Cinergy Master class with Tomasz Wasilewski

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor:

Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO

Name of lecturer(s):

Václav KADRNKA, Giovanni Battista ROBBIANO

Learning outcomes of the course unit:

“I want to destroy this barrier between the viewer and the character” - Tomasz Wasilewski

The aim of the masterclass and following discussion with Tomasz Wasilewski is to extend the horizons in the context of contemporary arthouse films, film realism and use of cinematic technique. Tomasz Wasilewski will explain his journey from film school to his debut film, from Polish film clubs to the film festival circuit. Tomasz Wasilewski will also talk about his practical methods about his scriptwriting, working with actors and non-actors, or co-working with cinematographer to build the visual style of his films.

Mode of study:

Master class lectures

Prerequisites and co-requisites:

-

Course contents:

29. 11./ 18:00 - 19:30/ Master class with Tomasz Wasilewski

Kino Pilotů/ Donská 19, Praha Vršovice, Tram 22, 31 - Krymská

Tomasz Wasilewski (b. 1980, Toruń, Poland) studied direction at the Film and Television Academy in Warsaw (2001) and graduated in film and television production from PWSFTviT in Łódź (2006). He shot the short Flameless (Nawiść, 2001) and the short documentary One Man Show (Show jednego człowieka, 2008). His feature film debut In a Bedroom (W sypialni) received its international premiere in KVIFF’s Forum of Independents in 2012 and enjoyed huge success at a series of other international festivals. He returned to Karlovy Vary a year later for the European premiere of his next film, Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce), which garnered him Best Film in the East of the West Competition. Wasilewski was a member of the East of the West jury in 2014. His third feature United States of Love premiered in competition at this year’s Berlinale.

29. 11./ 20:00 - 22:00/ Screening of film – United States of Love

Kino Pilotů/ Donská 19, Praha Vršovice, Tram 22, 31 - Krymská

United States of Love - synopsis

The advent of the 1990s brought fundamental social change and a wealth of new possibilities, and the film’s four heroines want to be part of it – Marzena, a former local beauty queen whose husband works abroad; Renata, a Russian teacher nearing retirement; Agata, a young mother trapped in an unhappy marriage; and Iza, a headmistress in love with the father of one of her students. They all have one thing in common: They yearn for change and fulfilment in their lives. One of Poland’s most striking contemporary filmmakers, Tomasz Wasilewski already demonstrated in his previous pictures his wonderful flair for capturing the visceral experiences of his characters, and his latest film is likewise dominated by exquisitely captured moments of searing, wretched desire for love and intimacy. Moreover, the precise, grey-blue lensing of leading European cinematographer Oleg Mutu coolly underscores the loneliness suffered by the individual characters. The film was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Script at this year’s Berlinale.

30. 11./ 10:00 - 12:00/ Discussion with Tomasz Wasilewski

FAMU U7

Recommended or required reading:

Podcast with Tomasz Wasilewski about his film Floating Skyscrapers which tackles the themes of searching for one’s true identity and fighting for love where ever you may find it.

http://directorsnotes.com/2013/12/05/dn306-floating-skyscrapers-tomasz-wasilewski/

The Filmmakers’ Portrait Series: Tomasz Wasilewski

http://www.cool-ny.com/en/archives/1711

United States of Love - review from The Guardian, November 2016, by Peter Bradshaw

Tomasz Wasilewski brings an icy compositional control to this piercingly sad, strange and unnerving film, about a quartet of lives immersed in toxic obsession and thwarted erotic yearning. It concludes on a stab of what I can only describe as horror and despair. This film is not here to make you feel good. But it has a soap-operatic watchability. Poland in 1990 is the setting, just as the Soviet empire is collapsing. But so far from experiencing a liberation, the characters are only further oppressed by inner desperation, and the title is not entirely ironic. They are in fact “united” by very similar symptoms. There is a kind of eroticised sickness in the air, a compulsive, joyless need for sex. Agata (Julia Kijowska) has a futile obsession with the local priest; headteacher Iza (Magdalena Cielecka) has had a long-standing affair with a married doctor and expects him to formalise their relationship now that his wife has died. Her sister Marzena (Marta Nieradkiewicz) is a former beauty queen and wannabe model – and a teacher, Renata (Dorota Kolak) has conceived a creepy stalkerish infatuation with Marzena. The bleached-out colour palette achieved by cinematographer Oleg Mutu (who shot Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days and Beyond the Hills) gives everything such a spare, stark look – in the opening dinner-table scene, the setting could almost be a digital green screen. The film’s emotional distance is indebted to directors such as Farhadi and Haneke. Its bodies look as if they have been painted by Lucian Freud. This is a vision of purgatory.

Assessment methods and criteria:

100% attendance and 100% participation for all events.

Course web page:

Note:

There is a screening of Tomasz Wasilewski's films on Friday November 25 in FAMU projection room.

10:00 In a Bedroom (W sypialni) 76 min.

11:15 Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce) 93 min.

Otherwise these two films will be available in FAMU library (reference only).

Schedule for winter semester 2016/2017:

Date	Day	Time	Tutor	Location	Notes	No. of paralel
29.11.2016		18:00–22:00	Václav KADRNKA		Kino Pilotů/ Donská 19, Praha	přednášková par. 1
30.11.2016		10:00–12:00	Václav KADRNKA	Učebna 7 Lažanský palác	Lecturer: Tomasz Wasilewski	přednášková par. 1

Schedule for summer semester 2016/2017:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans: