Your film STAGNANT has already been seen by audiences on five continents and it is not an empty slogan. Just to mention a few awards:
in Europe – Best Director Award and Best Screenplay Award at the Pielagos en Corto Festival in Spain, Award for the Best Film from the Visegrad Group countries at the BuSho Film Festival in Budapest, Hungary, Award for the Best Student Film at the ÉCU Festival in France, Award for the Best Film and Audience Award at the disABILITY Film Festival in Belgium;
in North America - screening at Shorts Not Pants in Canada;
in South America - Best Film Award at the Manuel Trujillo Durán Festival in Venezuela;
in Africa – the Egyptian Film Critics Association Award at the Alexandria Short Film Festival in Egypt;
in Asia – screening at the Beirut International Short Film Festival in Lebanon.
Many shows and really impressive results! Why do you think the plot of STAGNANT is universal and where do you, as the director, see the universality of this story?

K o n r a d: Indeed, STAGNANT has already visited over 30 festivals in a year and a half, which is a pleasant surprise for us. It seems to me that what the audience may be interested in are the relationships in which we have involved the characters and the problem the hero faces. On the one hand, with his own character, on the other - with a disability that he has to accept. In addition, the film is set in a specific subculture of skinheads. In Poland, I heard voices that the hero is not a positive character because of his temperament and the environment he comes from. For me, these arguments are an example of a simplified perception of reality, dominated by stereotyping certain groups of people. Skinhead in this sense equals "evil", according to a specific character decoding matrix. Meanwhile, the protagonist of STAGNANT, Adam, is not politically defined and does not represent any extremist symbols. He is a member of a subculture whose spectrum has historically stretched from the left to the right of the political scene. Anyway, the subculture is an element which, instead of defining him as a man, is rather a kind of prison for him. The hero is not Santa Claus; we don't all have to like him. In the context of the film, it's more interesting to try and get closer to a person we wouldn't normally have access to. STAGNANT puts a character at the front that, which at first glance is not positive. I tried to create a character from the gray zone because it seems to me that this is what our existence is like. Neither black or white. In my second-year-film SELF, we tackled the topic of unwanted teenage motherhood, also with a non-obvious ending to a difficult situation. And once again, we faced a complex character. It was great to be able to throw my ideas and confront them with the suggestions of Leszek Dawid, who is an open artistic supervisor who is always ready for a discussion. When it comes to festivals, it's a matter of persistence in promoting the film, which is the joint effort of the many people who work on it. It's not good when a film ends up in a drawer. Everyone takes their time and gets involved to make the film complete. After all, it is created for a specific purpose - for people to see it. For me, the film's festival trip is not a form of self-promotion, but a repayment of a debt to the rest of the crew. We did something together and now let's show it. I think that our work makes sense when for a moment, someone can interact with what we've tried to do. Regardless of whether it will be well or badly received by the viewer. The element of confrontation with the viewer is a natural consequence of producing the film. There was also a snowball effect - some festivals contacted each other and organized shows with their recommendation. The promotion was also handled by the Krakow Film Foundation, which took STAGNANT under its wing. And it is desirable that such initiatives as KFF could function by supporting the promotion of, after all, the niche phenomenon of short films.

STAGNANT's screenplay made it possible to create the sensational role of Adam played by Igor Kowalunas who was awarded the Special Mention for Best Actor at the Manuel Trujillo Durán Festival in Venezuela in 2022. Tell us about how your collaboration started and how you both searched for means of artistic expression?

K o n r a d: I have to pay tribute to the actors - Igor as well as Mateusz Czwartosz who plays Adam’s brother. Mateusz was nominated for the Jan Machulski Award for his role in Stagnant and in Joanna Różniak's film “Dygot”. I owe a lot to both gentlemen – their dedication, passion and talent. Igor had worked on the role earlier; we had several longer conversations, mainly about the background of the characters and the relationship between the brothers. Discussing their background was very important to me. Both actors went into the filming being these characters. On the set, my job was limited to creating conditions in which they could do their best to bring out the roles. However, we gave ourselves space to make some adjustments if necessary. On the set, we watched the world in which they functioned. If we had had any ideas on a regular basis, we were able to implement them. I always encourage actors to feel like co-creators of the film. Izabella Dudziak and Jakub Sierenberg, accompanying the screen brothers, also did their best. Igor and I met through casting. He sent me his reel and I was looking for a certain energy that cannot be faked. The hero is difficult, he comes from a specific background where physical conditions matter and there is a cult of strength. Igor is a theatre and film actor, but he also has a natural, organic-animal energy that he perfectly controls. He was able to convey the complicated psychology of the character and his hidden emotions without stripping him of the raw layer. Adam is not just a brutal skinhead. He is a man who struggles with an emotional problem and his own limitations. I can only bow deeply to Igor and thank him very much.

It's interesting that you talk about physicality, which is an important element of your films. The background of STAGNANT is Adam's disability, while in your next documentary, ATROPHY, you talk in a poetic way about passing away, death, decay - if we read the title literally. The film had its world premiere at the Beijing International Short Film Festival. Is the fragility of the body a leading theme for you? Where does this interest come from? 

K o n r a d: Not so much fragility or disintegration of the body, but physicality in general. I am interested in natural limitations, the clash between who we are biologically and culturally. We are primates with limits that we always want to exceed. This is related to the basic questions that everyone asks themselves - what is the meaning of life, is there something after death, what remains after us. “Atrophy” poses these questions, too. We belong to the world of nature which is governed by its own primal laws, but on the other hand, we have culture, religion, ideologies. The topic of determining the meaning of life which has a beginning and an end, is one of the fundamental issues. For me, something that is finite doesn't mean something that doesn't make sense, although deep down, the final end of existence can be unsettling. Asking questions in this area seems to me extremely interesting. Atrophy is a reflection on what we leave behind in the material sphere after death, whether things can turn into artefacts which allow us to cheat destiny. The film should provide the answer and be created from the perspective of the belief that we know the answer. Otherwise, it would be informative, educational or propaganda. I think film is an interesting medium because it can ask a question without giving a clear answer. And everyone should come up with their own answer. It sounds like a truism but I think that this approach also includes an attitude towards the viewer. Hence, I met with allegations regarding the open ending of STAGNANT. I believe that the viewer himself can draw his own conclusions because we enter into a dialogue with him. We do not speak to him ex cathedra, but we invite him to a dialogue. I trust that the viewer has his own world and sensitivity through which he will understand what we have done on the screen. Perhaps in a completely different way to me.

You are currently a third-year student of film and television directing. You have successfully made both a fiction film and a documentary. That's why I have to ask directly - which form is closer to you today: fiction or documentary film?

K o n r a d: It is a difficult question. Earlier, I graduated from the Department of Cinematography and Television Production in the Faculty of Photography and I also studied social sciences. I worked as a camera operator, journalist; I was involved in documentary photography. Naturally, I should answer that the documentary film is closer to me because I had to deal with it more often at the beginning of my professional career. But it's not the case. I've always been more interested in fiction film and eventually I would like to indulge in it. Documentary cinema interests me rather in a creative form, and fiction film is an ideal solution for me. Documentary elements can be smuggled in, but at the same time, you can control them and not disturb the real world and the story of people who live in this world. Frankly speaking, I don't really separate these forms radically. A film is a film. As long as it asks sensible questions, moves something in the viewer and changes something in a positive way, I think that this division does not matter. And it often fades away, anyway. Documentaries are beginning to resemble fiction film. There are fiction films that draw heavily from the documentary. No matter what the form is, it is important that it does not violate any boundaries of the people who take part in it. I feel like there's not as much control in a documentary as there is in a fiction film. There, everyone is a director a little bit because we don't know to what extent the character is authentic and to what extent he creates certain behaviours for the needs of the film. We can only assume that what we observe is unprocessed reality.

So at what stage do you decide if you're making a fiction film or a documentary?

K o n r a d: To a large extent, fiction films that I make result from documentary observation. For me, the basis of the fiction film is good documentation in the real world and processing this reality so that it becomes fiction, but is embedded in real mechanisms. I would like my features to be close to documentaries by appropriating and processing a certain observed reality. However, if there is a strong character with a story and I know that this film will be useful to him in some way and will change something in his life - then I can consider a documentary. The open question is whether the film can change anything in the life of the protagonist. In most cases though, I think about fiction films. I have an idea, an emotion, a subject matter that I notice among people and I am looking for a setting for it in an imaginary world. Sometimes, I have a need to see a story, that is, to commune with a character who "follows me". This is how fiction films are made. I don't think about a documentary very often. Although sometimes I want to face the theme or approach it differently, as in the case of ATROPHY. After the observational documentary I made in an earlier year of studies, we wanted to try to make a documentary without a protagonist. It was a daunting task - an experiment. Some may say that this is not a documentary film. But it is an attempt to deal with this matter in a more metaphorical way.

What are your plans for the near future?

K o n r a d: Certainly a third-year film under the supervision of Jan Komasa. We’ve found a world that has not been explored enough in Polish cinema. I think only two films have been made about this community that we want to portray in the story. But I don't want to reveal too many details now - let it be a surprise. At the end of the year, I am finishing my doctorate at the Academy of Fine Arts with a feature simultaneous film on several screens, the screenplay of which is based on memories generated by AI. We also made a full-length extracurricular film, in which 90% of the crew and cast are our students and graduates from the Film School. Last year, we finished shooting, this year editing, and currently, we are finishing the sound for the whole thing. We wanted to check whether, in independent conditions, without financing, and with the help of a team associated with the Lodz Film School, we were able to do a feature project. Originally, I wanted to direct a 30-minute film, but it grew to 75 minutes. We have strong heroines in the foreground played by Anita Tomczak and Paula Stępczyńska. We want the festival premiere to take place this year. I hope that someone will see it so that it will be a payment for the efforts of the many people who were involved in this.

I wish you further success and we look forward to hearing more about these projects!

Interviewer: Małgorzata Lisiecka-Muniak from the Lodz Film School Promotion Office
STAGNANT production photo (2)