Rogalik
Director/cinematography: Pawel Ziemilski
Poland/2012/Color/No dialog/17min/Experimental/
Rogalik, once occupied by the Nazis, is now a lonesome village in northern Poland. This memorable film is a mysterious visual tour of the village through various households– which shows just how oddly lively, unique and atmospheric these places called “home” can be. Screened at IDFA, Hot Docs, and Brooklyn Film Festival among others.
As the filmmaker puts it, “it is as if we are secretly watching different scenes in a dollhouse.” The camera repeatedly zooms out from one object or part of a room – a TV screen or a chair someone is sitting on – and proceeds to calmly explore the rest of the space. There may be people sitting around, children playing, or a remote-controlled car driving around the room. Unperturbed by the camera, the subjects carry on watching TV, playing with a doll or drinking coffee. One of them is standing behind colorfully lit DJ equipment that is playing loud music, while his Mom sits right beside him in a chair. So, who are the people in this cinematic aquarium? Are they aware of us, the voyeurs? What is their relationship with each other? And how should we relate to their experimental dream journey in their homes–perhaps the most visually underrated of all locations?
Director’s Bio:
Pawel Ziemilski is studying film direction at National Film School in Łodz. He has been dividing his time between directing short films, finishing his Master’s at the Łodz School, and social film projects in different marginalised milieus. This latter activity recently evolved into a fund for youth from a small village where he first started giving cinema workshops in 2009. Several of Ziemilski’s documentary films deal with the places and people he has come to know through such projects.