Just Outside the Window: 2020 in Polish Music Videos
It’s been a tough year for the entertainment industry. For many artists and music labels, the coronavirus meant abandoning planned projects or at least reducing their production funds. Despite the lingering uncertainty, a few clips were made that reflect the mood of the past twelve months.
The list below includes music videos that premiered at the end of 2019 and during 2020.
10. RAT KRU – ‘Cześć’
- Script & production: Jakub Żwirełło
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RAT KRU – ‘Cześć’, photo: Jakub Żwirełło
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This music video was inspired by the series Tulip directed by Janusz Dymek, which is all about the adventures of the seducer-trickster Jerzy Kalibabka. Within a few minutes, we can see a long-haired charmer flirting with women on the train and on the dancefloor. Looking at the scenography, we see a Poland remembered from the late communist period and early 1990s. I give this a special mention award for its humorous journey through time.
9. Włodi/1988 – ‘Żakardy’
- Direction & cinematography: @wiskord a.k.a. 1988
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Włodi/1988 – ‘Żakardy’, photo: @wiskord a.k.a. 1988
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This music video was made to be a contrast to those with large budgets. Most of the shots feature Warsaw, mainly Służew, as well as a part of the Mokotów district to which Włodi refers many times in his lyrics. We see apartment blocks, the old tin building of a community centre, and a bridge connecting the district with the other side of the capital’s river. The whole thing was created across several locations and was more than enough to create a minimalist raw image with a DIY atmosphere. The clip contains references to the pandemic – messages broadcast by uniformed services, sometimes projected onto walls. I give this a distinction award for being local and unpretentious.
8. Ralph Kamiński – ‘2009’
- Production: Twin Pics Studio
- Cinematography: Karol Łakomiec
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Ralph Kamiński – ‘2009’, photo: Karol Łakomiec
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This beautiful year of ours
This year ended a long time ago
Although Ralph Kamiński recalls his first love in this song, the presentation of this piece during the 2020 pandemic seems far from accidental, and it certainly gives it another interpretive dimension. The video depicts a peculiar birthday party. The guests are a bit tired, but after a few toasts they go to the dancefloor and lose themselves in the dance. It’s an image of love and fun that allows you to forget the world entirely. I give it a distinction for its make-up and costumes.
7. Jakub Józef Orliński – ‘Voi Che Udite’
- Direction: Andiamo
- Cinematography: Adam Suzin
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Jakub Józef Orliński – ‘Voi Che Udite’, photo: Adam Suzin
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The creators of this video show us the inhabitants of a large city struggling with difficulties. The camera shows them at home, at the train station and while driving. These are not particularly dramatic situations, rather we observe them in limbo. The sight of their suffering is finally interrupted – we are left with the sight of a lonely man looking at some snowy mountains. The imagery for the video was made by Adam Suzin, who was responsible for the look of the award-winning documentary Over the Limit directed by Marta Prus.
6. Waglewski Fisz Emade – ‘Ziemia’
- Direction & cinematography: Weronika Izdebska
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Waglewski Fisz Emade – ‘Ziemia’, photo: Weronika Izdebska
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‘The world tests us, it bathes us in flames,’ sings Fisz in this black-and-white video, as we watch its protagonists walking alone around a city and near a river. The sun is a luxury commodity here – even out in the open. Created in the middle of a pandemic, this video hardly brings us any relief. This is a short story about longing for nature and brighter days.
5. Kamp! Albo Inaczej – ‘Wiedziałem, że Tak Będzie’
- Direction: Piotr Matejkowski
- Cinematography: Mikołaj Syguda
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Kamp! Albo Inaczej – ‘Wiedziałem, że Tak Będzie’, photo: Mikołaj Syguda
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This interpretation of a hip-hop classic has a unique visual setting, and the key to it is the movement on show. Three dancers and a choreographer were involved in the production – it’s their work that we observe through most of the video. But it’s not just the dancers moving here, because most of the shots are based on the dynamic movements of the camera. Director Piotr Matejkowski had already shown us in his video for Flary by PRO8L3M his unconventional approach to storytelling using strong visual forms. This time his visions were realised by cameraman Mikołaj Syguda. There is no shortage of housing blocks here, that favourite stage backdrop for Polish rappers’ music videos – this subtle accent reminds us of the roots of the original piece.
4. Rosalie – ‘Ciemność’
- Direction: Dawid Misiorny & Tymon Nogalski
- Cinematography: Barbara Kaniewska
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Rosalie – ‘Ciemność’, photo: Barbara Kaniewska
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‘I’m strolling down the street, I’m not leaving the path, come with me,’ sings Rosalie, as the video follows this sentence as its guiding motif. How does on show the hazy memory of an evening in just two minutes? The directors and cinematographer of the picture chose economical means of expression. The singer moves in slow motion towards the camera. The contours of people are blurred by the blinding lights of the car in front. It’s these warm orange lights that create the video’s sleepy-erotic atmosphere. I give it a distinction for creating an intriguing looped story.
3. Pezet feat. Kayah – ‘Nisko jest Niebo’
- Direction: Andiamo
- Cinematography: Igor Połaniewicz
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Pezet feat. Kayah – ‘Nisko jest Niebo’, photo: Igor Połaniewicz
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This melancholic piece is illustrated using a series of a dozen or so scenes that allude to struggle with loss and passing, that is, to situations in which ‘the sky is low’, as the title tells us. In addition to states of mourning, several images on show refer to the challenges of a new beginning – the birth of a child, baptism, marriage. I give this a distinction for scenes from life in a city told through the language of documentary film.
2. Quebonafide feat. Daria Zawiałow – ‘BUBBLETEA’
- Direction: Daniel Jaroszek
- Cinematography: Michał Dąbal
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Quebonafide feat. Daria Zawiałow – ‘BUBBLETEA’, photo: Michał Dąbal
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If the entertainment industry suffered from limited budgets in 2020, it’s not something you could tell from this production. Several dozen people worked on this video for two young music stars and the momentum they all created can be seen in its final form. During the so-called ‘hard’ lockdown or forced quarantine this year, you could feel as literally locked in a bubble as the main character of the video. But it seems to tell a different story – about a world that no longer exists. The feeling of otherness is heightened by a TV crew trying to tell us about this extraordinary place full of grey prefabricated blocks, panelling and vests for fishermen. One of them conceals the rapper himself.
1. The Dumplings – ‘Przykro Mi’
- Direction: Filip Berendt & Inez Kujda
- Cinematography: Michał Dymek
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The Dumplings – ‘Przykro Mi’, photo: Michał Dymek
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A macabre story told through the beautiful language of celluloid. This is a video that demands focused viewing, as if it were a painted nocturne. We see human bodies, flowers, food and crushed car bodies. In the background, there’s a hotel hall and an elevator overlooking a panorama of Warsaw.
The video was directed by the visual artist Filip Berendt and the copywriter Inez Kujda. The imagery was created by Michał Dymek, the cinematographer of the full-length films Sweat and Słodki Koniec Dnia (The Sweet End of the Day), as well as the famed short The Best Fireworks Ever. It gets first place in our ranking for its extraordinary sense of form, as well as its coherent and intriguing artistic vision.
Some of the videos above refer to difficult experiences, exposure to severe stress and loneliness. If you have been affected by this sorts of situations and need support, seek help from a specialist via services such as SAMHSA or the NHS.
Originally written in Polish, Dec 2020, translated by AZ, Dec 2020