director Grzegorz Królikiewicz
screenplay (based on the report ‘My Name’s Pekosiński’ by Romuald Karaś) Grzegorz Królikiewicz
director of photography Ryszard Lenczewski
music Antonio Vivaldi
with Bronisław Pekosiński, Maria Klejdysz, Anna Seniuk, Franciszek Trzeciak, Bronisław Pawlik, Krzysztof Chamiec, Anna Milewska
awards (selection) Special Prize at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 1994
Grand Prix, Golden Lions (together with ‘The Sequence of Feelings’) at the 18th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, 1993
Silver Grape at Lubuskie Film Summer in Łagów, 1994
[MONOLOGUE FROM THE FILM]
Judge: Listen, you must have a name. That’s why we shall call you Pekosiński. This name will catch the attention of others, owing to the name you may find parents, at least a mother. It’s in your interest to have a father named Pekosiński, and a mother – also Pekosiński. And do you know why we called you Pekosiński? Since you are in the care of Pekos -and this is the abbreviation of the Polish Committee for Social Care – then from that Pekos we’ve granted you the name: Pekosiński.
TADEUSZ SOBOLEWSKI, THE CASE OF KRÓLIKIEWICZ [PRZYPADEK KRÓLIKIEWICZA], ‘GAZETA WYBORCZA’, 1993, NO. 274
Pekosiński is a living metaphor. His social status is paradoxical. He plays a double role: he himself is ‘elevated’; at the same time he elevates others and in his way redeems the surrounding reality. A moralistic approach is alien to Królikiewicz. His hero, a little man walking in a Chaplinesque style, has a sufficient power of expression on the screen to transform the absurdity of a superfluous life into a meaningful experience, and give suffering a value.(…) It is something more than just a film, it is a feat. Emanating with an energy that will not be wasted.
history periods
