NInATEKA
DVD Paweł Łoziński
Printer-friendly versionPawel Lozinski (born in 1965), a son of the esteemed documentary film director Marcel Lozinski, assisted Krzysztof Kieslowski on the set of “Three Colours: White”. Later, when making a documentary film celebrating the centenary of cinema, commissioned by the British Film Institute, he also executed Kieslowski’s concept. Beginning a filming career in the shadow of the old masters could have been burdensome, but time has proved otherwise. His father did not try to talk him into studying film. “On the contrary”, says Pawel Lozinski, “and maybe that had more of an effect on me than if he’d tried to persuade me. When I finished high school I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for a long time. I gave up the idea of studying maths and found manual work - first, as a film set carpenter, then as a grocery shop assistant. I painted a subway, built a house in Pyry and did electric maintenance work at the Central Office of Weights and Measures. Finally, I became weary of that and thought that perhaps there was something I wanted to say through film. I thought I’d give it a go and see if it was really so hard. Father helped me a lot. But that sort of help can be overbearing. I had to redefine our relations and rebel at some point. Today, I’m his critic - and he is mine.”
In his famous debut “Birthplace” (1992), which was awarded a Grand Prix in San Francisco and Marseille, Pawel Lozinski found his own path and showed his temperament as a documentary film maker. At the same time he remained a continuator of the Polish documentary tradition. Perhaps the greatest one?
Pawel Lozinski comments on the Polish school of documentary tradition, “I try to take a close look at the world which is seemingly unattractive. After all, what can be attractive about people being confined to their beds and undergoing chemotherapy? But to me, that’s interesting. I don’t look for outward attractiveness. I look for things which are completely ordinary, yet which people can identify with and see themselves in.” Such situations are rarely noticed by the media which bow to sensationalism and go after drastic themes that are more marketable. One should stop, however, and allow reality to play its drama before one’s eyes. This requires a special gift - an ability to combine sensitivity with discipline, and empathy with distance. Pawel Lozinski is adept at doing both.
Tadeusz Sobolewski
1 DVD:
STRUCTURE, 1989
100 YEARS AT THE CINEMA, 1995
SLAWOMIR MROZEK PRESENTS, 1997
THE SISTERS, 1999
A WOMAN FROM UKRAINE, 2002
KITTY, KITTY, 2008
2 DVD:
BIRTHPLACE, 1992
THE WAY IT IS, 1999
CHEMO, 2008
POLISH SCHOOL OF DOCUMENTARY. PAWEŁ LOZINSKI
Time: 338’, subtitles: eng., germ., rus., fr., pol.
The DVD is available in bookstores, e-bookstores or at National Audiovisual Institute by ordering via e-mail: sprzedaz@nina.gov.pl. Cost: 36 zł plus 7 zł shipping cost in Poland. Payment bank account: Bank Pekao S.A. O/W-wa_Plater 53, nr 03 1240 6247 1111 0000 4974 8912.
