Happy 63rd Birthday, Paweł Pawlikowski! Born today in 1957 as Paweł Aleksander Pawlikowski, this Polish filmmaker shoots on treatment, allowing for cast input and on-set improvisation. He is regarded by the BBC as "one of Britain's leading filmmakers."
Pawlikowski grew up a Catholic and considers himself one up to this day, but says that he finds the Catholic Church in Great Britain to be easier to grow in faith in than that in Poland.
At the age of fourteen, Pawlikowski left communist Poland with his mother for London, England, United Kingdom. What he thought was a holiday, turned out to be a permanent exile.
One year later, Pawlikowski moved to Germany, before finally settling in Britain in 1977. While there, he studied literature and philosophy at Oxford University.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pawlikowski was best known for his documentaries, whose blend of lyricism and irony won him many fans and awards around the world.
A literature and philosophy graduate, with extensive post-graduate work at Oxford on German literature, Pawlikowski started as a documentary filmmaker in British television.
His second feature was the 2000 British made-for-television drama/romance film 'Last Resort'.
Upon release, it earned him international critical acclaim at numerous festivals. This included the Toronto Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.
The following year, 'Last Resort' won the 54th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for "Most Promising Newcomer in British Film." This occurred in late February 2001.
Four years later, Pawlikowski was a Creative Arts Fellow at Oxford Brookes University from 2004 to 2007.
During his tenure, Pawlikowski wrote and directed the 2004 British drama/romance thriller film 'My Summer of Love'. It starred British-American actress Emily Blunt and English actress Natalie Press.
One year later, 'My Summer of Love' won a BAFTA for Best British Film (Paweł Pawlikowski, Tanya Seghatchian, Chris Collins). This occurred at the 58th British Academy Film Awards in mid-February 2005.
In the early 2010s, Pawlikowski co-wrote and directed the film of which he is best known This was the 2013 Polish black and white drama film 'Ida'.
Set in 1962, the film follows a young woman named Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska). She is about to take vows as a nun when she learns from her only relative that she is Jewish. Both women later embark on a journey to discover their family story and where they belong.
Orphaned as an infant during the German occupation of World War II, Anna must now meet her aunt, Wanda Gruz (Agata Kulesza).
However, the former Communist state prosecutor and only surviving relative tells her that her parents were Jewish.
The two women later embark on a road trip into the Polish countryside to learn the fate of their family.
Called a "compact masterpiece" and an "eerily beautiful road movie", 'Ida' has also been said to "contain a cosmos of guilt, violence and pain", even if certain historical events (German occupation of Poland, the Holocaust and Stalinism) remain unsaid: "none of this is stated, but all of it is built, so to speak, into the atmosphere: the country feels dead, the population sparse".
The following year, 'Ida' captured an Oscar for Best International Feature Film, being the first Polish film to do so. This occurred at the 87th Academy Awards in late February 2015.
Later that same year, Pawlikowski was a member of jury headed by Mexican film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and editor Alfonso Cuarón ('Y Tu Mamá También', 'Children of Men', 'Gravity', 'Roma') at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in September.
One year later, Pawlowski married Polish fashion model and actress Małgosia Bela. They have two children together.
In 2016, 'Ida' was named as the fifty-fifth best film of the 21st century, from a poll of one hundred and seventy-seven film critics from around the world.
Two years later, Pawlikowski directed the 2018 Polish black and white historical romance/drama film 'Zimna wojna' ('Cold War').
Set against the backdrop of the 1950s Cold War in Poland, two people of differing backgrounds and temperaments begin an almost impossible romance.
The film premiered at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year. Post screening, it won the Best Director Award.
According to Pawlikowski's personal life, he has lived and worked mostly in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his career, he had garnered much acclaim for a string of award-winning documentaries in the 1990s. This also included his feature films, two of which had won a BAFTA Award as well as many other European awards.
He currently teaches film direction and screenwriting at the National Film School in the United Kingdom and the Wajda Film School in Warsaw.
In addition to his native Polish, he also speaks six languages, including German and Russian.
Pawlikowski has been active from 1987–present.
#borntodirect
@ColdWarMovie
@PolishFilmToday
@bafta
@bbc
@RogerEbert
@Kanopy
@theguardian
@newyorker
@Vox
@Variety
@APNews
@culturepl
@Britannica
@tubi
No comments:
Post a Comment