Piotr Stasik: A Diary of a Journey
Stasik is one of the most obvious talents in young Polish documentary. His “Last Day of Summer” is a masterpiece in cinematography and compressed storytelling. This new film from his hands, which was at the Krakow festival, and now has its international premiere at DOK Leipzig, is a beautiful variation of the theme “the master and his pupil”, in this case featuring the photographer Tadeusz Rolke, who travels Poland and its villages together with a 15 year old Michel, who wants to know the secrets of the profession. Out comes a charming film about “an old man and a boy”, a generation film full of fine observations. Yes, Michel Simon in the film of Claude Berri comes into mind, as does the class mate at the Wajda School, Thierry Paladino, who made “La Machina”, where a puppeteer travels with his pupil.
Let me give you some quote references to Tadeusz Rolke:
“You could call him the Polish Cartier-Bresson, an artist from the dying line of photographers without whom “we would be living in the eternal and perfect translucent present, like on TV”. A man who photographed wartime Warsaw and lives today to share his knowledge… Known for his photographs of wartime Warsaw and inspired images of cultural life in postwar Poland and Germany, Tadeusz Rolke‘s photographic archive constitutes 60 years of Polish and European history. Rolke is considered one of Poland’s most accomplished photographers. He photographed the silhouette of the Palace of Culture and Science rising over Warsaw’s rubble, anti-communist rallies, the changes after 1989.
http://films2013.dok-leipzig.de/en/film.aspx?ID=5066&title=A+Diary+of+a+Journey
