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Grzegorz Dębowski, director of the film NEXT TO NOTHING, and its producer, Jerzy Kapuściński, met with the audience at the Film School Cinema last Thursday after the screening.
Hailed as a phenomenon, Grzegorz Dębowski's full-length feature debut film was awarded 6 statuettes at the 48th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia, i.e. "Golden Claw" for its boldness of form and content in the "Visions Apart" category, Director’s Debut, Screenplay, Leading Actor (Artur Paczesny), Supporting Actress (Agnieszka Kwietniewska), Don Quixote Award of the Polish Federation of Film Discussion Clubs.
On December 7, 2023, a pre-premiere screening of the film and a meeting with the filmmakers took place at the Cinema of the Lodz Film School. The director - Grzegorz Dębowski and Jerzy Kapuściński - producer and Artistic Director of the Munk Studio, met the viewers.
Jerzy Kapuściński shared his knowledge, among others: about the beginnings of the film:
"The last films about Polish country folks were made a long time ago, and when the screenplay for this project was created, there was no such political situation yet. When we got closer to shooting, the political tension was already strong. This film caught up with reality and, in a sense, even overtook it a little".
Grzegorz Dębowski, who gained experience as an assistant to Paweł Pawlikowski, Leszek Dawid, Martha Coolidge and Gary Romolo Fiorelli, and also graduated in directing from the Lodz Film School, eagerly answered questions from the audience.
Here are some topics from the discussion led by Filip Grzędowski from the University of Lodz.
About the experience of working for television before making his cinema debut:
"Producers didn't write me back, so working for television was the only option. Nevertheless, I believe that you can learn a lot from television. And finally, you can do something in your project which could not be touched in such work".
About the budget and work on the film:
"In my opinion the budget was perfect. There are many advantages to this limitation. We worked on the script almost to the end and I even think that there was less value in the screenplay than in the final film. I don't love the film machine. It's not a joke that I told Jerzy that I would love to make the next film with my iPhone. A budget is a responsibility, and it's worth getting some sleep sometimes. If I had a budget of 10 million, I wouldn't sleep at all. However, the downside of the budget is that many people deserve better remuneration because they put their hearts into it".
On combining documentary and fiction:
"At this school, I was always criticized for making fiction films like documentaries and documentaries like fiction films. By the way, in "Next to Nothing", I think you can see such skills in combining them. Documentation work was unusual because I travelled to locations and often took test photos with my phone. I also had a lot of sparring with Artur (actor) when we were looking for the main character's motivation".
photos: Anna Kazimierczak
On December 7, 2023, a pre-premiere screening of the film and a meeting with the filmmakers took place at the Cinema of the Lodz Film School. The director - Grzegorz Dębowski and Jerzy Kapuściński - producer and Artistic Director of the Munk Studio, met the viewers.
Jerzy Kapuściński shared his knowledge, among others: about the beginnings of the film:
"The last films about Polish country folks were made a long time ago, and when the screenplay for this project was created, there was no such political situation yet. When we got closer to shooting, the political tension was already strong. This film caught up with reality and, in a sense, even overtook it a little".
Grzegorz Dębowski, who gained experience as an assistant to Paweł Pawlikowski, Leszek Dawid, Martha Coolidge and Gary Romolo Fiorelli, and also graduated in directing from the Lodz Film School, eagerly answered questions from the audience.
Here are some topics from the discussion led by Filip Grzędowski from the University of Lodz.
About the experience of working for television before making his cinema debut:
"Producers didn't write me back, so working for television was the only option. Nevertheless, I believe that you can learn a lot from television. And finally, you can do something in your project which could not be touched in such work".
About the budget and work on the film:
"In my opinion the budget was perfect. There are many advantages to this limitation. We worked on the script almost to the end and I even think that there was less value in the screenplay than in the final film. I don't love the film machine. It's not a joke that I told Jerzy that I would love to make the next film with my iPhone. A budget is a responsibility, and it's worth getting some sleep sometimes. If I had a budget of 10 million, I wouldn't sleep at all. However, the downside of the budget is that many people deserve better remuneration because they put their hearts into it".
On combining documentary and fiction:
"At this school, I was always criticized for making fiction films like documentaries and documentaries like fiction films. By the way, in "Next to Nothing", I think you can see such skills in combining them. Documentation work was unusual because I travelled to locations and often took test photos with my phone. I also had a lot of sparring with Artur (actor) when we were looking for the main character's motivation".
photos: Anna Kazimierczak