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Czesław Miłosz - the poet of terror and ecstatic hymn, part 1 - World traveler

First part of a series of mini-lectures devoted to the person and work of Czesław Miłosz. This is a story about the poet's creative biography, showing the historical and existential experiences that shaped him and a specifically understood mission that he sees for poetry in the modern world.

  • Adam Pietrzykowski
    Director
  • Adam Pietrzykowski
    Writer
  • Agata Stankowska
    Writer
  • Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
    Producer
  • Adam Pietrzykowski
    Key Cast
    "A poet in "Theological treatise" ilustration"
  • Anna Stankowska
    Key Cast
    "host of the series"
  • Adam Pietrzykowski
    Editor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Czesław Miłosz - poeta grozy i ekstatycznego hymnu, część 1 - Podróżny świata
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Television, Other
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 30, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Poland
  • Language:
    English, Polish
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Adam Pietrzykowski

A graduate of philosophy and doctoral studies in cognition and communication at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. Member of the Polish Association of Educational Technologies and Media. Since 2013 an employee at Adam Mickiewicz University Film Studio where he carries out educational and popular science projects combining media and new technologies. His first movie „The Butterfly Effect - an extraordinary journey into the world of the Deaf" received Honorable Mention at 2019 EDUKINO film festiwal.

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Director Statement

For over 20 years, the AMU University Film Studio has been recording popular science TV lectures on outstanding figures in science and culture. Reflecting in 2019 on the topic of her next lectures, Olga Tokarczuk unexpectedly received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

This situation was a direct impulse to draw attention to the characters and works of Polish Nobel Prize winners in literature. The more so because our Faculty of Polish Philology is the best in Poland, and our university is named after the greatest national poet and bard - Adam Mickiewicz.

This is how the idea of mini-lectures "Masters of Polish Literature - Nobel Prize winners" was born, in which every Polish Nobel Prize winner, i.e. Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymond, Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska and Olga Tokarczuk, will be presented in 5-6 lectures lasting 10-15 minutes .

The mini-lecture on the work of Czesław Miłosz presented at the festival is the first one to be created as part of this project. The shooting began in February 2020, but lasted almost until April 2021 because of the pandemic. During this time we've visited 7 different locations and 5 Studio employees were actors in poems illustrations. We've created 6 parts lasting in toto 1h32m.

We wanted this series to be unique both visually and in terms of content. We did not want to present well-known and banal threads related to the life and work of poets. Instead, we wanted to show what is less known, and as it often turns out, more important for understanding the essence of the creator's message.

This required, first of all, finding the right lecturers who would be up to the task. Secondly, assuming a very modest budget, relying on archives and visual materials that could be provided by various partners for free or for a nominal fee. Similarly with the form of the film, which required interesting illustrations of poems. Due to budgetary constraints, we assumed in advance that the actors will be the team of the Adam Mickiewicz University Film Studio.

And so we managed to involve great lecturers in this project, who were simply eager to act.
We also managed to involve many institutions, including Paris Culture, the National Library in Warsaw, the Nowy Theater in Poznań and the Wielkopolska Ethnographic Park in Dziekanowice, which provided us with photos or a location for filming.

All the lectures on Miłosz turned out really well. The presented first part was shared on YouTube on the 110th anniversary of the poet's birth - June 30, 2021 - and have meet with warm welcome

The next 5 parts of the lecture will be available in November this year and hopefully it will be a huge success for the promotion of Miłosz literary heritage.