Małgorzata Zajączkowska she sits on the Main Competition jury and serves as its chairman during the 49th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia. The jury also includes: Marcin Ciastoń, Marta Habior, Anna Jadowska, David Ondříček, Ewa Skoczkowska and Piotr Śliskowski.
Zajączkowska accepted the invitation to join the Master Five this year. The actress chose the film “Imagine” directed by Andrzej Jakimowski. After the screening, a meeting was held at the Gdynia Film Center, led by Łukasz Grzegorzek.
“Imagine” is an international co-production whose world premiere took place at the Toronto Festival. The film, directed by Andrzej Jakimowski, tells the story of Ian (Edward Hogg), a charismatic instructor of the blind. Ian comes to a prestigious center in Lisbon to use controversial methods to teach young patients the art of orientation in space. His students’ initial distrust quickly turns into growing enthusiasm as Ian proves the effectiveness of his methods. The central character becomes Ewa (Alexandra Maria Lara), who, thanks to Ian, begins to overcome her fears and discover new possibilities outside the walls of the clinic.
Łukasz Grzegorzek, director of “The Coach’s Daughter” and “My Wonderful Life”, began the meeting after the screening by asking about the reason for Zajączkowska’s choice of this particular film.
“It comes back to me very often in various aspects. It has a rebellious quality to it, and at the same time it is a film that makes me realize that we only see what we really want to see. Sometimes we limit ourselves terribly and assume that reality is as it is.” it is there and there is nothing we can do about it. We reject a helping hand instead of getting out of our trap. (…) We live with a lack of self-fulfillment and self-regret, often blaming other people for the fact that I am not that type of person, I am not that type of person. I like this one. That’s why this film is so close to me, because it’s not really about blind people,” said the actress in a conversation after the screening.
“I really like Jakimowski’s film stories. They are about people and that appeals to me very much. He is always beautifully photographed and I thought – here is Lisbon, of which we can see very little. And at the same time we see the quintessence of what is in Lisbon. I don’t know Lisbon, and at the same time it was enough for me to know that yes – this is the city and the atmosphere of this city,” added Małgorzata Zajaczkowska later in the meeting.
Łukasz Grzegorzek, touching on the message of the film “Imagine”, asked the actress how she personally defines dignity. “I allow myself and people to treat me as much (…) as I feel comfortable. There is a moment when we can make some concessions, but at the same time feel at least a little comfortable with ourselves,” she replied.
Zajączkowska and Grzegorzek also recalled one of their meetings, on the occasion of the actress’s involvement in the film “My Wonderful Life”. Mrs. Małgorzata played the role of Grandma. In a conversation after “Imagine”, she admitted that she was delighted with “The Coach’s Daughter” and was happy to play in Grzegorzek’s next film.
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