ANDRZEJ PAPUZIŃSKI REVIEW AT CAMERIMAGE

Sunday November 8th, 2015

One who wishes to understand the poet, must go to the poet’s land. In order to understand artists, one must be an artist. Andrzej Papuziński makes films about artists, revealing their unique personalities. Their presence is a crucial element of his cinematic projects. The director exposes the world of their imagination. Through his camera, he shows people that use art to create metaphors, symbols, and mental shortcuts. In his narration, Papuziński employs the same concepts. By transmitting these artistic means to his films, he is able to present the artists in a way they would present themselves. By applying this method he explores their identity and becomes a poet just like them. His films deal with the mystery of art through the language of cinema. Visual artists are the creators and the substance of his narration. Because of this, his films become independent works of art. Andrzej Papuziński is an exceptional artist. There is no one quite like him. His characters are always put first, and he always comes second.

Michał Dudziewicz, head of the documentary section

Andrzej Papuziński Review organized in cooperation with:

Belly, The

The film is a staged story, a projection of phenomena and events which had a strong impact on the artistic individuality of the famous painter Tadeusz Brzozowski.

Polish title: Brzuch
Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinemtographers: Ryszard Gajewski, Stanisław Śliskowski, Jacek Zygadło

Produced by: Telewizja Polska (TVP), Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1979

Chronicle of the Potter Factory, The

A captivating documentary about an old painted faience factory. We enter the factory to follow the production process, which is based on the traditional technology, observe how the dishes are decorated, and admire the painters’ inventiveness and experience. The film ends with a symbolic scene about the factory being shut down.

Polish title: Kronika fabryki fajansu

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Zbigniew Rybczyński

Produced by: Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1974

Counterpoint

The protagonist of Papuziński’s film is Michał Batory, born in Łódź and educated at the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts and who has been working in France since the 1980s. He has achieved the status of a renowned and well-respected artist in the field of artistic posters. The usual subjects of his designs are theatrical productions, film, ballet, the visual arts, and various kinds of musical events. Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre showcased a large exhibition of his in spring 2011. Michał Batory and his art in the field of posters and graphic design are the subject of a film that is the latest attempt to create a film portrait of an artist working in the field of the visual arts.

Polish title: Kontrapunkt

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Stanisław Śliskowski

Produced by: Film Studio Everest
Poland, 2014

Glory to the Bull

An award-winning film about the work of Franciszek Starowieyski, one of the most outstanding Polish artists – a painter, set designer, graphic designer, and the creator of the drawing theatre. He gained popularity in the 1960s by designing theatre and cinema posters. By means of unconventional visuals and creational staging, Andrzej Papuziński shows the artist at work. The title of the film refers to Starowieyski’s pseudonym. Because of doubts concerning the spelling of his aristocratic name, he used to sign his pictures as ‘Jan Byk’.

Polish title: Bykowi chwała

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Stanisław Śliskowski

Produced by: Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1971

Return from Chaos

The reconstruction process of the central, most representative chamber of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Great Assembly Hall, which was constructed in the eighteenth century by Domenico Merlini under the patronage of King Stanisław II August. Destroyed in the bombing of 1939, it was rebuilt in the period 1980 –1988 by the Polish Studios for Conservation of Cultural Property based on some of the fragments and furnishings saved by the employees of the Castle and the National Museum during the winter around the end of 1939. Apart from documenting the reconstruction process, the film shows the past crafting techniques and demonstrates the role of the various elements of the interior in the whole composition of the hall.

Polish title: Powrót z chaosu

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographers: Mathieu Przedpełski, Józef Romasz

Produced by: Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1990

Seven Mysteries According to Stasys, The

A documentary about the work of the graphic artist Stasys Eidrigevičius.

Polish title: Siedem misteriów według Stasysa

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Stanisław Śliskowski

Produced by: Lob Productions
Poland, 1994

Stanisław Zagajewski - Ars Mea, Lux Mea

A ballad about Stanisław Zagajewski, a self-taught artist from Włocławek. The world of his imagination is shaped in fragile clay, and filled with bizarre, fantastical creatures from the plane located between dreams and reality. The film depicts a man torn between the poverty of everyday life and the wealth of fantasy. It shows the artist’s alienation in his environment, love for animals, and faith in the mission of the artist and art itself.

Original title: Stanisław Zagajewski - Ars Mea, Lux Mea

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Janusz Połom

Produced by: Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1978

Stradivari 66

Piotr Kubas is a representative of a trade which is incredibly rare these days – a violin maker. By filming the story of his beautiful and demanding profession, the creators present the subsequent stages of making a new violin, showing us the secrets of the trade and the methods of working with various kinds of wood that in Kubas’s hands become noble musical instruments.

Original title: Stradivari 66

Director: Andrzej Papuziński
Cinematographer: Wiktor Prejs

Produced by: Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO)
Poland, 1966