Pawel Pawlikowski
Encyclopedia
Paweł Pawlikowski is a Polish-born, Oxford
-based, BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and academic. He garnered much acclaim for his BAFTA Award-winning Last Resort
which he wrote and directed in 2000 and My Summer of Love
, loosely based on Helen Cross
' novel, which also won a BAFTA
and a string of other awards at festivals around the world.
Pawlikowski was best known for his documentaries, whose blend of lyricism and irony won him many fans and awards around the world. Moscow Pietushki was a poetic journey into the world of the Russian cult writer Venedikt Erofeev
, for which he won Emmy and RTS
Awards, a Prix Italia
and others. The multi-award winning Dostoevsky's Travels was a tragi-comic road movie with a St Petersburg tram driver and the only living descendant of Fyodor Dostoevsky
, as he travels rough around Western Europe haunting high-minded humanists, aristocrats, monarchists and the Baden Baden casino - in his quest to raise money to buy a second hand Mercedes. Pawlikowski's most original and formally successful film was Serbian Epics (1992), made at the height of the Bosnian War. The oblique, ironic, imagistic, at times almost hypnotic study of myth-making and murder made aroused a storm of controversy and incomprehension at the time, but has now secured it something of a cult status. The absurdist Tripping with Zhirinovsky, a surreal boat journey down the Volga with the Russian would-be dictator (Zhirinovsky) has won Pawlikowski the Grierson
award for the Best British Documentary in 1995.
Pawlikowski's transition to fiction occurred in 1998 with a small 50 minute hybrid film Twockers, a lyrical and gritty love story set on a sink estate in Yorkshire, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Ian Duncan.
Between 2004 and 2007 he was a Creative Arts Fellow at Oxford Brookes University
. In addition to his native Polish, Pawlikowski is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Russian while having a good grasp of Serbo-Croatian and Spanish.
In 2004 he directed My Summer of Love
with Emily Blunt
and Natalie Press
.
In 2006 he filmed about 60% of his adaptation of Magnus Mills' The Restraint of Beasts
when the project was halted – his wife had fallen gravely ill and he left to care for her and their children. His wife died several months later.
Future projects include an original English language feature Epic, a Polish language feature Sister of Mercy and a Georgian/Russian-language film Kamo about the early career of Joseph Stalin. He is also set to direct a film loosely adapted from Douglas Kennedy's novel The Woman in the Fifth, starring Ethan Hawke
and Kristin Scott Thomas
.
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
-based, BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker and academic. He garnered much acclaim for his BAFTA Award-winning Last Resort
Last Resort (2000 film)
Last Resort is a film by Pawel Pawlikowski, released in 2000 and starring Dina Korzun, Artyom Strelnikov and Paddy Considine.A young Russian woman and her son arrive in London, expecting to be met by her fiancé. When he does not arrive, they claim asylum, and are confined to a small seaside town...
which he wrote and directed in 2000 and My Summer of Love
My Summer of Love
My Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds...
, loosely based on Helen Cross
Helen Cross
Helen Cross is an English author. She was raised in East Yorkshire and educated at the University of East Anglia.Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award in 2002. It was made into an acclaimed film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and...
' novel, which also won a BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
and a string of other awards at festivals around the world.
Biography/Career
At the age of 14, Pawlikowski left communist Poland to live in Germany and Italy, before settling in Britain. In the late 1980s and '90s1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
Pawlikowski was best known for his documentaries, whose blend of lyricism and irony won him many fans and awards around the world. Moscow Pietushki was a poetic journey into the world of the Russian cult writer Venedikt Erofeev
Venedikt Erofeev
Venedict Vasilyevich Yerofeyev or Erofeev or Erofeyev was a Russian writer.-Biography:Yerofeyev was born in the small settlement Niva-2, a suburb of Kandalaksha, Murmansk Oblast. His father was imprisoned during Stalin's purges but survived 16 years in the gulags. Most of Yerofeyev's childhood...
, for which he won Emmy and RTS
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
Awards, a Prix Italia
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
and others. The multi-award winning Dostoevsky's Travels was a tragi-comic road movie with a St Petersburg tram driver and the only living descendant of Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
, as he travels rough around Western Europe haunting high-minded humanists, aristocrats, monarchists and the Baden Baden casino - in his quest to raise money to buy a second hand Mercedes. Pawlikowski's most original and formally successful film was Serbian Epics (1992), made at the height of the Bosnian War. The oblique, ironic, imagistic, at times almost hypnotic study of myth-making and murder made aroused a storm of controversy and incomprehension at the time, but has now secured it something of a cult status. The absurdist Tripping with Zhirinovsky, a surreal boat journey down the Volga with the Russian would-be dictator (Zhirinovsky) has won Pawlikowski the Grierson
John Grierson
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.-Early life:Grierson was born in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland...
award for the Best British Documentary in 1995.
Pawlikowski's transition to fiction occurred in 1998 with a small 50 minute hybrid film Twockers, a lyrical and gritty love story set on a sink estate in Yorkshire, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Ian Duncan.
Between 2004 and 2007 he was a Creative Arts Fellow at Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
. In addition to his native Polish, Pawlikowski is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Russian while having a good grasp of Serbo-Croatian and Spanish.
In 2004 he directed My Summer of Love
My Summer of Love
My Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds...
with Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
and Natalie Press
Natalie Press
Natalie Press is an English actress, perhaps best known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.-Personal life:Press is from North...
.
In 2006 he filmed about 60% of his adaptation of Magnus Mills' The Restraint of Beasts
The Restraint of Beasts
The Restraint of Beasts is a tragicomic debut novel, written by Magnus Mills. In it, an anonymous narrator 'the foreman' works for a Scottish fencing company, run by Donald who is consumed by work and the desire for 'efficiency'...
when the project was halted – his wife had fallen gravely ill and he left to care for her and their children. His wife died several months later.
Future projects include an original English language feature Epic, a Polish language feature Sister of Mercy and a Georgian/Russian-language film Kamo about the early career of Joseph Stalin. He is also set to direct a film loosely adapted from Douglas Kennedy's novel The Woman in the Fifth, starring Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
and Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin Scott Thomas
Kristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
.
Selected filmography
- Moscow Pietushki (1990)
- Dostoevsky's Travels (1991)
- Serbian Epics (1992)
- Tripping with Zhirinovsky(1994)
- Twockers (1998)
- The Stringer (1998)
- Last ResortLast Resort (2000 film)Last Resort is a film by Pawel Pawlikowski, released in 2000 and starring Dina Korzun, Artyom Strelnikov and Paddy Considine.A young Russian woman and her son arrive in London, expecting to be met by her fiancé. When he does not arrive, they claim asylum, and are confined to a small seaside town...
(2000) - My Summer of LoveMy Summer of LoveMy Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawel Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds...
(2004) - The Woman in the Fifth (2011)