The Dragon of Dragons award for Bogdan Dziworski

Bogdan Dziworski (born in 1941 in Łódź) is the author of over 40 short and documentary films, cameraman, scriptwriter and photographer. He is the graduate of the Direction of Photography and TV Production Department at the Lodz Film School. He worked as an operator in Polish Film Chronicle (1965), then made films in Educational Film Studio in Łódź (1966-78) and Film Production Company “Film Groups” in Warsaw (1973-91). Since the beginning of 1980s, he is associated with the University of Silesia in Katowice, where he was the dean of the Faculty of Radio and Television. In 2002, he was granted the full professorship.

Critics emphasise the consistent implementation of artistic programme, which characterises the works by Dziworski. He primarily uses images, word is almost completely absent from his films, the role of the information carrier is taken over by sound. Also, the composition is very important, as far as it is concerned, Dziworski has been cooperating with the editor Agnieszka Bojanowska for years. The leitmotif of his works is sport, the projects by Dziworski are often impressions about individual sport disciplines, documentation of rivalry, presentation of  athletes. His most famous, and at the same time, the most often awarded films, include: “Krzyż i topór” (1972) [Cross and Axe], “Pięciobój nowoczesny” (1975) [The Modern Pentathlon], “Hokej” 1976 [Ice Hockey], “Olimpiada” (1978) [The Olympic Games], “Dwubój klasyczny” (1978) [Nordic combined], “Sceny narciarskie z Franzem Klammerem” (1980) [Ski Scenes with Franz Klammer], “Fechtmistrz” (1980) [Swordsman], “Kilka opowieści o człowieku” (1983) [A Few Stories About A Man], “Szapito” (1985), “Hommage á Beksiński” (1987). Bogdan Dziworski collaborated as an operator on numerous documentary films, such as: “Declaration of Immortality” and “Będziesz legendą człowieku” [You’ll be a legend] by Marcin Koszałka and feature films such as  “Inspection of the Crime Scene 1901” (1980) by Filip Bajon, “Entanglement” (2011) by Jacek Bromski. Currently, after a long break, Dziworski finishes working on the film “Plus minus czyli podróże muchy do Gruzji”.

Bogdan Dziworski has been a guest in Krakow many times, he is also a multiple award-winner, and he was in the jury three times – in 1986, 1999 and 2009.

 

Bogdan Dziworski is the icon of Krakow Film Festival, says the director Krzysztof Gierat, in his collection, there are four Silver Hobby-Horses and one Golden Dragon.  But he was also the winner at the festivals in Leipzig and Oberhausen, the most renowned documentary film festivals in the world. He was in our jury, and a year ago we hosted an exhibition of his photography. A wonderful teacher, a beautiful human. The master.

 

This year’s winner of the Dragon of Dragons award has been successful as a photographer for years, he published photography albums: “My View Polish Impressions in Photography” (Vienna, 1981); “Kino-Oko. Warsztat operatora filmowego” [Kino-Oko. The Workshop of Film Operator] with Jerzy Łukaszewicz (Warsaw, 2006); “Dziworski 1/250 sek.” (Warsaw, 2000), “Fotografia polska” [Polish Photography] (Warsaw, 1999).  His photographs were shown, among others, at the exhibitions in Berlin, Innsbruck, Vienna, Warsaw, Krakow and Wrocław.

 

Pedagogical work has a prominent place in the biography of Dziworski. He is the promoter and reviewer of many master’s theses, and he gave guest lectures, among others in the USA (New York University of the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Columbia University, Film Society of Lincoln Center), Mexico (Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica), Switzerland (Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne), Denmark (Den Danske Film Skole) and in Great Britain (University of Lincoln).