Paweł Pawlikowski

Paweł Pawlikowski
Pawlikowski in 2015
Born	Paweł Aleksander Pawlikowski (1957-09-15) 15 September 1957 (age 66) Warsaw, Poland
Alma mater	Oxford University
Occupation	Filmmaker
Spouses	Irina Pawlikowska ​ (died 2006)​ Małgosia Bela ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	2
Website	Official Website

Paweł Aleksander Pawlikowski (Polish: [ˈpavɛw alɛˈksandɛr pavliˈkɔfskʲi]; born 15 September 1957) is a Polish filmmaker. He garnered early praise for a string of documentaries in the 1990s and for his award-winning feature films of the 2000s, Last Resort (2000) and My Summer of Love (2004). His success continued into the 2010s with Ida (2013), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Cold War (2018), for which Pawlikowski won the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, while the film received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Early life

Pawlikowski was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a father who was a doctor and a mother who started as a ballet dancer and later became an English literature professor at the University of Warsaw.^[1] In his late teens, he learned that his paternal grandmother was Jewish and had been murdered in Auschwitz.^[2][3] At the age of 14, he left communist Poland with his mother for London. What he thought was a holiday turned out to be a permanent exile. A year later he moved to Germany, before finally settling in Britain in 1977. He studied literature and philosophy at Oxford University.^[4]

Career

20th century: Early works

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pawlikowski was best known for his documentaries, whose blend of lyricism and irony won him many fans and awards around the world. From Moscow to Pietushki was a poetic journey into the world of the Russian cult writer Venedikt Erofeev, for which he won an Emmy, an RTS award, a Prix Italia and other awards.^[5][6] The multi-award-winning Dostoevsky's Travels was a tragi-comic road movie in which a St Petersburg tram driver and the only living descendant of Fyodor Dostoevsky, 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 secondhand Mercedes.^{[citation needed]}

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 epic Serbian poetry, with exclusive footage of Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladić, 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 controversial Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, won Pawlikowski the Grierson Award for the Best British Documentary in 1995.^{[citation needed]} 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.

2000s

In 2000 he wrote and directed Last Resort starring Dina Korzun and Paddy Considine, which won a BAFTA, the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at Edinburgh and many other awards. In 2004 he wrote and directed My Summer of Love starring Emily Blunt and Natalie Press, which won a BAFTA, the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film and many other awards.^[7]

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.^[8]

2010s

In 2011, he wrote and directed a film loosely adapted from Douglas Kennedy's novel The Woman in the Fifth, starring Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas.^[9]

On 19 October 2013, his film Ida (starring Agata Kulesza) won the Best Film Award at the London Film Festival, on the same night that Anthony Chen, one of his students at the National Film and Television School, won the Sutherland Prize for the Best First Film, for Ilo Ilo.^[10] Ida won the 2015 Academy Award for Foreign Language Film on 23 February 2015, the first Polish film to do so. In the same year, he was a member of the jury headed by Alfonso Cuarón at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

In 2017, Pawlikowski adapted Emmanuel Carrère's biographical novel Limonov (2011), based on the life of Eduard Limonov, into a screenplay.^[11] Pawlikowski planned to direct the film adaptation but revealed in 2020 that he lost interest in the character and abandoned plans to direct.^[12]

His most recent film, Cold War earned him the Best Director Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. It also won five awards at the 2018 European Film Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress Awards. In 2019, he was announced as one of the members of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.^[13]

2020s

In October 2022, reports emerged that Pawlikowski's next film, under the working title The Island, was scheduled to begin filming in 2023. The film is inspired by true events and cast Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara as an American couple in the 1930s, who leave behind civilization to live on a deserted island.^[14]

In May 2023, production for The Island was halted, weeks before filming was set to begin, as a result of the impending 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.^[15] In December 2023, cinematographer Łukasz Żal stated that the project was unlikely to ever be made.^[16] In February 2024, Mara stated that herself, Phoenix, and Pawlikowski are still committed to make the film, but was unsure of when it may be filmed.^[17]

Personal life

Pawlikowski grew up a Catholic and considers himself one up to this day, but says that he finds the Catholic Church in Great Britain to be easier to grow in faith in than that in Poland.^[2][3]

Pawlikowski was a Creative Arts Fellow at Oxford Brookes University from 2004 to 2007. He teaches film direction and screenwriting at the National Film School in the UK and the Wajda Film School in Warsaw. In addition to his native Polish, he speaks six languages including German and Russian. ^{[citation needed]}

Pawlikowski's first wife, who was Russian, developed a serious illness in 2006 and died several months later.^[18][19] They have a son and a daughter. After his children left for university, Pawlikowski moved to Paris, and later relocated to Warsaw, where he lives close to his childhood home.^[18] At the end of 2017, he married Polish model and actress Małgosia Bela.^[20]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer
1998	The Stringer	Yes	Yes
2000	Last Resort	Yes	Yes
2004	My Summer of Love	Yes	Yes
2011	The Woman in the Fifth	Yes	Yes
2013	Ida	Yes	Yes
2014	Lost in Karastan	No	Yes
2018	Cold War	Yes	Yes

Documentary works

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1987	Open Space	Yes	No	No	TV series
1990	From Moscow to Pietushki with Benny Yerofeyev	Yes	Yes	No	TV movies
1991	Dostoevsky's Travels	Yes	No	Yes
1992	Serbian Epics	Yes	No	Yes
1994	Tripping with Zhirinovsky	Yes	No	Yes

1987 Stasys Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1998	Twockers	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-directed with Ian Duncan

-

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2015	Best Foreign Language Film	Ida	Won
2019	Best Director	Cold War	Nominated
	Best Foreign Language Film		Nominated

British Academy Film Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2001	Best British Film	Last Resort	Nominated
	Most Promising Newcomer		Won
2005	Best British Film	My Summer of Love	Won
2014	Best Film Not in the English Language	Ida	Won
2018	Best Direction	Cold War	Nominated
	Best Original Screenplay		Nominated
	Best Film Not in the English Language		Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2015	Best Foreign Language Film	Ida	Nominated

European Film Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
1992	Best Documentary	Dostoyevsky’s Travels	Special Mention
2001	European Discovery	Last Resort	Nominated
2005	Best Film	My Summer of Love	Nominated
	Best Director		Nominated
2014	Best Film	Ida	Won
	Best Director		Won
	Best Screenwriter		Won
	People's Choice Award		Won
2018	Best Film	Cold War	Won
	Best Director		Won
	Best Screenwriter		Won

Polish Film Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2006	Best European Film	My Summer of Love	Won
2014	Best Film	Ida	Won
	Best Director		Won
	Best Screenplay		Nominated
2019	Best Film	Cold War	Won
	Best Director		Won
	Best Screenplay		Won

British Independent Film Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2000	Best Director	Last Resort	Nominated
	Best Screenplay		Nominated
2004	Best Director	My Summer of Love	Nominated
2014	Best Foreign Independent Film	Ida	Nominated
2018		Cold War	Nominated

Film festivals and other award ceremonies

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2013	38th National Polish Film Festival	Golden Lions for Best Film	Ida	Won
2014	30th Seattle International Film Festival	Best Director		3rd runner-up
2018	71st Cannes Film Festival	Best Director	Cold War	Won
	43rd National Polish Film Festival	Golden Lions for Best Film		Won

Critics' Circle

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref.
2014	9th Dublin Film Critics' Circle Awards	Best Director	Ida	#3
	Indiewire 2014 Year-End Critics Poll			#10
2019	39th London Film Critics' Circle Awards		Cold War	Nominated	[21]

Other distinctions

Pawlikowski was made Honorary Associate of London Film School. In 2019, he was awarded the title of an honorary citizen of Warsaw.^[22]

See also

• Cinema of Poland
• List of Poles
• List of Polish Academy Award winners and nominees

References

1. Hoberman, J. (30 April 2014). "If You Could Lick My Heart It Would Poison You". Table. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
2. "Kto Ty jesteś? Paweł Pawlikowski o filmie "Ida"" (in Polish). Onet.pl. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
3. Bloom, Livia (5 May 2014). "Courage of Conviction: A Conversation with Ida Director Pawel Pawlikowski". Filmmaker. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
4. "Pawel Pawlikowski | Biography, Movies, & Facts".
5. Screenonline. Accessed 2014-05-26. The title of Erofeev's novel (or prose poem) has been variously translated, but Pawlikowski's documentary is in English and is titled in English.
6. Pawlikowski, Pawel. "Filmography". Pawel Pawlikowski – Writer and Director. pawelpawlikowski.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
7. "A Quick Chat With Pawel Pawlikowski". kamera.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 March 2009.
8. Dawtrey, Adam (20 September 2007). "Pawel Pawlikowski takes on Stalin". Variety. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
9. "Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas top 'Women' – Thesps to star in indie thriller based on novel". Variety.
10. "Master and Pupil honoured by LFF on the same night". UK Screen. 20 October 2013.
11. Vivarelli, Nick (29 December 2017). "Pawel Pawlikowski, Director of Oscar-Winning 'Ida,' to Helm 'Limonov' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
12. "Paweł Pawlikowski nie wyreżyseruje "Limonova"". Onet.pl. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
13. "Exciting Jury Announced For Cannes Film Festival". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
14. Ntim, Zac (24 October 2022). "Joaquin Phoenix And Rooney Mara Board Pawel Pawlikowski's New Film 'The Island' – AFM". Deadline.
15. Wiseman, Andreas (23 May 2023). "Joaquin Phoenix & Rooney Mara Movie 'The Island' Shut Down On Eve Of Shoot As Indie Movie Sector Faces Insurance Crisis Over SAG-AFTRA Strike Fears". Deadline.
16. Newman, Nick (14 December 2023). "Łukasz Żal on the Unprecedented Process of Shooting Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest". Film Stage.
17. Ntim, Zac (15 February 2023). "Rooney Mara Discusses Berlin Title 'La Cocina' With Alonso Ruizpalacios And Shares Update On Her Audrey Hepburn Biopic & Pawel Pawlikowski's 'The Island'". Deadline.
18. "Pawel Pawlikowski: 'I was a lost guy in a weird city'". The Guardian. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
19. Robey, Tim (23 February 2015). "Pawel Pawlikowski on Oscar winner Ida". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
20. Ellison, Jo (15 February 2020). "Malgosia Bela in London – and in Love". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
21. "London Critics Name Roma as Film of the Year". 20 January 2019.
22. "Sanitariuszka, powstaniec, reżyser. Nowi honorowi obywatele Warszawy". Retrieved 15 July 2020.

External links

• Paweł Pawlikowski at IMDb
• BBC Interview 2004
• Pawel Pawlikowski's website
• Paweł Pawlikowski at Culture.pl
• Interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, 12 February 2015
• Paweł Pawlikowski and his TV movie documentaries From Moscow to Pietushki, Dostoevsky’s Travels, Serbian Epics and Tripping with Zhirinovski on vimeo