The Big Five at the 51st PFF – Polish Film Festival

The Big Five – five filmmakers will reveal which Polish films are especially close to their hearts, films that have shaped who they are today and never cease to amaze them. The Big Five of the 51^st Polish Film Fetsival comprises  Katarzyna Herman, Anna Jadowska, Henryk Kuźniak, Paweł Maślona and Wojciech Smarzowski.

The screenings will offer a unique opportunity to revisit evergreen classics — the beating heart of our cinema. Katarzyna Herman has chosen My Nikifor by Krzysztof Krauze, Anna Jadowska Night Train by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Henryk Kuźniak At the Height of Summer by Feliks Falk, Paweł Maślona The Illumination by Krzysztof Zanussi, and Wojciech Smarzowski Teddy Bear by Stanisław Bareja.

Each presentation will feature a film and a filmmaker. After the screening, we will discover what led the filmmaker to choose that particular film, what kind of audience member they are, and what has shaped their perspective on cinema. The conversation will bring film buffs together — filmmakers and audiences alike — for all filmmakers are, first and foremost, audience members. They watch films with passion and vulnerability, yet we rarely have the chance to ask them about films beyond their own work.

Why have these particular titles been included in the Big Five?

Katarzyna Herman: 'My Nikifor, brilliantly portrayed by Krystyna Feldman, is a story about vocation, about being an artist. And about empathy. Nikifor was self-taught; he created out of the need of his heart. The story is told without sentimentality; it is full of warm humour and poetry – evident, for instance, in the framing and the unhurried cinematography. It is a must-see for all artists and aspiring artists.'

Anna Jadowska: ‘Night Train has always struck me as a complete film. I first saw it as a child and for a long time was convinced it was an American film in which the characters simply spoke Polish. I keep coming back to it because of the brilliantly written characters and the story that unfolds step by step. Each successive scene reveals something new about the characters, their relationships and what actually happened on the train. The train itself, incidentally, is more than just the setting – it becomes a cinematic space in which people, confined together for a few hours, pass each other by, observe one another, draw closer and drift apart, whilst the landscape outside the window is constantly changing. Each character represents a slightly different world, and together they paint an extraordinary picture of society and their era. At the same time, their behaviour, loneliness, need for closeness, jealousy and chance encounters are very universal, and one can still recognise oneself in them. Night Train is rooted in a specific time and place, but the emotions of its characters remain surprisingly contemporary.’

Henryk Kuźniak: ‘I am a musicologist, composer and teacher, but I consider myself first and foremost a filmmaker, because when I compose music for a film, I think in terms of what is cinematic, rather than just musical. I have collaborated with many Polish and international directors, and during my years at the Łódź Film School I had the opportunity to support my students, including Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Andrzej Barański, Feliks Falk and Juliusz Machulski. I particularly remember Feliks Falk’s debut film At the Height of Summer, which, as an art film, prompted me to commission a recording with a 40-piece orchestra, even though the production had funds for only 5–7 musicians. However, the first recording session in the rehearsal room at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw turned out to be an artistic failure, which is why I decided to call it off, risking both money and my own position. Two weeks later, we recorded the music in a radio studio on Malczewskiego Street, and to this day I believe that the decision to call off the first recording was one of the most important and best decisions of my career.’

Paweł Maślona: ‘I watched The Illumination as a film school student, and it was a truly illuminating experience. Not the first one, not the last one, but significant and special. A proof that it is possible to make a film radical in form, brave in content, and at the same time as honest, personal, and intimate as it can be. And somehow completely effortless, wonderfully free. A true manifestation of creative freedom.’   

Wojciech Smarzowski: ‘When I watched Bareja’s films a long time ago, they obviously made me laugh, but at the same time they irritated me. Why? Because they showed me the world – okay, I admit, a highly concentrated version of it, well done – but a world I had right outside my window, within arm’s reach, and did not want to watch on the screen. I went to the cinema to escape into a different space, a different reality, to go back in time or find myself in the future. I was looking for different emotions, different provocations, something that would make me rethink things in my Subcarpathian head. Back then, I regarded Bareja’s films (including Teddy Bear) as second-rate cinema. Years later, I can see how wrong I was.’

‘How to be an artist, to fight uncompromisingly for your vision, how to be captivated by cinema – its multidimensional perfection, daring and integrity. I’m already looking forward to these screenings and the discussions that follow them. And I don’t think I’m the only one. More and more people are asking about this year’s edition of the Big Five section. That’s the best endorsement this section could ask for,’ says Joanna Łapińska, the Artistic Director of the Festival.

The Big Five of the 51^st PFF:
Katarzyna Herman – My Nikifor, directed by: Krzysztof Krauze
Anna Jadowska – Night Train, directed by: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Henryk Kuźniak – At the Height of Summer, directed by: Feliks Falk
Paweł Maślona – The Illumination, directed by: Krzysztof Zanussi
Wojciech Smarzowski – Teddy Bear, directed by: Stanisław Bareja

And speaking of numbers, the Partner of the Big Five is Totalizator Sportowy, Patron of the 51^st Polish Film Festival, whose speciality is lucky numbers!