDNIGHT COWBOY

©1969 JH Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Joe Buck, a young boy from Texas, after reading sensational news about the demanding East Coast women, decides to become a ladies’ man. He packs up and, without much thought, sets out to conquer New York. After his first not very successful attempt to earn money, the protagonist decides to find himself an agent.

Polish title: Nocny kowboj
Director: John Schlesinger
Cinematographer: Adam Holender
Produced by: Florin Productions, Jerome Hellman Productions, United Artists
Country and year: USA, 1969

THE PIANIST

photo by Guy Ferrandis © 2002 RP PRODUCTIONS, HERITAGE FILMS, STUDIO BABELSBERG, RUNTEAM LTD

Warsaw during World War II. Władysław Szpilman, an outstanding composer and pianist, escapes from the ghetto, having miraculously survived its liquidation, and after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, he hides for weeks in the ruins of the abandoned and completely destroyed Polish capital. An unexpected friendship with a German officer helps him survive the harshest period.

Polish title: Pianista
Director: Roman Polański
Cinematographer: Paweł Edelman
Produced by: Heritage Films, R.P. Productions, Runteam, Studio Babelsberg
Country and year: Poland, UK, Germany, France, 2002

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ALUMNI SHORTS

BIRTHDAY

Sara loves Katarina and she’s making a surprise for her birthday. Katarina has a surprise for Sara as well. Sara has to handle the unexpected news, while taking care of the birthday party. Her joy is gradually replaced with growing feelings of isolation and frustration.

Original title: Födelsedag
Polish title: Urodziny
Director: Jenifer Malmqvist
Cinematographer: Ita Zbroniec-Zajt
Country and year: Poland, Sweden, 2010

BOATS SAIL OUT AT DAWN

A poetic, fictionalized documentary about the life and dangerous work of fishermen in a fishing village on the Baltic Sea.

Original title: Łodzie wypływają o świcie
Director: Ryszard Ber
Cinematographer: Witold Sobociński
Country and year: Poland, 1955

ECHO

Two teenagers brutally kill their friend. Helped by a police psychologist they are reconstructing the chronological order of events. Gradually, they begin to realize the noxiousness of the murder and its consequences. However, they will not discover the scale of the crime until they meet the victim’s parents.

Director: Magnus Von Horn
Cinematographer: Małgorzata Szyłak
Country and year: Poland, 2008

EXIT

A man tries to climb up the slopes of a waste dump. He struggles to climb a few meters, only to fall down a moment later. Once he seems to have found his escape route, a solid metal grating appears in front of him.

Original title: Wyjście
Director: Grzegorz Królikiewicz
Cinematographer: Sławomir Idziak
Country and year: Poland, 1965

JAKUB

A short story about the absence of the father in the life of a 13-year-old boy.

Director: Adam Guziński
Cinematographer: Wojciech Staroń
Country and year: Poland, 1998

MÖBIUS STRIP

The protagonist wakes up in a speeding ghost train. Time passes. A film journey to the end of a desperately lonely man’s life.

Original title: Wstęga Möbiusa
Director: Łukasz Karwowski
Cinematographer: Paweł Edelman
Country and year: Poland, 1988

SCHOOL OF LOVE

Boxing match. Full stands. The fight is about to begin. The hall is filled with a bustling audience. We see fans: men, women and children. Everyone is craning their necks with interest to get a better view of the fight. Their faces show emotions of tension, joy, disappointment.

Original title: Szkoła uczuć
Director: Edward Bernstein
Cinematographer: Bogdan Dziworski
Country and year: Poland, 1963

WINTER

An elderly man watches the world through the dirty windows of the porch. A story of old age coming into contact with youth.

Original title: Zima
Director: Piotr Sobociński Jr.
Cinematographer: Piotr Sobociński Jr.
Country and year: Poland, 2004

WORLD CHAMPION

The story of a young man who, on his father’s fiftieth birthday, decides to deal with the sluggishness that is affecting them.

Original title: Mistrz świata
Director: Łukasz Żal
Cinematographer: Łukasz Żal
Country and year: Poland, 2006

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STUDENT SHORTS

APPLE, CHICKEN, PIGEON

In a small town in southern China in the 1990s, the smuggler Azhi wants to buy a prostitute Ling from her boss Bing and take her with him on a trip to Africa. But it turns out that Ling and Bing plan to kill Azhi. After killing Azhi, Ling discovers that she has fallen in love with Azhi but continues to be dependent on Bing.

Polish title: Latający szczur, kurczak i jabłko
Director: Xiang Li
Cinematographer: Konrad Miklaszewski
Country and year: Poland, 2021

ATROPHIA

A poetic documentary film that is a reflection on human existence. In the object-filled interiors of apartments, the last traces of the inhabitants’ smell are slowly fading away. Water stops flowing from the kitchen tap and the wall clock is not working properly, draining the remaining energy from the unchanged battery. Everything stopped with the last breath. It’s time to clean things up.

Original title: Atrofia
Director: Konrad Kultys
Cinematographer: Paula Wilczyńska
Country and year: Poland, 2022

DANCING CLOUD

Aniela visits her sister in Berlin. On her way back to Poland, she gets off the train at one of the Berlin's stations. A night journey through colorful, dangerous and fascinating Berlin will prove to be a lesson in growing up for teenage Aniela.

Original title: Tańcząca chmura
Director: Platon Ogarev
Cinematographer: Platon Ogarev
Country and year: Poland, 2023

THE DEEP

During a routine swimming workout, Klara struggles with memories of her loved one.

Original title: Toń
Director: Paula Wilczyńska
Cinematographer: Paula Wilczyńska
Country and year: Poland, 2019

F51.5

F51.5 is the ICD-10-CM International Classification of Diseases code for nightmare disorder. The picture is a visualization of the situations and the accompanying sensations. The main character wanders in and out between the successive levels of her subconsciousness, which are the results of sleep paralysis.

Director: Filip Rogoziński
Cinematographer: Filip Rogoziński
Country and year: Poland, 2022

HOTEL

A man goes on a sentimental journey to a city hotel. With time, the impersonal space of the hotel room seems unfamiliar and reality and the protagonist’s imagination get intertwined.

Director: Michał Szaranowicz
Cinematographer: Michał Szaranowicz
Country and year: Poland, 2021

ILLUSION OF AN ENDLESS SUMMER

Two girls are playing a mysterious game. It turns out that it is not just an innocent way of spending their time.

Original title: Iluzja wiecznego lata
Directors: Karolina Biesiacka, Zofia Połaniewicz
Cinematographer: Zofia Połaniewicz
Country and year: Poland, 2022

LIOSZA

An intimate story about ordinary people caught up in a great drama. Two Ukrainian brothers, Liosza and Dmytro, live and work in Poland. It is here that the news of the outbreak of war in Ukraine reaches them.

Director: Miłosz Sawicki
Cinematographer: Zuzanna Zachara-Hassairi
Country and year: Poland, 2023

THE LOVERS

A one-time meeting between a photographer and an architect. The photographer starts dreaming about them seeing each other once more, but is hindered by his own self-limiting thoughts. As the film progresses it takes on an increasingly “surreal” form.

Director: Daniel Tubylewicz
Cinematographer: Daniel Tubylewicz
Country and year: Poland, 2022

ME AND MY MOM'S LOVER

After her divorce, Eric’s mom falls in love with a fifteen years younger fire show performer. She decides to leave everything behind and start a new life. Meanwhile, fourteen-years-old Eric also starts to discover his own sexuality. Like his mother, he is looking for love and, like her, faces the same problem - loneliness. After unsuccessful attempts to find their partners, the two of them will stay together.

Directors: Erhao Lin, Miszka Medyńska
Cinematographer: Erhao Lin
Country and year: Poland, 2023

MEMORY ALLEY

“That hat, those hands, the chicken... I think I’ve seen it somewhere before” – thought the heroine. We are taken into the world of the subconscious in search of a forgotten memory. With every turn in space we are closer to the truth. What actually happened there?

Original title: Zaułek pamięci
Directors: Ewa Japola, Marcjanna Lelek
Cinematographer: Hanna Tarasiewicz
Country and year: Poland, 2023

PODEJRZANE

Summer. Polish countryside. Julka helps Anka, who lives next door, to get away from difficult family relations. Together they discover the world from a completely new perspective.

Director: Kamila Serwicka
Cinematographer: Kamila Serwicka
Country and year: Poland, 2021

PROCH

The story of a boy raised in a Catholic family who is trying to find his identity in the modern world.

Director: Xymena Zaręba
Cinematographer: Xymena Zaręba
Country and year: Poland, 2023

SHADOW MAN

One night, a Shadow Man enters the life of a young married woman. The dreams merge with reality and there is no escape from the darkness.

Original title: Cieniowiec
Director: Michał Stańczyk
Cinematographer: Michał Stańczyk
Country and year: Poland, 2022

STRANGER WORLD

Antek, who is an adolescent boy, lives with his father in a village on the countries’ border. It is a place where simple, idyllic life meets with the din of military cars and lots of blasts of helicopters. During one working day, Antek accidentally finds a hiding foreigner. This is the moment when he must decide what the bounds of possibility mean to him.

Original title: Obcy świat
Director: Nata Szada
Cinematographer: Paulina Kowol
Country and year: Poland, 2022

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