The small second-hand bookshop in Warsaw's Żoliborz neighbourhood is not merely a place where to buy and sell books. It is a meeting place for people to talk with the owner, Mr. Krzyś.
"Antykwariat", reż. Maciej Cuske
The small second-hand bookshop in Warsaw's Żoliborz neighbourhood is not merely a place where one buys and sells books. Most of all, it is a meeting place for people who discuss their lives and other minor issues with the owner, Mr. Krzyś [Chris]. Certainly, he is a colourful persona, whose knowledge of books is equally as wide as his knowledge of the "human specimen". He is like a doctor who seems to know both the ailment of each of his patients as well as its cure. Though Mr. Krzyś can be nonchalant or even rough at times, his character makes the shop full of human warmth, not just dust.
The young author's choice of setting for a documentary observation was the source of his success. A cramped second-hand bookshop in Żoliborz, busy with clients from dawn to dusk, proved to be the very space, in which the proverbial 'our reality' manifested itself very distinctively, comprehensively, and - what is more - with a certain charm.
Tadeusz Lubelski, Kino
Just like the fans of Wayne Wang's "Smoke" were looking for Harvey Keitel's tobacco shop in Brooklyn, Cuske's fans search Żoliborz for Mr. Krzyś bookshop, which, compared to the former, has the certain advantage of being a real place.
Tadeusz Sobolewski, Gazeta Wyborcza
- Antykwariat / Old Books Store. Poland, 2005. Director and screenplay: Maciej Cuske. Cinematography: Radosław Ladczuk, Maciej Cuske. Sound processing: Tomasz Wieczorek. Editing: Anna Dymek. Production management: Anna Bławut-Mazurkiewicz. Production: Telewizja Polska Program 2. 2005. Color, 28 min.
Awards:
- Special Award - Bronze Hobby-Horse [Lajkonik] and award of the public in the national competition at the Cracow Film Festival, 2005;
- Bronze Spire [Iglica] and Press Award at the International Film Festival "Offensiva" in Wroclaw, 2006.
Source: the catalogue "Young Polish Cinema", published by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, June 2007