The national stage was preceded by regional qualifiers held in Wrocław. "We began preparing for the competition the previous year, when I found an announcement about the regional qualifiers in one of the newspapers," says Katarzyna Żak, the teacher and mentor of Ola and Przemek. "At first, neither he nor I knew exactly what the competition involved. Ola joined Przemek, and that was how the team that could compete in the qualifiers was formed," adds Katarzyna Żak.
The qualifiers are open not only to representatives of upper-secondary schools. Young people from community centres and Film Discussion Clubs also took part. This year, Ola and Przemek came first in the regional qualifiers, thereby advancing to the national competition. Thirty-four teams from across the country competed in the final in Gdańsk. "The competition was enormous because the prize at stake was admission to the film studies department at Jagiellonian University," explains Przemek Filipowicz. The competition lasted five days and consisted of six stages. Between the individual stages, there were screenings of silent films and meetings with people from the film industry, including Stanisław Janicki.
The six-stage competition required participants to have a vast knowledge of film and cinema. "We had a test on Polish and world cinematography, film music, film excerpts to identify, and two assignments: an essay and an aesthetic analysis," Przemek lists. After all the stages had been assessed, Ola and Przemek took an impressive fourth place. This means that, in addition to material prizes, the young residents of Bolesławiec can compete in next year's final of the national film knowledge competition. What are their plans for the future? Naturally, plans connected with cinema. Ola plans to study acting or film studies; Przemek is also considering film studies, as well as a film directing programme.
See also
The End of the Wall – a website devoted to the film directed by Przemysław Filipowicz