The Balcony Movie

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The Balcony Movie

Film balkonowy
Paweł Łoziński
Competition for the Audience Award 2021
Documentary Film
Poland
2021
100 minutes
Polish,
Russian
Subtitles: 
English

The whole world, captured on a somewhat dreary pavement in Warsaw. For two years, director Paweł Łoziński stood on the balcony of his flat with his camera and watched the people passing below from up there. The ones he saw and persuaded to talk are young and old, neighbours or simply passers-by. The filmmaker addresses them, asks questions, listens and creates a space for conversations that rarely happen between strangers.

How do passers-by react when they are filmed from a balcony and addressed, stopped from above? Do they walk on, shaking their heads? Or are they willing to engage in dialogue? This place and this staged opportunity seem perfect for making a film that reflects its own premises, because apparently people feel a rather strong need to talk about themselves from this unusual position. Whether hurrying or strolling, happy or thoughtful, posing or quite natural: Each of the participants who happen to come into view reveals something special. Every encounter, however unpremeditated, turns out to be unique. Some expectations of a certain type of person are disappointed, because hardly anyone can be pigeonholed. Łoziński’s experiment invites us to pause, to wait until the world steps into the camera’s field of view.
Lina Dinkla

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Paweł Łoziński
Script
Paweł Łoziński
Cinematographer
Paweł Łoziński
Editor
Paweł Łoziński, Piasek & Wójcik
Producer
Paweł Łoziński, Agnieszka Mankiewicz, Izabela Lopuch
Sound
Paweł Łoziński, Franciszek Kozłowski
Score
Jan Duszyński
World Sales
Katarzyna Wilk
Winner of: MDR Film Prize