MKU: Could you tell us a bit about the festival life of the productions made in Borderland? The films travel everywhere, win awards and are shown in different places. I wonder how they manage to find themselves there as they are so much tied to the place of their origin.
DK: Festival practice shows that the place of the origin of the Borderland Film Collections does not pose any hindrance to their global success. The films are made after a longer reflection, under a watchful eye of Bożena Szroeder who has a concrete plan and vision. They refer to Borderland’s major themes, i.e. family home, neighbours, town’s history and multi-generational memory. These central themes are universal enough for the films, though immersed in the local context, to be able to move audiences in different parts of the world.
It is also what the magic of the cinema brings. One of the directed by me films titled "Bobo's Metamorphoses” is a metaphor of growing-up. The pretext for making the film was the fact that it was based on Czesław Miłosz's favourite childhood book. Children's audiences around the world may not know it, but it does not decrease the pleasure of following the story of a little boy who was turned into a fly. In a word, a good film will move the audience no matter where it was made, its interpretation will vary when watched by audiences across different latitudes, but that only can enrich it, making it a universal work.
MKU: What is your best memory related to festival trips, the strongest reaction of the audience?
DK: Many of my memories are connected with “Bobo’s Metamorphoses". At the Aster Fest in Strumica, Macedonia, which is not dedicated to children's audiences, the film was qualified for the main competition and made a great impression. It was a good performance in every respect, with a large and visibly moved audience. There was a complete silence in the room, you could feel the concentration and energy coming from the spectators deeply moved by the images. You could see that picture magnetized the audience. The pleasure from such a show is all the more evident that foreign audiences have to face an additional difficulty of the language barrier. Some follow subtitles while others forget the text and let themselves be carried away by the images alone.
MKU: Are there any places you would like to visit with your films? Festivals, you would like to show them?
DK: When you complete a film and it becomes a finished work, its festival life begins. I am happy to travel with it to places where it has been qualified. I particularly like small festivals, they correspond to the location of the films: to the small community of Sejny and its surroundings, to its focus and lack of pump. I often choose places I do not have any associations with, because the adventure of travelling with a film and checking its resonance in different parts of the world is exciting for me.
MKU: What are your closest plans connected with Borderland?
DK: The "Mysteries of Childhood" are in their festival prime, and "Bobo's Metamorphoses" is slowly ending its festival life. My artistic output includes also my own projects that do well at festivals. One of them is "Rivers" based on the poem by Czesław Miłosz, produced by Borderland. This film has conquered the world, I visited with it many places, I have lots of memories connected with both its production and festival distribution. It met with many positive, enthusiastic responses which exceeded my wildest expectations. This brought many invitations from around the world, festival programmers want it to be shown at festivals and even present it as an educational aid.
As for plans for the future, another project is being developed with the young people from Sejny. When I think about it, I recall the words of Czesław Miłosz from "Bobo's Metamorphoses": “May your story end happily, too, with your return home.” For me, each return to Sejny and cooperation with Borderland is a kind of a regular return to the place which on my personal life map stands for home. The cooperation with Borderland is associated with a great sense of security. It is a special kind of a full-time job in a process that very rarely happens with commercial projects. This long-term project gives my life some rhythm, I really like returns that are always inspirational meetings with children’s sensitivity.
MKU: Thank you for the conversation.
The interview was conducted by Marta Kowerko-Urbańczyk.
DARIA WIKTORIA KOPIEC
Daria Wiktoria Kopiec. Film and theatre director. Born in 1983. She studied at the Directing Department of the Theatre Academy, Warsaw. She graduated from the Cinematography Department of the Leon Schiller State Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź, majoring in: Film Animation and Special Effects. From November 2006 to March 2007, scholar at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels - La Cambre in Brussels. Since 2010 she has been a member of Polish Film-makers Association. In 2010, she won a scholarship for the members of the Youth Circle of the Polish Film-makers Association. In 2006, she was awarded the Artistic Prize of the Mayor of Gdynia. In 2013, she was granted the Mayor of Łódź scholarship. In 2014, she won the artistic scholarship of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Her performance of “The Daughters of Lear” won 2nd prize in the SzekspirOFF 2016 Competition during the 20th Shakespeare Festival and the Audience Award at the ArtOkraina (ArtSkirts), International Festival of Chamber Theatres and Small Scale Performances in Petersburg. Her films awarded at international events include: Rivers, Bobo's Metamorphoses", Space, Mysteries of Childhood, and the Fairy Tale Film Collection - “Krasnogruda Tales” and "Borderland Tales”
FILMOGRAPHY
2017 Sprawa Rity Gorgonowej [Rita Gorgonowa Case] (director, TV theatre)
2016 Kosmos [Space] (director, animation, time: 3 minutes)
2016 Pierwszy raz [The First Time] (director, feature film, time: 11 minutes)
2016 Misteria dzieciństwa [Mysteries of Childhood] animation, time: 12 minutes)
2015 Gucio Zaczarowany [Bobo's Metamorphoses] (director, animation, time: 17 minutes)
2014 Rzeki [Rivers] (director, animation, time: 3 minutes)
2014 Filmowa Kolekcja Bajek „Opowieści Krasnogrudzkie” [Fairy Tale Film Collection - “Krasnogruda Tales”] (director, animation)
2013 Kamfora [Camphor] (director, animation, time: 4 minutes)
2013 Filmowa Kolekcja Bajek „Opowieści Pogranicza” [Fairy Tale Film Collection - “Borderland Tales”] (director, animation)
2010 Zuzanna [Suzanne] (director, feature film, time: 11 minutes)
2006 Osiem [Eight] (director, feature film, time: 7 minutes)
2005 Femme Fatale (director, animation, time: 4 minutes)
2004 Anunnaki (director, 3 minute animation]
Bobo's Metamorphoses:
http://pogranicze.sejny.pl/pokazy_i_nagrody,1764.html
Awards:
http://pogranicze.sejny.pl/filmowa_kolekcja_bajek_nagrody,1456.html
Shows:
http://pogranicze.sejny.pl/filmowa_kolekcja_bajek_pokazy,1458.html