A Celebration of Polish Documentary – The Lexi, Kensal Rise
The beautiful and well-hidden Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise played host to an evening of Polish Documentary, an interesting mix of pieces.
The Lexi itself is worthy of note; despite its unexpected location, this small, popular independent has been running since November 2008, and is a social enterprise: its entire profit is used to support the Sustainable Institute in Africa. The woman behind this project is Sally Wilton, who runs the Lexi out of her own pocket and covers overheads through the corporate and private hire the building is available for (more information available on their website), with a predominantly volunteer staff. And it’s beautiful: the well-stocked purple winebar behind the screen plays host to local artists, and the screening room itself holds a magnificent glass ceiling light sculpture by Bruce Munro. The equipment on offer is also first-class: the projection and silver screen are by Motion Picture Solutions, and the stunning audio, used rather well throughout the evening, is by Munro Acoustics, providers of sound to Pinewood Studios. It is, I am reliably told by a Lexi enthusiast, the best soundsystem in London. It definitely adds to the overall effect of sumptuous screening, the final touches of which are the fantastically comfortable chairs for up to eighty people and, for tonight, extra cabaret-style floor seating, with tealight lanterns flickering evocatively on the tables. A proper cinematic experience, and a luxurious way to watch documentary.
After a pleasant wine reception, the screenings began. The first short, 2008’s ‘Take A Look’ by Adam Palenta, was a charming four-minute observation of two blind children feeling their way around a portrait of a planet painted on glass, and their imaginations running away with them as to what the picture could be of. Their frustrations were framed nicely between eachother, rather than themselves and their condition, and their outlandish imaginings. ‘Mother’, 2009 and 11 minutes from Jakub Piatek, was far more serious. Otherworldy tints marked out this family home as a place different to others, and while a large young family awoke to a child’s First Holy Communion celebrations, the mater of the household, a visibly aged older woman, was edgy and unsmiling, alert like a frightened bird, as if constantly in wait. We discover later in the film she is waiting to see her son, presumably the father of these tiny children and husband to this strained wife who are all crammed into their grandmother’s tiny house, and whom we are told has been somewhat unfairly moved to a prison 450km away – although we are not told about the crime he has committed. Despite this possibly affecting our view of him, it is when his mother sees him and suddenly is reborn from silence into a constantly chattering maternal figure, constantly asking if he needs anything, saving only one short sentence for herself to describe her own feelings.
‘The Booth of Fortune’, 2009, was sadder still, and continued the quality of these pieces; nomatter how short they were – ‘Booth’ was only 15minutes – their stories still felt well told, as if every second had been squeezed out, distilled and doubled in length. Leslaw Dobrucki’s moving last days of a corrugated iron shed that houses a community of Lotto-ticket vendors and their buyers and has done for some forty years, filled the watcher with righteous indignation, feeling closer and closer to the people whose stories were being so touchingly and humanly told, with the creeping cold realisation that each person was starting to express in their own way their frustration that this building was being knocked down for the Subway. It is heartbreakingly dug up, smashed and crushed, along with the memories of all those who used it.
Luckily for the audience, many of whom were no longer able to munch their popcorn, we were next entertained by the fly-on-the-wall documentary ‘Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot’, about the famous Polish documentary and film maker, who was shooting a film about the Polish soldiers massacred during WWII, one of whom was his own father. Despite this serious and delicate subject matter,Wajda’s own story, of a rambunctious, straightforward and often rudely critical – although never, tyrannically, to anyone’s face – director, with perfectionist tendencies – he is asked for a photo with a little girl extra, and ends up directing their photoshoot, bringing in extra cameras and lighting to achieve the perfect shot – is funny, and in some moments comes across as weighty. He tells us that “you have to be sure you want to be a filmmaker…you have to move yourself if you want results, you have to live your whole life as a director,” as perhaps demonstrated by his young fan’s photo session. You desperately want to listen to him, grim and sweet as he appears to be.
I was later joined by Maria Letowska, a member of the Polish Film Institute (the equivalent to our UK Film Council) and in town for the Festival, who told me her thoughts on the Festival itself. She told me she was surprised to begin with that the LIDF was only four years old, whilst in Krakow theirs was 20 or so, with another in Warsaw. Why hadn’t there been a documentary festival in London before? It’s a fair point. London is known to be a cultural hub, and yet this is the biggest festival of its kind in the capital. Maria continued, telling me about Poland’s famous industry, with acclaimed Directors such as Wajda and Polanski coming out of its prestigious film school in Lodz, and its strong presence internationally within other Documentary Festivals. All of tonight’s offerings came from the Andrezj Wajda Master School of Film Directing, and Maria hoped that perhaps soon a collaboration with the school in Lodz – while the films we saw tonight were certainly indicative of the great quality and depth of Polish Documentary Filmmaking, she’s sure there is yet more to offer. This was an impressive evening for all attendees, who were able to see some rather special films in an extremely special atmosphere, and we should definitely look forward to seeing what does indeed come out of this Polish partnership.
http://www.thelexicinema.co.uk/
