Film director and writer, born 1957 in Łódź.

Prior to graduating from the Łódź PWSFTviT Film School in 1981, where she had studied directing, Kędzierzawska was a student of Culture Studies at the Łódź University in 1976-8 and, for two years, of Directing at the VGIK in Moscow. A daughter of a filmmaker of children films, Jadwiga Kędzierzawska, she got accustomed to film locations already as a child, as she was often taken there by her mother. In 1972 she appeared in one of her mother's films, "Ucieczka-wycieczka", and in 1980s she gained her first directing experience as an occasional assistant and second director alongside Jadwiga. Kędzierzawska's first big success was the nomination of her school etude "Jajko" ["The Egg"] for the Student Oscar in Los Angeles in 1983.

So far Kędzierzawska has made rather few films, and all of them can in all fairness be said to represent independent cinema. Non-commercial by definition, they talk about difficult and painful issues, showing people who have been pushed to the margin, who are poor, lonely, weak and helpless, and who hopelessly await love, understanding and help. It is Kędzierzawska's conscious choice:

I am not interested in strong people, those who have got everything planned and who move from success to success. The weak ones look at life differently, says Kędzierzawska in an interview taken by Barbara Hollender ("Rzeczpospolita" 17-18 October 1998).

Kędzierzawska assumes the point of view of people overcome with the bitterness of old age, of a rejected child, of a powerless and determined woman fighting for her husband's love.

"Kędzierzawska takes up topics which reflect her social sensitivity and are characteristic of the involved cinema. What makes her films highly original is the poetry of their language, which is made of a different matter. Describing the heroine of Kędzierzawska's 'Nic' ['Nothing'] in realistic terms would take you far away from the film", observes Bożena Janicka ("Kino" 10/1998).

The same can be said of Kędzierzawska's other films. While they all address some difficult social or psychological problem, none conveys any ad hoc, columnist's messages.

Kędzierzawska's film language is special and unique, and she carefully constructs each shot, paying attention to the details of set design, light and colour, the minor gestures and looks of which acting is made, and building a thought-through atmosphere of the film's world and portraits of the characters. To her the visual aspect is the all important and basic medium of communication, and she is remarkably economical with words. "I am like that", admits Kędzierzawska. "I do not talk a lot, so why should my films be verbose?" ("Rzeczpospolita" 17-18 October 1998).

She does without words whenever she can convey a message through pictures alone. The characters of her films are taciturn, reticent and isolated. She removes dialogues from screenplays. When talking of her work, she emphasizes the importance of the accuracy of screenplays - which she sometimes changes into thick books.

Much of the credit for the meticulous shots of Kędzierzawska films goes to Artur Reinhart, the cameraman who worked on her finest films ("Wrony" ["The Crows'], "Nic" ["Nothing"]). Critics, however, although appreciative of the artistry of Reinhart's photography, disapprove of its beauty. This beauty was still relatively easy to accept in "Wrony", a film about the loneliness of a child, in which the beautifully shot empty beach, the boundless sea and the birds had a clearly symbolic meaning.

"Shots filled with the huge expanses of water, sand and the sky emphasized this particular kind of absence which was so painful to the heroine", wrote Katarzyna Jabłońska ("Więź" 2/1995).

It was, however, different with "Nic". A number of reviewers (e.g. Jan Olszewski in "Film" 10/1998 and Jerzy Żurek in "Przekrój" 44/1998) pointed out that the clash of the serene beauty of the shots and the grim and cruel content produced a jarring and unacceptable dissonance. Bożena Janicka, in contrast, pointed to the special and non-pastoral origin of the beauty captured in the photographs, stressing that, having been processed from ugliness, they were unrealistic and unnerving, which in itself was a message.

Although Kędzierzawska is far from thinking about a box office success, her films, often regarded as esoteric, have a devoted audience, to whom she is unlikely to be unfaithful. After all, she admits to not seeing herself as a commercial film director. Having declared a few years ago that "it is not my life's intention to talk exclusively about tragic and sad things", ("Film" 10/1998) she may, however, decide to go away from her usual subject-matter. In the meantime she has made two films, "Jestem" (2005) and "Pora umierać" (2007).

Dorota Kędzierzawska has also directed José M. de Vasconcelos's play for children "My Orange Lemon Plant" for the TV Theatre (1992), worked on Jadwiga Kędzierzawska's films "Rozalka Olaboga" (1984), "Dedykacja" (1987), "Józek" (1987) and "Próba" (1987) as well as on Piotr Mikucki's "Sekret" (1983) and "Par Avion" (1985).


Filmography

School etudes and documentary films:

• 1981 - "Agnieszka"
  
• 1982 - "Jajko" ["The Egg"]. Awards: 1983 - Munich, European Student Film Festival 1st Prize; 1984 - Sosnowiec, Łódź Film School and Silesian University Radio and Television Faculty Student Etudes Review mention in the feature film category;1984 - Łódź, Friends of Łódź Society Competition 1st Prize; 1986 - Warsaw, Sociological and Ethnographical Film Society 2nd Prize.
  
• 1983 - "Początek". Awards: 1986 - Warsaw, Sociological and Ethnographical Film Society 2nd Prize.
  
• 1985 - "Gucia"

Feature films (director and writer):

• 1988 - "Koniec świata" ["The End of The World"], TV feature. An intimate psychological study of the bitterness of old age and loneliness of a couple who have spent their whole lives together and who have nothing but hatred to offer to each other at the end. Awards: 1989 - Mannheim Film Festival Golden Ducat, FIPRESCI Award, OCIC Catholic Jury Mention and Folk Higher Schools Jury Award.
  
  
• 1991 - "Diabły, diabły" ["The Devils, The Devils"]. Kędzierzawska's full-length feature debut addresses the issues of intolerance and rejection. A train of Gypsy wagons comes to a small town. The population is curious, but feels threatened and rejects the Gypsies. The rejection extends also to a teenage girl whose fascination with the strangers has made her approach them. Awards: 1991 - Gdynia Polish Film Festival Direction Award; Cannes Youth Film Festival Youth Jury Mention; Bellinzona Children and Youth Film Festival Grand Prix of the City of Bellinzona; also 1989 - Andrzej Munk Studio Competition 1st prize for the screenplay (awarded before the film was made).
  
  
• 1994 - "Wrony" ["The Crows"] (also editor). A drama of a lonely child whose busy mother has no time for conversation or affection. The nine-year-old girl, called Wrona, finds her own way to fulfill her dream of closeness: she kidnaps a young, trusting and cheerful child to care for it for one day and then to return it to its parents. Wrona is not very good at childcare, but she tries hard in an attempt at achieving what she herself cannot get. Major awards: 1994 - Gdynia Polish Film Festival Special Jury Award, Journalists Award, Audience Award; Don Quixote Polish Film Debating Society Award; Bellinzona International Children and Youth Film Festival Bronze Grand Prix; Vevey International Comedy Film Festival Charlie Chaplin Award; Cannes IFF Coup de Coeur; 1996 - Poznań Children Film Festival International Competition Poznańskie Koziołki / Poznań Goats Grand Prix Award and Directing Prize. Also 1994 - Łódź Camerimage International Festival Golden Frog for cinematography (Artur Reinhart).
  
  
• 1998 - "Nic" ["Nothing"] (also editor and co-producer). Based on a true story which was published in a newspaper, the film is a story about a mother of three who kills her newly born in order to keep the husband who did not wish to have one more 'gob to feed'. The woman's unbounded love for the unfeeling man who does not deserve such love sends her into a trap with no escape. Unable to assess her situation realistically or to disentangle herself from it, a prisoner of her emotion, hooked on her husband, the woman is too weak to help herself or to obtain such help from others. The lead parts are very well played by non-professional actors who nevertheless feel at ease on stage: Anita Borkowska-Kuskowska, the soloist of Warsaw's Teatr Wielki, and Janusz Panasewicz, the leader of the rock group Lady Pank. Major awards: 1998 - Gdynia Polish Film Festival Special Jury Award and Journalists Award; East European Screenplay Foundation Screenplay Award; 1999 - Denver Film Festival Krzysztof Kieślowski Award; Sochi Film Festival Special Jury Award and FIPRESCI Award; Łagów Summer Film Festival Bronze Brązowe Grono Award; Orzeł / Eagle 1998 Polish Film Best Director Award; Tarnów Grand Prix - Bronze Leliwita Statuette. Also in 1998 - Gdynia Film Festival Photography Award (Artur Reinhart).
  
  
• 2005 - "Jestem" ["I am"]
  
  
• 2007 - "Pora umierać" ["Time to die"]

Dorota Kędzierzawska has also received:

• Emerging Master Award (2000) at the Seattle International Festival for "Wrony" and "Nic"
• 1998 'Passport' of the magazine "Polityka" in the film category.

Author: Ewa Nawój, October 2003; updated: 2007.

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