Our movie about Bolesław Barbacki will be presented this year. In our minds working on the movie associates mostly with a great haste, with a great effort, but also with a great pleasure drawn from the awareness that we are telling the story of a character in all respects so worth of recalling and presenting to the wider audience.

“The Polish Portrait” (“Portret Polaka”) film is completed!

Bolesław Barbacki, a realist painter of the interwar period, comes back to his studio as a ghost. Studying the objects collected there, he takes us into the past, on a journey through the memories about his vibrant life, that he lived in the time crucial for Poland: since the dawn of the 19th century to the calamity of the Second World War. Bolesław painted realistic portraits, creating a panoramic overview of images of Poles – women, men and children. He was also very socially active, his whole life was strongly connected with Nowy Sącz, he worked and created for this city. His memories take him into the world of his childhood and youth, etching a vast panorama of the family, social and political life; they show him in Paris, where he went to in order to develop his painting skills; Bolesław reminisces also his lost love and finally his tragic death at the hands of the Nazis. Memories of Barbacki and images of his haunting of the empty studio are intertwined with interviews, in which historians and social and cultural activists of Nowy Sącz tell us about the artist’s life, his legacy and influence on the history of the town.

Our movie about Bolesław Barbacki will be presented this year. In our minds working on the movie associates mostly with a great haste (we were bound by deadlines of the grant received in the „Filmoteka Malopolska” competition), with a great effort, but also with a great pleasure drawn from the awareness that we are telling the story of a character in all respects so worth of recalling and presenting to the wider audience. The film was created based on the screenplay by dr Maria Molenda, which was written based on the authentic writings of Bolesław Barbacki, correspondence and other source materials. It was directed by Barbara Szewczyk, graduate of the National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź and New York Film Academy; camerawork was done by Przemysław Brynkiewicz. The film was co-produced by Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków and SOKÓŁ Lesser Poland Cultural Centre in Nowy Sącz. The film was also supported by: the city of Nowy Sącz, Poviat Starosty in Nowy Sącz and FAKRO company, as well as individual donors. The Regional Museum in Nowy Sącz was a great help to us, as we have used its archives, and locations: tailor’s house in the Galician Town starred in the movie as family home of Bolesław Barbacki.

Our film crew included wonderful, talented people. Starring as Bolesław Barbacki we had Arkadiusz Detmer, set design was created by Natalia Giza, film was edited by Michał Pokropek, picture postproduction was done by Magdalena Nizel, music was written by Sebastian Kondratowicz, and the production and shooting manager was Łukasz Chmielewski. We also had some great young actors: Daniel Oleksy and Karolina Konicka. Justyna Stasik starred as a demonic woman from the artist’s fantasy. Anna Pawlik was our make-up artist and Maria Molenda designed the costumes.

Many people were of great help during the production of the film It wouldn’t come to be if it wasn’t for the support of Mr Leszek Zegzda and Mrs Monika Ślepiak. Mr Andrzej Michalik helped us a lot, allowing us to re-create Bolesław’s studio in the exact same location it was in when he was alive, in the front rooms of the beautiful villa Marya. Mrs Maria Śluzar-Skowronek helped us a lot, providing props for the set design, and Mr Przemysław Ajdukiewicz helped with the transport. There were even more people involved in the production. We whole-heartedly thank all of them for support.

You will be able to see the completed “Portrait of a Pole”, the film about Bolesław Barbacki, this year – we will keep you all informed about planned screenings

The film premiere is planned for the break of May and June 2019 roku and will take place in Kraków