director Waldemar Dziki
screenplay (based on the novel ‘Mr Teodor Mundstock’ by Ladislav Fuks) Waldemar Dziki
director of photography Wit Dąbal
music Zygmunt Konieczny
with Władysław Kowalski, Rafał Wieczyński, Maja Komorowska, Halina Mikołajska, Janusz Michałowski, Jerzy Trela
awards
Individual Prizes, Bronze Lions for debut director and for cinematography at the 9th Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk, 1984
Grand Prix, Golden Grape at Lubuskie Film Summer in Łagów, 1984
Journalists Prize for Waldemar Dziki as ‘the most interesting creative individuality’ at ‘Youth and Film’, Film Meetings in Koszalin, 1983
the Andrzej Munk Prize, 1983
2nd Degree Young People’s Artistic Achievement Award named after Stanisław Wyspiański for Wit Dąbal, 1985
WALDEMAR DZIKI, THE FIRST THRESHOLD. CONVERSATION WITH KATARZYNA JÓŹWIAK, [PIERWSZY PRÓG. ROZMOWA Z KATARZYNĄ JÓŻWIAK], ‘FILM’, 1983, NO. 13
The Irzykowski Studio (to which I belong) is too varied to have one common manifesto. We make films that do not fit the frames of ‘normal’ cinema and which are low-cost enough for us to afford. Our total budget is the same as the cost of the average feature film. ‘Postcard From a Journey’ was exceptionally low-cost. We had to save, (…) we had little film. The daily footage was about 75 metres, so we did not have to hurry. Technical conditions were very difficult. But the team was fantastic.
MARIA MALATYŃSKA, TIME OF THE NIGHT [CZAS NOCY], ‘ŻYCIE LITERACKIE’, 1984, NO. 14
Silently, almost without a sound, there appeared on our screens one of the most original films of the last season. (…) What in Waldemar Dziki’s film is most puzzling is (…) a study in awaiting death. But awaiting which is conscious and active. For Doctor Rosenberg ‘to survive’ means ‘to die with dignity’. The film includes examples of other approaches as well. There is the ordinary human fear, there is a desperate search for a life-preserving solution at any price, and even if only for today, there are attempts at changing names, there is a suicide. Each of these ways is but a form of escapism. (…). Only Doctor Rosenberg has a programme. The inhuman logic of this programme in confrontation with the tragic absurdity of the plight of occupation generates a theme hitherto almost unique in the Polish cinema.
history periods
