Pawel Lozinski: Being a Tutor
The IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) has published a very informative, well made interview with Polish director Pawel Lozinski, who was at the EastDoc Platform in Prague, where he had a double role: to show his film ”You Don’t Know How Much I love You” and to be a tutor.
In the interview – made by Marta Obršálová – Lozinski goes in detail about his film in terms of the aesthetical and technical choices that he made; you should definitely read it, whereas I have chosen to pick a quote from the director on being a tutor. A very honest dilemma is described by the director as well as some advice that many tutors should follow…:
Speaking about students, how do you like to share your experience with others? How do you react when someone asks your advice?
Tutoring for Ex Oriente Film was sometimes difficult for me. I try to be a tutor but still being a film director at the same time. Obviously, if someone is showing me his materials I am automatically making my own film of it. But I tried to stop myself – it is their film. I try to follow their way of thinking the director´s or cameraman´s feeling. I ask them the questions: What do you want to say? What you want to show? How do you intend to do it? What is the story going to be about? What is your message? Why are you showing it to me and then to the audience? I think the crucial thing in teaching is not giving an answer but just asking the questions and making students or directors think about the right answer from their side. I try to find different paths, ways of thinking for each project. Maybe you can change protagonists? What do you think about putting the camera on the other side? So this kind of talk, not giving a straight yes/no, good/bad answer, just discussing it. When I make my own films, I still need somebody to discuss them with – it could by my cameraman or editor or both. Because when you make a film, you are alone, facing a lot of questions with no answers and having to find the answers on your own. So you have to ask people what they think about it. That is why this kind of training is so important for filmmakers.
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