The Premiere

Marek Siemek
photo by Wiesław Milkiewicz

The premiere of a documentary film “The View from a Cathedral” (dir. Pawel Kuczynski)

The Auditorium of the Old Library building Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28 May 23, 6:30PM. Followed by a wine reception.

The film is about the late MAREK J. SIEMEK an outstanding philosopher from the Warsaw University, the recipient of a honoris causa doctorate from the University of Bonn.

The event is organized under the auspices of the vice-President of the Warsaw University and the Institute of Philosophy at the Warsaw University.

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Premiera filmu dokumentalnego pt. „Widok z katedry" (reż. Paweł Kuczyński)

Audytorium Starej Biblioteki, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 23 maja 2015 r. o godz. 18:30. Po pokazie zapraszamy na lampkę wina.

Bohaterem filmu jest MAREK J. SIEMEK (1942-2011) wybitny filozof, profesor Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego oraz doktor honoris causa Uniwersytetu w Bonn.

Impreza odbywa się pod auspicjami Prorektora UW oraz Dyrekcji Instytutu Filozofii UW.

THE VIEW FROM A CATHEDRAL

Stanislaw Elsner-Zaluski as Marek Siemek
in
"The View from a Cathedral"
formerly "The Department of Historical Necessity"

The Marek Siemek documentary has been trimmed down to 85 minutes and acquired the new title.   „The View from a Cathedral” encompasses the three territories the film travels through: the visual, the metaphorical and the academic. 

The search for the title that would fit was long and tortuous not only to me but also to those who were close to the production.  Thank you all! 

Various titles were considered: at first I pitched the story as „The Philosopher who died twice”.  Then I cut a trailer for „The Department of Historical Necessity”. Then came Aufhebung, Reason is free, freedom is reasonable, Honoris Causa, A Philosopher and the nation of devils.  And plenty more that I will save for later.  No, not for another change.  For a brand new project, I mean. 

What’s important for now is that The View from a Cathedral has entered the final post-production stage.  

Life reinforces preposterous plot twists

Whiplash, by Damien Chazelle

Being a sucker for “let’s succeed no matter what the odds are, even if the biggest of the culprits are our own limitations” I liked this movie a lot. The drive is amazing and so fast and furious that even some less plausible plot twists gallop past reasonable doubt and produce a narrative epiphany.

Upon reading about the director having a serious car accident but nevertheless returning the next day to work I wondered if my comment about “less plausible lot twists” (I meant that the hero has a very serious looking car accident which miraculously does not stop him from showing up for a gig where nobody minds a bloodied performer rolling onto the stage) had any merit. Clearly the screenwriter/director walked his talk. Hats off to him.

Hats off to him also for splendid direction and for supervising amazing editing and acting.

93% and philosophy

"Aufhebung"
Professors: Wolfram Hogrebe, Maciek Kaniowski 

and "Marek Siemek" (Stanisław Elsner-Załuski)

According to some psychologist studies 93% of our communication is not word based.  Bad news since a film about a philosopher and his way of looking at the world has to be based on words.  Or does it? 

The hero of "Aufhebung" is a champion of reason philosophically expressing itself first through words.  The "second" expression of philosophy",  the true destination of Siemek's thinking, is society.  

How to maneuver between the two expressions?

Showing the interaction between the social and the philosophical can push he project to become educational.  Presenting concepts alone can turn it into a lecture.  Having a bunch of people talk about idiosyncrasies of the hero seems a cheap way out.  And on top of it all there is the specter of "93%" which means that even if there is plenty of talk, it's not the talk itself that makes or breaks scenes, sequences and the project itself. 

The present version of the film runs 90 minutes. Recently I cut it down from 2,5 hours. There are talking heads and staged segments.  There are emotions and ideas.  Balancing between them is the key challenge of this stage of the production.    

Crisis

Michel Houllebecq in Paris Review:

"Look, the Enlightenment is dead, may it rest in peace"

A very unnerving thought.   

No grievances

"He preferred to seize opportunities rather than to nurse grievances." Writes David Remnick in "Havel in Jerusalem" (in December 2014 issue of the New Yorker)

The phrase reaches out to me probably largely because I had a privilege of conducting one video interview with Havel and got a glimpse of his ways. From our short interaction I sensed his openness, gentleness, curiosity, honesty and a certain firmness. That's why when reading about Havel I have in my mind an image of a real person, which greatly enhances the written remarks. 

I'd like to set the "no grievances" phrase as my New Year Resolution.

To be surprised

This great documentary filmmaker also says that he turns on his camera in order to allow himself to be surprised.   That the intuition is the most important element in his creative process.   When he enters a scene first he notices things that he likes.  Only afterwards he questions the blind chance of these elements to happen and asks himself "the most important questions for a filmmaker: why? What happens that these people in this specific time and place behave the way they do?"  His films try to answer these questions. 

Keeping sensibilities fresh (to be surprised) and maintaining the thought process clear and organized enough to be able to fish out answers to the "why" questions - that's a great formula for work.