DAWID BODZAK. A graduate of directing at our School. Director of the award-winning TREMORS (Clermont-Ferrand, Lisbon, Guanajuato, Valladolid, Prague). His feature diploma film, CROCODILE, had its premiere at the prestigious Semaine de la Critique (Critics' Week) section of the Cannes Film Festival. (filmschool.lodz.pl/en/news) Among the directors whose films were noticed and appreciated in the Critics’ Week programme are such outstanding and recognized directors as Alejandro González Iñarritu, Ken Loach, François Ozon and Wong Kar Wai. After such a spectacular start to both the film and Dawid's professional path, his CROCODILE will now be seen by the audience of the New Horizons festival. (nowehoryzonty.pl)

Dawid Bodzak is being interviewed by Jolanta Karpińska from the School Promotion Office.

Soon, CROCODILE will be watched by the audience of the New Horizons festival, a celebration of artistic, searching and demanding cinema, which seems like the perfect place for your film. What emotions does the presence of your film at this festival evoke for you?

Dawid Bodzak: I'm really glad. I've never been to New Horizons, but I always look through the festival's selections to see what films can be seen there. This is a truly unique event among film festivals and I am very proud that they selected our film for the Shortlist programme. (filmschool.lodz.pl/en)

CROCODILE has already had a confrontation with a demanding audience and Jury. The film was screened in the programme of the prestigious Semaine de la Critique section in Cannes, which was your great success. How was your film received at Cannes?

DB: Of course, after the screening I had the opportunity to talk to those who wanted to share their positive opinion and even the experience they had during the screening. Those viewers who were confused or dissatisfied probably just didn't share it. I was filled with so many emotions related to the fact that we could show the film in this place that I probably wasn't able to fully concentrate on the audience reactions. What I was most worried about was whether certain fragments which were supposed to be funny, even grotesque, and also causing some discomfort by the clash of something dark and at the same time funny, would arouse such reactions among the audience. The audience was very responsive, so this goal seems to have been achieved. One of the journalists I spoke to the day after the premiere told me that he saw someone leave the cinema during the screening - so I think the experience of the viewers was extreme. There was also a special projection organized for the association of cinephiles, in a small, beautiful town near Cannes. The audience were mostly older people and I felt that the film made them somewhat disorientated.

The mere presence in the programme of the Cannes Festival is a big thing, few filmmakers can experience it. First of all, this magical place and its legend as the centre of world cinema - affects everyone. Secondly, the section in which your film was included is extremely demanding - Film Critics Week in Cannes abounds in high-flying artistic cinema, extremely diverse, coming from various corners of the world. Was it fun having your film in it? Stressful? Exciting?

DB: The fact that the film premiered during Cannes Critics Week was a great honour for me. I couldn't have imagined a better place for the film premiere. I was able to invite some of the crew to the screening and festival, watch the premiere screenings of the most anticipated films, and see for myself what this place actually looks like. Madness. The films in this section were very diverse, in fact, each was different - not only in terms of subject matter but also concerning the form and technique which affected how it was made. Of course, there was stress related to the screening of the film and how it would be received, but there were also many emotions and beautiful moments. I'm glad that we were able to experience it together with some members of the film crew, which is not so common in the case of short films. The film’s presence in this section is also its great promotion and a chance that it will be shown at other festivals. And what’s more, festivals are the only place where short films can be seen in the form of cinema screenings which is the way they should be watched.

Many times in your statements you emphasized the role of co-creators in making this film, the role of your entire crew. This sense of community was also clearly visible during your presence in Cannes - are you lucky with people or is it a worked-out effect?

DB: I'm definitely lucky with people. Many of those with whom I worked on Crocodile are my friends and people closest to me. With those with whom I had worked before, we managed to get to know each other very well, understand how we work, or rather - what we are like, what are our strengths and what are our weaknesses, and try to use this knowledge at work. I met many people for the first time while working on CROCODILE and I would love to continue working with them. Since I have such an opportunity now, I would like to thank Łukasz Barczyk for taking great care of the whole process and for the fact that I could always count on him, and not only in matters to do with the film, and Julia Szczepańska, who helped me in everything from the idea for the film to the final screening version, not only as an actress but also as a partner and co-creator. Because even though the film lasts only 19 minutes, there were many difficult moments during its production, not only those related to the film set. I got a lot of support and understanding for the whole process of "searching" for this film.

Since the beginning of my studies, I have been working with cinematographer Adam Suzin and editor Kamil Grzybowski, who are my friends and without whom it is hard for me to imagine working on film. The main roles are played by Julia Szczepańska and Natan Berkowicz, who is not a professional actor, but has already played the main role in my previous film. They had the hardest and most courageous task in the whole process, and I thank them very much for fulfilling it. Composers, Teoniki Rożynek and Qba Janicki also appear in the film, not only as episodic characters - first of all, they played their improvised concert in the film, and its elements were also used in the film's soundtrack. Young actors - Jakub Wojtas and Miłosz Fudała - also played great supporting roles. The irreplaceable Bogdan Klat was in charge of the sound mix and sound design. The game used in the film and the 3D animation were created by Unreal Wizard - "One man army" Sławosz Tejkowski. The wonderful Seba Tokarczyk and Julita Goździk were responsible for the costumes. Aleksandra Gałka, Maria Waldowska and Katarzyna Stasiełuk took over the production management, one of the most difficult challenges, and my assistant directors were Agata Rakowicz and Artem Rachkelyuk. There are so many people working on the film that it would be very difficult for me to name them all now and for sure the fact that I only mentioned some of them is not fair because I had the opportunity to work with some truly extraordinary people who gave a part of themselves to this project. I thank all of them very much.

CROCODILE is a difficult cinema, it requires knowledge of film traditions. You refer to an unusual blend of detective stories, eroticism, violence, and mysteries of the human psyche. You need to know about the Italian, now iconic, giallo to be able to join this film game with you - to appreciate the attention to style, to see the references and, based on this, to look for the senses and meanings you assumed. Will this be DAWID BODZAK'S CINEMA – demanding? Original? Knowing TREMORS and CROCODILE, one can expect it to unfold in this direction.

DB: Although we use elements characteristic of giallo films, it seems to me that these references and cliches are also readable as references to horror films or genre clichés familiar to anyone who just watches films. It's nice when someone knows this particular trend, because probably, as you say, they will pick up various details and their processing for the purposes of our film, but it is not necessary. I think that it's not about knowing film conventions, but about whether this convention, this particular film, this way of storytelling, will be interesting for the viewer, whether we will manage to get him involved, whether he will find something for himself in this world. Despite the fact that I would like it to be a film for everyone, I realize that I won’t be able to invite everyone; or maybe I’ll only be able to take just a few people on this "ride". Short films seem to me to be a much better place to look for a new way of film narration. First of all, it does not involve high financial risk. Short films, and in particular student films i.e. forms for tests, exist for this purpose. At school, student films can and should be treated as an experimental field to risk, search and try. I prefer short films that are risky, maybe less perfect, or even bad, but brave. It's a bit different from full-length films. It's basically a completely different form of storytelling. Duration changes a lot. You have to start from scratch a bit, collect this experience from the short film, and use it, but at the beginning test yourself in a more classic form of narration.

You are already out of school. What do you see as most valuable in it now, in retrospect?

DB: Film school is all about people. It all depends on whether you manage to meet people with whom you will develop, with whom you will find a common language. Whether you manage to meet teachers and artistic supervisors of your films who will show you a new way of looking at the world, at film, at art. And above all, people who will help you believe in yourself - and this is not easy at all. I was lucky to meet such people at school.

What's going on in your professional life right now? You received a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Młoda Polska" to prepare the screenplay for the full-length feature film "Epizod", will this be your feature-length debut?

DB: Yes, I'm working on the screenplay for my feature debut right now. The "Young Poland" scholarship is a great support. I also hope that the appearance of CROCODILE in Critics' Week will help me to turn the screenplay I'm working on into a film in the future. I'd also like to participate in the Next Step programme, which helps directors of Critics' Week short films develop their first feature-length projects. When I started working on this screenplay, it was a “coming of age story”, but as it's been a while since the idea was conceived, it's more of a religious thriller in its current form.

What can you wish for, since you already have Cannes in your film biography?

DB: Definitely succeeding in making a full-length film and having a chance to show it in the cinema - which is not so simple and obvious these days. I would like to make a short film in the future, but for now, I dream of doing a long format film.

Dawid - we wish you success with a full-length film and the best of fortune with meeting good and talented people. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for you with all your future professional projects!

Thank you for talking to me.

TRAILER: vimeo.com