The 23 conversations unfold onto a panorama of the Polish emmigrant’s fate. In the introduction to her book Niezgoda comments:
As I listened to their stories: about childhood in Syberia, the escapes, wanderings, and exiles, about their struggle to survive, as well as the loop holes of debt, and decisions that many a time pushed these people to the edge of an abyss, as I listened, I began to wonder if I could whine about the rough nature of adaption.
The artists spoke to the author about their sense of estrangement, pressure, about their hopes and about their disenchantements. Dariusz Wolski – who shot some of the biggest blockbusters (including the Pirates of the Carribean series) – says that the motor drive of the Dream Factory more often the fear of failure than the greed for success. In his talk with Niezgdoda, he admits “Showbusiness is a world of gigantic illusion”. Other artists invited by the author also speak about the little known side of the American myth. Agatha Dominik, a set designer, describes the situation of a Polish woman trying to make it in a closed men’s world of the cinema, and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek admits he could finally feel free in his work only after winning the Academy Award for The Dreamer’s soundtrack.
Hollywood.pl is neither a film critic’s guide, nor a scientific anthology. I followed individual histories, listening with a reporter’s ear.
In order to write her book, she spent four years flying between Los Angeles, New York and Europe. As she met with Polish stars, she zoomed in on the lives of Polański, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Anna Sheppard, Allan Starski, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Abel Korzeniowski, Sławomir Idziak and many others.
The photographs taken by Jacek Laskus form an intergral part of the album. In a talk for the Third Programme of the Polish Radio, Niezgoda said
The pictures were taken in a variety of places and at different times of the day. Many contacts to these people came from the photographer’s address book. Without these private contacts people would never have given us so much of their time.
The photographs taken by Jacek Laskus form an intergral part of the album. In a talk for the Third Programme of the Polish Radio, Niezgoda said
The pictures were taken in a variety of places and at different times of the day. Many contacts to these people came from the photographer’s address book. Without these private contacts people would never have given us so much of their time.
Agnieszka Niezgoda and Jacek Laskus created the English translation of their book alongside the original Polish. Hollywood.pl is due to be released in the US in early 2014. The book’s promotion launches in January, with a special evening in the headquarters of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Hollywood.pl
Agnieszka Niezgoda, Jacek Laskus
Wydawnictwo Hollywood PL, 2013.
Author: Bartosz Staszczyszyn, translated by Paulina Schlosser, 16/12/2013