14° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
Tribute to a Jerzy Skolimowski
THIRTY DOOR KEY / FERDYDURKE
Country: Turkey
Year: 1991
Duration: 98'
"This came to mind the very first time I read this book, in 1960, when I was a student at the School of Cinema in Lodz. I remember having discussed it with Roman Polanski, who at that time considered it his favourite book. I didn't completely share his enthusiasm, bccause there were a few aspects of Gombrowicz that irritated me. He was a man of stubborn intelligence, who enjoyed making fun of his readers. At that time, this annoyed me. Today, I don't mind it, because at times I do the same thing with my audience. This project is the most difficult one that I have ever worked on, but I think I've found the right method. In the book, the protagonist experiences three different types of society: the school environment, the middleclass and the aristocracy. Each time he abandons one of these societies, he leaves enormous confusion behind him: people start quarrelling, a tiny revolution breaks out, etc. I felt it necessary to evoke an even more violent outburst in an effort to crown all that which Gombrowicz had invented." (Jerzy Skolimowski, "Positif", n. 373, March 1992)
"Recalling his boxing days as a youth, Skolimowski tackled Gombrowicz' book like a sportsman. To achieve the impossible, he measured himself with the text without any sense of intimidation, believing that the only way was to beat the book in speed. And that in this way, he would manage to snatch away its meaning, the derision and the grotesque, with the same elegance of style. Skolimowski has made a successful comeback in Poland, where he had not filmed for twenty years. He has returned with a vengeance, a spirit of mind that reminds one of Vigo." (Serge Toubiana, "Cahiers du Cinéma", November 1991)
Biography
film director
Jerzy Skolimowski
(Lodz, Poland, 1938), director, screenwriter, producer, and actor, after inconsistent studies and experience as a boxer and a poet, became involved in cinema thanks to Andrzej Wajda, who encouraged him to enroll in the film school in Lodz. With Polanski, he wrote the screenplay for Knife in the Water (1962) and he debuted as a director with Rysopis (1964), which, with his next film Walk over (1965), made him one of the major exponents of the international Nouvelle Vague of the 1960s. In 1967, his film The Departure won the Golden Bear in Berlin but that same year another movie of his, Hands Up!, was censored (it was released only in 1981) and he never made another movie in his home country. Skolimowski's international career is full of risky production adventures and great masterpieces and spans various countries (Czechoslovakia, Italy, Germany, England, the United States). After the failure of King, Queen, Knave, he spent a great deal of inactive time in England and Poland, followed by the great success of his English movies The Shout (1978) and Moonlighting (1982). In 1985, he directed his first all-American movie, Lightship and he moved to the US. After returning to his homeland, in 1991 he directed his first Polish movie after Hands Up!, 30 Door Key and over the years continued to work in cinema, writing and producing the film by his two sons Józef and Michal, The Hollow Men (1993). After a long hiatus from film, he returned to directing movies in 2008 with Four Nights with Anna, presented at the Quinzaine des réalisateurs in Cannes, followed by Essential Killing (2010), Special Jury Prize in Venice; 11 Minutes (2015); and EO (2022), the Jury Prize in Cannes.
FILMOGRAFIA
Rysopis (Rysopis - Segni particolari nessuno, 1964), Walkover (1965), Bariera (Barriera, 1966), Le Départ (Il vergine, 1967), The Adventures of Gerard (Le avventure di Gerard, 1970), Deep End (La ragazza del bagno pubblico, 1970), König, Dame, Bube (Un ospite gradito... per mia moglie, 1972), The Shout (L'australiano, 1978), Ręce do gory (Mani in alto, 1981), Moonlighting (Moonlighting - Cittadini di nessuno, 1982), Success Is the Best Revenge (Il successo ad ogni costo, 1984), The Lightship (Lightship - La nave faro, 1985), Torrents of Spring (Acque di primavera, 1989), Thirty Door Key/Ferdydurke (1991), Cztery noce z Anną (Quattro notti con Anna, 2008), Essential Killing (id. 2010), 11 minut (11 Minutes, 2015), EO (2022).
Cast
& Credits
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski.
Screenplay: Joseph Kay, John Yorick, Jerzy Skolimowski, dal romanzo di Witold Gombrowicz.
Consulente alla sceneggiatura: Mike Sarne.
Director of photography: Witold Adamek.
Editor: Grazyna Jasinska, Marek Denys.
Music: Stanislaw Syrewicz.
Cast and characters: Iain Glen (Joey/Jozio), Crispin Glover (Mientus/Mietus), Robert Stephens (Professor Pimko), Marek Probosz (Fizz/Syfon), Artur Zmijewski (Korda/Kopyrda), Judith Godrèche (Zoo/Zuta), Dorota Stalifiska (la signora Young/Mlodziakowa), Jan Peszek (il signor Young/Mlodziak), Beata Tyszkiewicz (la zia), Tadeusz Lomnicki (lo zio Coco), Fabienne Babe (Sophie/Zosia), Zbigniew Zamachowski (Tom), Krzysztof Janczar (Leo), Marta Pieta (Marion), Jerzy Skolimowski (il preside, il professore di letteratura quest'ultima parte tagliata al montaggio).
Production company: Jerzy Skolimowski per Million Frames Ltd - Thirty Door Key Ltd Cinéa.
Screenplay: Joseph Kay, John Yorick, Jerzy Skolimowski, dal romanzo di Witold Gombrowicz.
Consulente alla sceneggiatura: Mike Sarne.
Director of photography: Witold Adamek.
Editor: Grazyna Jasinska, Marek Denys.
Music: Stanislaw Syrewicz.
Cast and characters: Iain Glen (Joey/Jozio), Crispin Glover (Mientus/Mietus), Robert Stephens (Professor Pimko), Marek Probosz (Fizz/Syfon), Artur Zmijewski (Korda/Kopyrda), Judith Godrèche (Zoo/Zuta), Dorota Stalifiska (la signora Young/Mlodziakowa), Jan Peszek (il signor Young/Mlodziak), Beata Tyszkiewicz (la zia), Tadeusz Lomnicki (lo zio Coco), Fabienne Babe (Sophie/Zosia), Zbigniew Zamachowski (Tom), Krzysztof Janczar (Leo), Marta Pieta (Marion), Jerzy Skolimowski (il preside, il professore di letteratura quest'ultima parte tagliata al montaggio).
Production company: Jerzy Skolimowski per Million Frames Ltd - Thirty Door Key Ltd Cinéa.