interview
immediately knew that the story should include some fairy-tale elements.
I was thinking of The Little Matchstick Girl, a short story which now is very often forgotten. Tomek Walasek, my camera operator, decided to include, beside the screenplay shots, some shots that would come straight from a fairy tale, so that we could explore the inner world of the protagonists.
Can you describe the shooting of Hunger?
First and foremost – this was my first time. However – I want more. Looking back – and production of the movie covered a wide time-span – I may state that I was quite brave to have started the whole project. At the time I had no budget nor connections, nor knowledge. What did I have? I had a ready story written in a form of a script, and deep belief that I would be able to transform it into a movie. I have just realized how determined I had to be, and how convinced I had to be, to execute the whole project.
Yes, I really believed in that story. And the Universe seemed to believe in that story with me – it provided me with a proper team of helpful people. Actors, contractors, family, friends, companies which provided us with the equipment, catering, accommodation and many other tools of trade, required to finalize the work. The whole movie was shot in ca. 7 days.. I even remember that we were full of food after the lunch-break, and that during the shooting process, some sounds were coming straight from our digestive tracts. Thanks to the cooperation with a young team of talented filmmakers, I had a feeling that I am in right place, at the right time. It is those people who let me feel like a film director.
Thanks to the team, I believed in myself on the set. The only tough moment on the set was related to the fact that I had to fuse the role of a mother, with the role of a film director. I wanted my daughter to star in the movie, thus there were some situations in which I had to make decisions of prolonging the work on set as a director, however – as a mother, I wanted to let my child get some rest. This is a valuable experience too. Now it turns out
cinemakers // 19