As part of the screenwriting workshop held on Thursday in Bolesławiec, films by Piotr Matwiejczyk were shown: "Emilia", "Między nami dzieciakami", "Dziewczynka" and "Okryj mnie". The young people were able to criticize the films and ask the filmmaker himself how the scripts had been created.
Piotr Matwiejczyk, who has made around one hundred films and graduated from the Film School in Wrocław, advised young aspiring filmmakers to construct their scripts based on the thought or idea they wanted to convey, and then develop the characters and sketch out anecdotes. He also emphasized the importance of the audience and thinking about who would watch the film.
The next workshops will focus on practical matters. The participants will write their own script and produce it. The classes are organized by Bolesławiecki Ośrodek Kultury.
Make a Film and Make Money
Grażyna Ferensowicz: Can you make money from amateur films? It is difficult to call you an amateur—you graduated from film school, but you work within so-called independent cinema and sell your films to television. Can young people making films or learning to make films expect to earn money?
Piotr Matwiejczyk: The first film that brought in any money was made after seven years of my playing around with cinema. But it was only the second film that we—my brother and I—started showing at festivals. It was only three years ago that television channels began buying independent films. They do, however, have to be significant films—award-winning and addressing an important subject. There are more and more television stations, and it is easier to sell a film. But the rule that you cannot sell just any piece of rubbish still applies. You have to make several, or a dozen or so, short films, even one-day productions, in order to make something good that can interest the media. Unless, of course, you have a patron under whose guidance you make your first film. A patron who will help.
How do you assess the workshops and the participants in Bolesławiec, as well as their ideas for films and scripts?
I expected somewhat more material to analyze, but it turned out that the texts are still being refined. The workshop participants demonstrated a cool eye when assessing the films shown, which suggests that they have already formed their own opinions about cinema. They know what they want to achieve by making films. As for analyzing the texts, at first glance it is clear that the authors have some understanding of writing. There were correctly structured texts, with witty twists and dialogue, apart from a few stumbles. There were also more moving texts, constructed almost professionally, with minor omissions. From this small sample, I conclude that things are not bad.
Returning to the question of making money from films. You said yourself that the audience is very important. When you plan your films, do you make them for a specific audience? In your opinion, does a Polish film script have to possess any particular characteristics to appeal to Polish moviegoers? I mean the structure, specific scenes and subjects. Sex, rape, violence, homosexuality, John Paul II?
I prefer to talk about what moves me, because I know that I am very sensitive and want to share my observations about certain important matters. I do not look for subjects by force simply to make money from controversy. I want to tell interesting stories. There is no recipe for what to talk about so that someone will buy it. My viewers are sensitive people. I do not make action films. I used to make comedies and tried at all costs to be a clown and make the audience laugh.
Your latest film, "Homo Father", which you showed at the Independent Cinema Competition in Gdynia, is about a gay couple who are surprised when one partner's former girlfriend leaves her daughter with him. Quite an unusual idea. What is the film about? The problem of homosexual couples, the adoption of children by such couples? The bisexuality of homosexuals? And what audience was it made for?
Contrary to appearances, this film is about all people living in relationships. The homosexuals in my film are an ordinary couple struggling with everyday life. Of course, it addresses the issue of same-sex adoption, but it was intended more as an analysis of a relationship lasting several years and an escape from responsibility for raising children. The film is about an attempt to establish contact in a relationship that is fading after several years spent together. It is about the changes one has to prepare for when a child appears. It is about Polish society's hostility toward sexual minorities. Finally, it speaks about searching for one's own identity in the eyes of other people close to us.
In cinema, the subject of homosexuality has been quite fashionable in recent times. Oliver Stone showed Alexander the Great's homosexuality without beating around the bush. The Golden Globe was awarded to a film about two homosexual cowboys. This is no longer a fashionable subject; it is a breaking of conventions and entering a field reserved for "real" men—warriors and conquerors, whose prototype was the completely masculine John Wayne. What do you think about this Cinema Equality Parade in world cinema?
What is happening is a sign of our times. Everything is changing. Why should cinema remain the same? The image of men has changed dramatically in recent years. In the second half of the 1980s, Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis were considered sex symbols. Now they have given way to effeminate stars such as Leo DiCaprio, Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom. The same thing is happening in cinema. The subject of homosexuality, avoided for years, eventually found its way onto screens because there was demand for it. Taboo subjects ceased to be taboo. They became part of everyday life and the reality surrounding us.