On the morning of 24th November 2011, I was waking up after the final shoot day of Dawid and Dominik. My room was probably filled with leftover bourbons from the catering, tracksuits used by the actors and boxes of Corinthian Prostars that can be seen in the kitchen of our characters.
Crew and cast at the end of the last shoot day, some showing that the energy drinks still had an effect on them.
I went back to my hometown that weekend to recover and sleep after being mentally and physically exhausted from the shoot and the days leading up to it. I have many memories from that shoot, but one thing I’ll never forget is the full commitment and determination shown by every member of the cast and crew. The team effort shown was incredible, and it was a delight to work with everyone to bring Dawid and Dominik from script to screen. I’ll also never forget the enjoyment of directing the film, after taking the Producer role for the pre-production process.
Directors of Photography Jonathan White and Ciaron Craig.
Looking back over the last year, I’m proud to see how far my film has come. After its completion in January, it was premiered at the Stoke Your Fires Film Festival. Over the coming months, it would be screened at the East End Film Festival, The BFI, Leicester Square and BAFTA HQ for the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival.
Poster for the East End Film Festival, the biggest short film festival in London.
Victor Ptak, who plays Dominik, and myself on the premiere of the film in Stoke on Trent.
Maybe its biggest achievement to date took place in the month of March 2012. Shooting People hold a Film Of The Month competition, and Dawid and Dominik was given a wildcard by staff of the website to go into the top ten (after being placed around 300th place in the initial vote!), and members had a few days to vote for their favourite film from the ten shorts. The top 3 would go to a judge to pick the best film. It finished in third place, and Sally Phillips (actress of Smack The Pony and Alan Partridge) picked it from the three to win the award.
“This was beautiful, ambitious, very particular, very precise, well told and well made. I loved it. At one point the two lead characters wear matching plum tracksuits, of course I loved it. Great performances from both the shouty, loving Polish Dad and eyebrow-agile Polish son. The simplicity of the cinematography combined with the gentle absurdism of the situation reminded me of the Coen brothers. Music and art direction again were simple but great. As with the Coens the voiceover and stylization are slightly distancing - just a question of personal taste whether or not this is a good thing.”
Sally Phillips
An article from the local newspaper of Stoke.
Marketing magazine The Drum, national polish magazine Cooltura and Staffordshire’s local newspaper wrote articles about the film and of its achievements.
The success keeps going, with screenings at Maidstone Film Festival and Cornwall Film Festival this month. It’s also been shortlisted for the My First Job In Film monthly competition. You can vote for Dawid and Dominik here:
https://www.facebook.com/MyFirstJobInFilm/app_162850930432266
It’s also being shown in Latin and Central America, Africa, France and Spain on television sets as part of a program run by Eurochannel.
To celebrate a year of screenings, I’ve uploaded the short to Film Annex for you all to watch:
I remember waking up that morning last year, thinking I can finally get rid of all those tracksuits. I’m pretty sure my dad wears them for the gardening now.
In the next ten days I’ll be writing blogs entitled Becoming A Filmmaker and Just what happens to props after filming?
