Cinema is large. Cinema is inspirational. Cinema is universal. Cinema is cheap. Cinema is common. Cinema is democratic as it has never been in its history. Cinema is sacred. Cinema is a Church which accepts everybody. Cinema does not exclude anyone. Cinema does not accept any rules and any barriers. Censorship does not exist for cinema. Cinema is not made on the basis of a clerk's decision. Cinema results from talent. Cinema results from passion. Cinema results from love. Cinema frees from fear, weakness, and the feeling of exclusion. Cinema is eternal. Cinema is intellectual. Cinema is plebeian. Cinema is escape. Cinema is a weapon. Cinema is the constant revolution without victims. Cinema is in 35/16/8mm stock frame. Cinema is in the memory card. Cinema does not expect anything. Cinema gives everything back. Today's cinema is in a screening room, on a laptop screen and mobile phone display. Cinema is like bread, it is moved from one hand to the other. Cinema is life. Cinema is the moment. Cinema is breath. Cinema is freedom. Cinema is everywhere.
Last year Berlinale was a life changing experience. I understood how powerful cinema still is, how rapidly it is evolving and where I do belong.
That's how Secret was born: somewhere between my love to punk DIY ethics and Fassbinder's no holds barred relentless filmmaking. With a little help from a new breed of cheap, handheld HD cameras.
Based on a script rejected by virtually all film related institutions in Poland, prepared by an anarchic collective of twelve, shot within three weeks, with no budget at all, with a travel case of old, mostly broken photo lens, this was the exercise in sovereignty and artistic independence. After months of hopeless struggle, cinema forced me to live again.
Opened, edgy, ambiguous, unpredictable, divisive, erratic. Free of any production restraints. Pleasing neither a mass audience nor a festival hipster. Breathlessly looking for a new audience. More an experimental novel, than a conventional film.
I did it with two young Rene Pollesch actors. Tomek, my equal, one of the few openly gay actors in Poland and Agnieszka, the best actress of her generation. I love them and the freshness they bring onto the screen.
I still feel we lag behind the digital revolution. With the cost of shooting a film getting closer to the cost of writing a novel, we still avoid risks, producing compromised films for years and distributing them through conventional channels. Hopefully, it's gonna change. And the upcoming wave will wash out the cinema we know, giving a space for something different, something unknown, something exciting, something secret.
I believe this small humble film is a part of this change.
Cinema is holy.
PW
Przemysław Wojcieszek
I was born into this mess in 1974. Never attended any film school. I started to write ripping off cheap genre movies, I'd been watching on my part time job at a video store. I wrote and directed several low budget feature films – Kill'em All, Louder Than Bombs, A Perfect Afternoon, to name a few. Last year I finished Made In Poland and it was probably my last "proper" narrative feature. With the advent of digital cinema, I entered a new field of discovery and experimentation. SECRET, I've just completed, is my first firm step in this territory. FAKE PLASTIC TREES, scheduled for the whole 2012, will be another.
SEKRET / The SECRET
- Country: Poland 2012
- Production: Dynamo Karuzela Katarzyna Majewska Wrocław
- Coproduction: Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty, Gruppa Rafał Widajewicz
- Written & Directed: Przemysław Wojcieszek
- Starring: Tomasz Tyndyk (Ksawery), Agnieszka Podsiadlik (Karolina), Marek Kępiński (Jan)
- Artistic co-operation: Katarzyna Majewska
- Director of photography: Kuba Kijowski
- DoP assistance: Błażej Kitowski
- Production design: Milena Czarnik
- Costume designer: Magdalena Machajska
- Hair & make up designer: Alina Janerka
- Choreography: Przemysław Juszkiewicz
- Sound: Artur Kuczkowski
- Music: Krzysztof Prętkiewicz
- Editor: Daniel Zioła
- Script, production assistance: Magdalena Sztorc
- Boom Operator: Jacek Groszek
- Yiddish Consultant: Karolina Szymaniak
- Production managers: Rafał Widajewicz & Dominik Czepułkowski
- Producer: Katarzyna Majewska
- Format: HD, 16:9, colour
- Time: 82 min., 24/sec.
- Language: Polish (with English subtitles)
- World premiere: Berlinale 2012
SECRET trailer from DYNAMO KARUZELA on Vimeo.
Distribution: Dynamo Karuzela, Podchorążych 3/14, 53-320 Wrocław / Poland
Authorized agent entitled to sale:
Magdalena Sztorc, mobile: (+48) 604 48 80 54, kontakt@dynamokaruzela.pl
With the finnancial suport of
KSAWERY and KAROLINA pay JAN a visit. JAN is KSAWERY's grandfather living lonely in a desolate countryside. KSAWERY is a drag queen performer. KAROLINA claims to be KSAWERY's agent. JAN is the only relative KSAWERY ever felt tied to. KSAWERY is gay. KAROLINA is Jewish. JAN, over 80, is a former resistance soldier. KAROLINA knows, the house she just came to, witnessed a murder unpunished for 70 years. KAROLINA wants answers. JAN is happy to be their host. KSAWERY has nowhere to run.
Non-punishment is a prison
"The way we are and the way we live is just like the world around us. Just like the people are." – says Jan to his guests. He wants them to understand that one cannot always act as a guardian of every ethical value. And that immorality is a human attribute, and in fact quite a common one. Particularly in the moments of fear, uncertainty or war. Yet, is this a sufficient justification for the crime committed many years ago? Undoubtedly not. The most severe punishment for a criminal – that is if he has a conscience – is the fact that he will have to live on with the awareness of a crime committed in the past. He will have to remember it. As long as he stays alive. No wonder then that Jan is praying for his own death.
Life is a punishment for anyone who is supposed to be the carrier of truth, remembrance and the past – it must be quite tough to be in his shoes. But the need to strive for the truth can also overpower you with obsession. Settling accounts with the past even if it does not bring any consolation creates a sense of obligation. Karolina is Jewish. In Jan's house the crime was committed on defenseless Jews and this secret has never come to light. Does digging up the past help one understand the reasons behind his actions? And is the sense of justice – or of revenge – always well-meant?
Economical in dialogues, the film will not let you to break free from questions. The key triangle: Ksawery – Jan – Karolina will be overwhelmed by helplessness. Simply because there is no way out of the circumstances they are involved in. You can chase the old times (the past) but you still need to cope with your life 'here and now'. And the presence is always far more important even if it is ghastly unbearable. This is why our daily rituals (like eating, sleeping or washing) are so crucial: it's through the monotony of everyday routines that we can notice the sanctity of life. This however does not guarantee any kind of idyll. Arcadia can only materialize in a place where kalós kai agathós (classical Greek kalokagathia: kalos / beautifull + kai / and + agathos / good) are harmoniously balanced.
Essential Wojcieszek
Nicht-Bestrafung ist Gefangenschaft
"Wir sind so und leben so, wie die uns umgebende Welt beschaffen ist. So, wie die Menschen sind" – sagt Jan zu seinen Gästen. Er will ihnen zu verstehen geben, dass es nicht immer gelingt, alle Werte zu verteidigen. Und dass Unmoralität eine gewöhnliche menschliche Eigenschaft ist. Insbesondere in den Zeiten der Angst, der Unsicherheit und des Krieges. Ist das eine ausreichende Rechtfertigung des vor Jahren begangenen Verbrechens? Bestimmt nicht. Die größte Strafe für den Verbrecher ist – selbstverständlich, wenn er ein Gewissen hat – die Tatsache, dass er mit der in der Vergangenheit begangenen Tat leben muss und sie aus dem Gedächtnis nicht auslöschen kann. Solange, wie lange er lebt. Jans Gebet um seinen eigenen Tod ist also nicht verwunderlich.
Leben als eine Strafe dafür, dass man Träger der Wahrheit, Erinnerung und Vergangenheit ist. Es ist schwer, sich in solch einen Zustand hineinzuversetzen. Aber von dem Bedürfnis, die Wahrheit zu suchen, kann man besessen werden. Die Abrechnung mit der Vergangenheit verleiht einem das Gefühl, seine Pflicht gut getan zu haben, auch dann, wenn das ihn nicht in Ruhe lässt. Karoline ist Jüdin. In Jans Haus wurde an wehrlosen Juden ein Verbrechen begangen. Das Geheimnis kam nie aus Tageslicht. Kann die Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit zum Verständnis der Beweggründe unserer Handlungen verhelfen? Ist das Gefühl für Gerechtigkeit immer intentional gut? Und ist die Rache immer böse?
Der dialogarme Film stellt an den Zuschauer mehrere Fragen, von denen man sich während der Vorführung nicht befreien kann. Das Leben der drei für einander wichtigen Personen Ksawery, Jan und Karolina ist durch Ratlosigkeit beherrscht, denn diese Situation erscheint wohl ausweglos. "Das Alte" kann man verfolgen, aber das Leben muss man meistern können, immer hier und jetzt. Die auch unheimlich unerträgliche Gegenwart ist immer viel wichtiger. Deshalb sind alltägliche Rituale wie Essen, Schlafen oder Waschen so bedeutsam, weil sie erlauben den Alltag als ein Fest zu erleben. Insbesondere dann, wenn die Umwelt ein Naturparadies ist.
Aber Vorsicht! Die schöne Natur allein kann niemanden erfreuen. Sie verspricht keine Idylle. Die Arcadia kommt nur dann vor, wo kalós kai agathós (griechisch kalokagathia: kalos / schön + kai / und + agathos / gut) zusammenspielen.
Essential Wojcieszek
