Director Jan P. Matuszyński, Chairman of the Programme Council of the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia, comments on the choice of Wojciech Marczewski to be presented the Award: "Wojciech Marczewski is one of the undisputed pillars of Polish cinema. His films still shine with their universality and relevance. The PFFF Programme Council was happy to select him as the winner of this year's Platinum Lions for lifetime achievement without further discussion. Not only because of his achievements in film, but also because of his enormous contribution to educating successive generations of artists in Poland and internationally. Mr. Marczewski's achievements beautifully combine the history and future of Polish cinema. I am glad that he is joining the distinguished group of winners of this exceptional award.”

The Festival organizers have prepared three events with the participation of Wojciech Marczewski.
The first will be a screening of the film "Ucieczka z kina Wolność", a canonical work of the director, awarded the Golden Lions at the festival in 1990.

The second event will be a masterclass by Wojciech Marczewski, hosted by film expert Piotr Pławuszewski. This meeting will be an attempt to answer the question of what it means to be a filmmaker who leaves an indelible mark on the viewer with their works. Talking about "Klucznik", "Dreszcze", "Ucieczka z kina WOLNOŚĆ" or "Weiser", the interlocutors will examine what makes Marczewski's cinema a vehicle of memory and history and how the director looks at his extraordinary achievements from the perspective of the time passed. This masterclass in cinema will remind us that Wojciech Marczewski's work is always a starting point for serious discussion. Because only for this - the director seems to claim - is it worth turning on the camera.

Wojciech Marczewski will also take part in the Master Five section. The director chose Andrzej Wajda's film "Panny z Wilka" because, as he says, "It is one of those films which, uninvited, invade your memory and rummage through it consistently." He will talk about the film with film expert Anita Skwara about what was behind the choice of this particular title, what kind of viewer he is and how his film world has been shaped.

Wojciech Marczewski is a film and television director, screenwriter, producer, valued teacher, lecturer at film schools in London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Łódź, Warsaw and Katowice, and an undisputed authority in the Polish film community. He is the winner of the Golden Lions for the film "Ucieczka z kina WOLNOŚĆ" (1990) and Silver Lions for the films "Dreszcze" (1981) and "Zmory" (1979), as well as the Special Jury Prize for the film "Czas zdrady" (1997). He has been awarded the Silver Bear and the FIPRESCI Prize for "Dreszcze" in Berlin. "

Although Wojciech Marczewski's work is quantitatively small, consisting of just four feature films, five television films, several short films and one series, it is striking in the scope of the topics it undertakes, its directorial consistency and the scale of artistic challenges. Wojciech Marczewski's cinema examines the condition of the 20th century man at its most dramatic points, marked by history, ideology and the spirit of the times. These, however, are always intimate, delicate stories, moving in their depth and expressiveness, impressionistic images created from metaphors, fantasies and memories," write the festival organizers.

The 49th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia runs from 23 to 28, September, 2024.

photo: festival press materials