Along with Krzysztof Kieślowski, Łoziński was one of the leading directors of his generation. His documentaries, made in communist Poland and now considered documentary classics of the period, were akin to political and social essays, most of which were censored by the authorities. While the individual versus unifying social and political mechanisms and collective mentality, were the recurring issues in his films of that time, there is a shift, in his latter works from socially-involved to philosophical and existential themes, from the individual situation to the human condition.
But what is common to all his filmography is a conceived, staged and artistically provocative intervention of reality that blurs the line between documentary and fiction. This controversial method of ‘opening reality’ is not used to bend life to suit his directing intentions or to simplify and manipulate it, but in search for a catalyst to help with, or accelerate, the extraction of truth about people and situations.
As Łoziński himself says: "I am interested neither in pure documentaries nor in features. When making a pure documentary, you just watch. In features you use pre-conceived outlines. I try to benefit from both genres. Someone said that to make a film is to find the moment of balance between your own idea and what the reality suggests. I try to influence the reality and then treat openly the situation which has been created".
A Graduate of Film Directing Department in the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and European Film Academy, professor at Film School La FEMIS in Paris, and at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University and at Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing of Warsaw, Marcel Łoziński is one of the internationally most acclaimed Polish documentary filmmakers. He boasts prizes from numerous international film festivals, including a nomination for an Academy Award in 1994 for 89mm from Europe.
On Saturday 2nd at 5 p.m. Marcel Łoziński will offer a masterclass at Play-Doc. Free entrance. |