Private Project

|0| (English version)

A businessman hurrying to work bumps into someone and pauses for a instant. This is a film about a modern-day Prometheus who offers a man caught up in the rat-race a moment to reflect on things we often forget in our daily hustle and bustle. |0| (the absolute value of zero) is a film which touches on themes of karma, family and solitude. Walking the line between fiction and documentary, it questions the roles of family and the individual in the contemporary world.

  • Lukasz Wozniakowski
    Director
  • Lukasz Wozniakowski
    Writer
  • Paulina Blachowicz
    Writer
  • Lukasz Wozniakowski
    Producer
  • Maciej Kwiatkowski
    Key Cast
    Witcher series, Crysis 3, Quantum Break (motion capture)
  • Michal Wojciula
    Key Cast
    Brilliance, Thanatos, Saved by the Bell
  • Marianne Dawid
    Key Cast
  • Jarosław Grabowski
    Key Cast
  • Mateusz Tomaszewski
    Key Cast
    MOJE MIEJSCE WE ŚNIE, BODO, POLICJANTKI I POLICJANCI, PREZYDENT
  • Maciej Woźniakowski
    Key Cast
  • EGOR EFIMOV
    Photography
    PRZYPAŁ, RÓWNANIE, WSTRIECZA
  • ARTUR WOŹNIAKOWSKI
    Photography
  • SIARHEI MARCHYK
    Photography
    KUREWSKA HISTORIA
  • last chance band
    Music
    IKONA NA DROGĘ
  • KRZYSZTOF LOTTIG
    Music
  • MATEUSZ TOMASZEWSKI
    Production management
    MOJE MIEJSCE WE ŚNIE, BODO, POLICJANTKI I POLICJANCI, PREZYDENT
  • KAROL GODLEWSKI
    Production management
  • ŁUKASZ WOŹNIAKOWSKI
    Editing
  • MIKOŁAJ BIBAŃSKI
    Editing
  • DOROTA CHAJDACKA
    Costumes and makeup
    PLAY, SMUTNE POTWORY, SIEDEM GRZECHÓW POPCOOLTURY, FRAGMENTY
  • RAFAŁ KŁOSIEWICZ
    Sound recording
    MORGENROT, GŁODNY KOŃ, CHORY PIES, BITE DZIECKO, SŁOWIK
  • KRZYSZTOF FISZER
    Sound recording
    GŁÓD
  • JAKUB WOŹNIAKOWSKI
    Sound recording
    Weiser
  • ŁUKASZ WOŹNIAKOWSKI
    Sound recording
  • ŁUKASZ WOŹŃIAKOWSKI
    Sound
  • PIOTR KOZŁOWSKI
    Sound
    IKONA NA DROGĘ
  • JAKUB WOŹNIAKOWSKI
    Sound
    Weiser
  • RAFAŁ KŁOSIEWICZ
    Sound editing
    MORGENROT, GŁODNY KOŃ, CHORY PIES, BITE DZIECKO, SŁOWIK
  • EGOR EFIMOV
    Colour correction
    PRZYPAŁ, RÓWNANIE, WSTRIECZA
  • MATEUSZ TOMASZEWSKI
    Graphics
    MOJE MIEJSCE WE ŚNIE, BODO, POLICJANTKI I POLICJANCI, PREZYDENT
  • LUKASZ WOZNIAKOWSKI
    Graphics
  • PIOTR JABŁONSKI
    Stills
  • PAWEŁ BALA
    Data transfer
  • MARK BENCE
    English subtitles
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Crime, Drama, Fantasy
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 29, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Poland
  • Language:
    Polish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.11:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Caribbean Film Festival and Market
    Freeport
    Bahamas
    Semi-finalist
  • FERFILM FESTIVAL
    Ferizaj
    Kosovo
    September 4, 2017
    European premiere
  • AFC Global Fest
    Kolkata
    India
    November 10, 2017
    Asian premiere
  • International Short Film Festival Kalmthout Belgium
    Kalmthout
    Belgium
    September 18, 2017
  • BEST SHORT FEST
    Ontario
    Canada
    September 16, 2017
  • CON-TEMPORARY Art Observatorium
    Venice
    Italy
    July 16, 2017
  • Fake Flesh Film Fest
    Kamloops
    Canada
    October 27, 2017
    North American Premiere
Director Biography - Lukasz Wozniakowski

Łukasz Woźniakowski was born in Warsaw in 1985. Graduated from Leopold Lis-Kula Secondary School No.13 in Warsaw. Studied editing at the Miroslav Ondříček Film Academy in Písek. Has worked for BelSat TV for seven years. Loves the guitar, leads the band Jeźdźcy Ekstazy, and is a member of Last Chance Band. |0| is his debut film.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Being constantly at a disadvantage as compared to Buñuel and Has, I have tried to come slightly closer to the style of the Polish film school.
My film |0| tells of a broken home, represented by a man subconsciously driven to photosynthesise, like a protozoan. Is my protagonist chasing the white rabbit purely in the pursuit of money and sex?
After watching Umberto D and Pusher, I realised that what I see every day is the best atmosphere for a film. I also understood the brilliance of Wajda’s Kanal, and that having access to light is the most important thing in life.
The screenplay for |0| was influenced by Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Leone’s A Fistful Of Dollars. I wanted to show a man struggling with loneliness in a noir Western style; a clash between ambiguous good and evil in a sad, decaying world.
My choice to shoot the majority of the film in an extremely crowded place was rather risky. On the one hand, filming a man in a crowd certainly makes for more appealing shots and exposes the audience’s atavisms. On the other hand, there is also the danger that people will constantly stare at the camera. But things worked out just as I thought they would: in the 21st century, people have grown so accustomed to being spied on that they no longer notice cameras, or even subconsciously avoid them.
The title – |0| – is round, resembling both the place where the action is set and the head of the businessman in the film.
Thanks to framing, we managed to squeeze surrealism and romantic symbolism out of totally genuine locations, but it was mostly thanks to editing two seemingly incompatible stories together with outstanding music.
Commenting on the literary work quoted in the film is pointless. You must simply feel for yourself the magic that flows from the text read out by the narrator.

Turn out the lights and switch on the sun!