24/06/2011

Kazimierz Dolny is an obvious choice for the premiere place of the newest documentary film by Sylwester Latkowski, “The Last supper”;” his “PUB 700” was found the best Polish documentary film at the 2002 Film Festival in Kazimierz. The hero of that production was Leszek Możdżer, who is also the author of the music used in the “The Last Supper.” Both artists – Sylwester Latkowski and Leszek Możdżer – and protagonists – Maciej Świeszewski, Paweł Huelle and Rev. Krzysztof Niedałtowski – will be present at the festival and after the screening they will take part in a meeting with the audience.

The starting point for this film story is the history of how the painting “The Last Supper” was created. The director was, however, more interested in the creator than in the creation. The protagonist of this film is Maciej Świeszewski, a painter and professor at the ASP (Fine Arts Academy) in Gdańsk. His paintings are surrealist, sometimes gloomy. He calls his work “paranoia of modernity.”  The film “The Last Supper” is a journal of an artist, a painter. The camera follows Świeszewski for several of years, recording his struggle not only with the matter of art, but also with the everyday world. The first shots were taken in Autumn 2008.

Donald Kuspit, one of the most prominent art critics, writes about the painting “The Last Supper:” “The work of Świeszewski gives a lot of aesthetic satisfaction and is without doubt socially revolutionary and daring in the Polish context. The luminosity of this painting heralds a new dawn in post-communist Poland. The elevated, solemn mood of the painting commands admiration. Świeszewski’s “The Last Supper” clearly states that great religious art of the past really appeals in hard modern times. It mythicises the same human and social problems that have always existed, no matter what the ideological context is.”

Sylwester Latkowski – director, scriptwriter, TV and press journalist (“Polityka” and “Wprost” newsmagazines,  “Gazeta Wyborcza” newspaper), film and music producer. Since 2000 he has realised several documentary films, including: “Blokersi” (2001), “Pub 700” (2002, the Best Documentary of the film festival in Kazimierz), “Kamilianie” (2003, awarded at the Polish Catholic TV And Radio Programmes Review, “To Kill Papała” | “Zabić Papałę” (2008). He received the distinction from the Culture Foundation for his book “I Remember When…” | ”Pamiętam jak…” (2001). He has also written “To Kill Papała” | “Zabić Papałę” (2008) and “The Polish Mafia” | “Polska mafia” (2011).