Documentary film. Director, screenplay, cinematography and editing: Piotr Szczepański, 2004.
Two years in the life of a punk band Cool Kids of Death. The camera accompanies band members during all the key events in their career, depicting their transformation from unknown individuals into stars. Thus, we see the artists not only in a struggle with their own artwork, but also with the everyday rough and tumble of the media, the Polish music society, fans, and the scandals caused by the band. The film is an attempt to disclose the modern mechanisms governing the creation of pop-culture idols, whose commercial image often has little in common with reality. It is also a picture of the Polish 70s generation. They are the 'Nothing Generation' ('Generacja Nic'), a term coined by Kuba Wandachowicz, the band's bass guitarist and co-author of lyrics, in his "Gazeta Wyborcza" article.
Szczepański made his film according to the rule: 'It's all life and if something slips away - let it slip away forever'. Neither did he stage any scenes, nor did he pretend that the film-maker is absent. The final effect is raw and coarse. The author's assumption is that, above all, you have to be authentic, while all technical glitches can be dealt with later." (Malwina Grochowska, "Kino")"According to the director, the featured material amounts to a mere 10 per cent of the band Cool Kids of Death. The question remains whether the remaining 90 per cent consist of an even fiercer struggle with the subject, or perhaps of a barren work, focused on career and life. One thing is certain: (...) this kind of cinema is absorbing. (Krzysztof Spór, www.stopklatka.pl)
- Generacja C.K.O.D. / Cool Kids Of Death Generation. Poland 2004. Director, screenplay, cinematography and editing: Piotr Szczepański. Producer: Anna Pachnicka. Music: Cool Kids of Death. Production: Anagram Film., colour with sequences in black & white, 55 min.
Awards
- Grand Prix - Golden Hobby-Horse [Lajkonik] and Visegrad Award at the Cracow Film Festival (national jury award), 2004;
- Honourable mention at the Insko Film Summer, 2004.
Source: the catalogue "Young Polish Cinema", published by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, June 2007