Katarzyna Woźniak and Jan Kozub, representatives of I Liceum Ogólnokształcące and the Bolesławiec Discussion Film Club, took 5th place in the final of the 20th National Film Knowledge Competition for Secondary School Students, held in Gdańsk from 11 to 15 June. “This is the only event of its kind in Poland,” says Katarzyna Żak, the school’s deputy headmistress and mentor to the two young film scholars. People from all over Poland come to Gdańsk, united by one thing—their love of the seventh art. What is more, the competition jury includes some of the greatest authorities in the field, including Tadeusz Lubelski, Mirosław Przylipiak and Bożena Janicka.
According to Katarzyna Żak, the event attracts people who challenge a certain stereotype. “There is a belief that film is somehow inferior to literature,” says the deputy headmistress. “In reality, film affects many of our senses and allows us to experience life several times,” she adds.
During the competition, the Bolesławiec secondary-school students had to, for example, give the title of a film based on a fragment or its soundtrack. They also had to demonstrate knowledge of the history of Polish and world cinema. However, the greatest difficulty was the formal analysis of five different film excerpts. In each of them, the young film scholars had to identify intertextual references.
The film knowledge competition was not only about rivalry, however. The I LO students also had the opportunity to attend lectures by outstanding film scholars. In addition, for three days they could watch films by independent director Przemysław Wojcieszek and even meet the artist. “The greatest advantage of this trip was that we met people who are very interested in film and travel to various festivals,” says Jan Kozub. “We talked until three or four in the morning,” he adds.
Favourite Artists
“I really like Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino,” says Katarzyna Woźniak. “Each of them has his own style, but I really enjoy both directors’ films.” Among the filmographies of her favourite directors, she would particularly single out “Pulp Fiction” and “Beetlejuice.” Jan does not want to name any filmmakers, but admits that films such as Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-Up,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Miloš Forman’s “Amadeus” have stayed with him. Both of them greatly appreciate the work of Krzysztof Kieślowski. As they emphasise, they would like to watch all the films they have so far only read about. “Everything is still ahead of us,” Jan says with a smile.
Competition for Translators
Several hundred entries—from Poland and abroad—were submitted for the seventh edition of the national translation competition “Walka o Indeks 2008.” To qualify for the German-language final, participants had to translate three texts: a prose excerpt by Franz Kafka, a poem by Bertolt Brecht and the lyrics of a song by the punk band Die Toten Hosen. Aleksander Stępień, a student of I LO, was among the five finalists. On 14 June in Poznań, the secondary-school student won second place.
“My grandmother was a native German,” Aleksander tells IstotneInformacje.pl Aleksander. “I was in contact with the language from childhood. Besides, I really like it.” In the final, he once again had to tackle a work by the punk band Die Toten Hosen. This time he had to translate the lyrics of the song “Wünsch DIR was?” “The whole difficulty lay in doing it in such a way as to capture the message of the song,” the student admits.
When asked what participating in the competition had given him, he replied that, above all, it had brought him satisfaction. The jury included staff members of the Samuel Bogumił Linde College of Foreign Languages. “Simply being among people of this calibre is already very valuable for such a young person,” believes Barbara Stępień, a German teacher at I LO and Aleksander’s mother in private life. What is more, after the competition the university rector approached the student. “He shook his hand and said something very important—that he was glad that, finally, a student from a small town had reached the final,” the teacher recounts.
(GA report)