“THE BALCONY MOVIE” AWARDED IN IRELAND
Even a year after release, jurors of international festivals still admire the documentary by Paweł Łoziński. This time, the film won the Maysles Brothers Award at Docs Ireland Festival of International Documentary Film.
Docs Ireland Festival of International Documentary Film is still a young festival. The first edition was held just four years ago with the next one having to survive the pandemic reality. This time, the event took place in a regular form at the turn of June. The organisers set themselves the goal of creating an Irish celebration of documentary filmmaking that would feature the most interesting domestic productions as well as those from the rest of the world.
One of them was Paweł Łoziński's The Balcony Movie. The film left the festival with the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Observational Documentary.
Can anyone be a film protagonist? Can you fit the entire world in a single frame? Director Paweł Łoziński watches people from his balcony. Both young and old, they walk by smiling, sad, thoughtful, staring at their phones. Residents of the neighbourhood, or casual visitors, ordinary passers-by. The author approaches them, asks questions, talks about their life and how they're doing. Standing there with his camera for over 2 years, he created a place for dialogue, a secular confessional where everyone can stop and tell others about themselves. Every person carries their own riddles and secrets. They can't be easily labelled. Life can't be imagined. The Balcony Movie is a radical return to the early days of cinema, when it was people who would approach the camera. Perhaps one just needs to stop and stay a while to see more?
You can find out more about the festival here.