Winners’ Press Conference interview with Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska (Ida) for Film Not in the English Language
Winners' press conference interview with Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska (Ida) in the Film Not in the English Language category
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: Thank you very much. This feels like some astrophysicist conference.
Q. Congratulations. What does this mean to you, winning this BAFTA?
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: It is magnificent. I mean, it is for me personally, it is a bit of a homecoming, you know, because I used to make films in Britain. I made my first film in my native Polish language and suddenly I am back here, so it is nice to be welcomed back, even as a foreigner. And it is a great award, you know? It is the nicest looking award among all the awards, so ...
Q. It has a lovely heft, a nice weight to it as well.
You talk about the journey of this film, where this film first came from, for you.
A. It is, you know, these things kind of evolve over a period, but it started with the idea of a you know, young nun who discovers she's Jewish and then it went through various permutations. Then there's a character, you know, the aunt of Wanda who joined the nuns, and it certainly became a road movie. But in most films it just doesn't come. It comes over the whole lifetime in some ways. That is a bit exaggerated, but it was a long process.
Q. And what are you working on now? Can we tempt you back to work over here or are you working in Poland?
A. I am schizo now, it's like these two microphones, Poland and ‑‑ I have projects in both languages. We will see which one comes off first. But I feel at home, strangely, in both countries, so either could happen.
Q. Any questions for Pawel and the team?
NEW SPEAKER: You co‑wrote this. What was the hardest part of the writing process?
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: Well, can I bring my co‑writer in? She will tell you how hard this process was.
NEW SPEAKER: The process was intense, but incredibly joyful. Very much like a love affair, when you write together. And then it becomes difficult at times and brilliant, and then Pawel and the actors take it somewhere else when they film it.
So it is an evolving animal, but I absolutely loved writing this.
Q. Does that mean there is a lot of improvisation when you actually film?
A. No.
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: No, but during the filming or the breaks in filming, we wrote quite a bit in terms of the film. But not like in improvisation on set. It is like the film is evolving. One thing is what it says on paper and then suddenly what was, on paper, alive suddenly kind of goes dead. Some things don't work. So I think ‑‑ we had these wonderful producers who backed me through this very chaotic process, because normal producers would have sacked me after seven days, you know? So it was a kind of organic, you know, chaotic zig zaggy process, but it all ended well, as we can see.
NEW SPEAKER: What is the atmosphere like when you are waiting for your name to be called out?
PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI: You know, I was mainly nervous, because I was ‑‑ I kind of expected my DOP to win the best photographer. He sent me a message, an e‑mail with a thank you speech and I erased the e‑mail accidentally. So I was like, what the? So I was trying to ring him and send me this bloody thing again, but he is shooting somewhere in the mountains. So that was my main kind of drama tonight.
No, no, but seriously. I mean, it's ‑‑ yes. It is nice. It's nice in this environment of ‑‑ you know, with people we respect. Our competition was great and we actually really, really admired all the films that were competing against us; the Dardenne brothers, Andrey Zvyagintsev. So it felt like: okay, if we don't win, we are in good company. So it was nice tonight.
Q. On that note, thanks so much. Congratulations once again, Pawel Pawlikowski and the team. Thank you.
A. Thank you so much.
