The Big Five – Polish Film Festival

My Nikifor, dir. Krzysztof Krauze

'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.' 

Night Train, dir. Jerzy Kawalerowicz

 ‘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.’

At the Height of Summer, dir. Feliks Falk

‘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.’

The Illumination, dir. Krzysztof Zanussi

'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.'

'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.'