The multitalent will give a Master Class
and will present his films "Bridgitte Bardot Forever"
and the masterpiece “The Mill and the Cross”
Lech Majewski is a poet, media artist, writer, film, theater and opera director, cinematographer, editor, composer, artist ... and producer. His videos, films and works of art have been presented in various galleries and museums around the world. Lech Mayewski lectures on the hidden language of symbols at various universities, colleges and art academies.
He was born in 1953 in Katowice, Poland. Initially he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódz, but in 1973 he moved and graduated in directing from the National Film School. The documentary Grand Hotel (1975), made during his studies, won the Grand Prize at the International Film School Festival.
While in Poland, Majewski wrote and directed two feature films, “The Annunciation” (1978) and “The Knight” (1980), which the New York Times described as an obsessive, harsh parable directed with confidence. The film retains its free, captivating visual style throughout, and the Los Angeles Times describes it as "beautiful and mystical."
In 1982, Lech Majewski staged Homer's Odyssey in London. Produced by Sean O’Casey and supported by Samuel Beckett and John Cleese, the show is played on a barge sailing the Thames. The Times of London describes it as a "strong theater".
In 1983, the director left for the United States, where he shot "Flight Of The Spruce Goose" (1985) starring Karen Black, Betsy Blair and George Romero. Majewski based the screenplay on his first novel, “Chesnut”, published in Poland. The film is produced by Michael Hausman, who has made films such as Foreman's “Amadeus” and Scorsese's “Gangs of New York”, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, Majewski became a member of the American Screenwriters Guild and the American Directors Guild.
In 1986, Lech Mayewski was in Rio de Janeiro to develop a screenplay with "the most wanted man in the world" - Ronald Biggs, one of the perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery in England. The film “The Prisoner of Rio” (1989) is based on the story of Biggs' abduction. Majewski is the director and executive producer of the film, starring Stephen Berkoff, Florinda Balkan, Peter Firth and Paul Freeman. This is Hans Zimmer's debut as a music composer.
In 1992, together with David Lynch's Propaganda Films, Lech Mayewski produced and directed “Gospel According to Harry”, which Pierce Handling called the Toronto Film Festival a "visionary film poem" and the magnificent Vigo Mortensen debuted in the lead role.
Penderecki's 1993 production of UBU REX introduced Majewski to the world of opera and won him several awards, including the Golden Mask for Best Production and the Golden Orpheus at the 1994 Warsaw Autumn Festival. In September 1995, the Polish National Opera opened the new season with his production of Bizet's “Carmen”, broadcasted live on CANAL +. The prestigious Opera International magazine named this production one of the best opera productions in the world in 1995.
In the same year, Lech Majewski co-produced “Basquiat”. The film is based on Majevsky's story, directed by Julian Schnabel and awarded at the Venice Film Festival. It stars Jeffrey Wright, Benicio del Toro, William Defoe, Gary Oldman, Tatum O’Neill, Courtney Love, Dennis Hopper and David Bowie as Andy Warhol.
In 2000, Majewski became a member of the European Film Academy and began filming “Angelus”, an epic about Silesian miners living in an occult commune. "Angelus” has a purified aura of beauty, which sometimes brings the stunning feeling that the imagination overcomes all obstacles," Variety writes. "The way the film creates fantastically designed and shot shots has an almost hallucinatory effect on perceptions." Angelus has won a number of awards, including the Fellini Prize.
In 2005, two major retrospectives of Majewski's work were organized in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata and London, where the British Film Academy, Riverside Studios and Curzon Cinemas screened his films and the Whitechapel Art Gallery screened his video art.
In 2007, Lech Majewski's retrospective, which began at MoMA, also traveled to Chicago, Portland, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Berkeley and Washington. The Washington Post writes: "Mayevsky is a brilliant director whose ghostly aesthetics have been reworked by a lively mind and imagination, purified and softened by history, and recreated on screen with the rigor and perfectionism of an artist who can sculpt castles from toothpicks. . In his films, the major categories of our existence - public and private, personal and political, the natural world and the man-made world - are not at all limited but constantly dissolving into one another ”.
During his work on “The Mill and the Cross” (2011), which we will see at the 26th SFF, Majewski gave retrospectives of his work in New Zealand, where he lectured at the University of Canterbury on “The Hidden Language of Symbols in Art “.
"Even before the initial inscriptions began, The Mill and the Cross promised a captivating charm as Peter Brueghel the Elder, the great 16th-century Flemish artist, spoke with his patron, Nicholas Jonchelink, as he sketched sketches for his great work. In this lavish and mesmerizing study of an artist's work and the time in which he lived, Majewski presents a long reflection on the creative process itself. Not the artist - art is the star here, and the director subtly recreates its details. He paints cinematically. An inspiring, enticing meditation on images and stories - the common coin of history, religion and art, "writes the film" The New York Times ".
The Wall Street Journal describes it as a visually lavish historical drama. Lech Majewski rediscovers the process of making the canvas, using extensive computer graphics and cast to create not only an extraordinary living mass against the backdrop of the panorama of the Lowlands, but also to tell the stories of those whom Bruegel touched and who was a witness. "
In 2019, the film "Valley of the Gods" will be released, shot in Utah, Los Angeles, Rome and in the castles of Poland. Lech Majewski is a screenwriter, director and producer. In it he intertwines three plot threads: an archaic legend from the Navajo tribe about gods locked in the rocks; the story of the richest man on earth who lives hidden from the world and suffers from personal tragedy; and the story of the narrator who works as a copywriter in the company of a billionaire. The cast includes Josh Hartnett, John Malkovich, Berenice Marlowe, John Rhys-Davies and Care Dullea.
In 2019, Mayevski will become a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the right to vote, and in March he will be a special guest in Sofia.
At the 26th SFF we will also watch Lech Majewski's latest film "Bridgitte Bardot Forever" (2021), based on his novel "Pilgrimage To The Grave of Brigitte Bardot Miraculous". The action takes place in the middle of the XX century in communist Poland. Adam lives with his mother, who is being persecuted by the State Security Service. Adam's father fought in World War II as a British defense pilot and has not been heard from since. It is unclear whether he remained in England or returned and hid to avoid persecution. Packets and postcards arrive from him, but Adam, who has never seen his father, suspects that someone else is sending them. At school, he continues to dream that one day his father will land on the school's sports field with his Spitfire and raise dust from which he will emerge alive, heroic and majestic. One day, while watching the film "Contempt" by Jean-Luc Godard, the boy is transported to the dressing room of the young Bridget Bardot and her world of movie and music stars ...
The exceptional Lech Majewski will perform
Master class within the 26th Sofia Film Festival.
His visit is carried out in partnership with the Polish Institute in Sofia.
CODE # CINEMA is everywhere in March!
We are expecting you!
# 26SofiaIFF
and will present his films "Bridgitte Bardot Forever"
and the masterpiece “The Mill and the Cross”
Lech Majewski is a poet, media artist, writer, film, theater and opera director, cinematographer, editor, composer, artist ... and producer. His videos, films and works of art have been presented in various galleries and museums around the world. Lech Mayewski lectures on the hidden language of symbols at various universities, colleges and art academies.
He was born in 1953 in Katowice, Poland. Initially he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódz, but in 1973 he moved and graduated in directing from the National Film School. The documentary Grand Hotel (1975), made during his studies, won the Grand Prize at the International Film School Festival.
While in Poland, Majewski wrote and directed two feature films, “The Annunciation” (1978) and “The Knight” (1980), which the New York Times described as an obsessive, harsh parable directed with confidence. The film retains its free, captivating visual style throughout, and the Los Angeles Times describes it as "beautiful and mystical."
In 1982, Lech Majewski staged Homer's Odyssey in London. Produced by Sean O’Casey and supported by Samuel Beckett and John Cleese, the show is played on a barge sailing the Thames. The Times of London describes it as a "strong theater".
In 1983, the director left for the United States, where he shot "Flight Of The Spruce Goose" (1985) starring Karen Black, Betsy Blair and George Romero. Majewski based the screenplay on his first novel, “Chesnut”, published in Poland. The film is produced by Michael Hausman, who has made films such as Foreman's “Amadeus” and Scorsese's “Gangs of New York”, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, Majewski became a member of the American Screenwriters Guild and the American Directors Guild.
In 1986, Lech Mayewski was in Rio de Janeiro to develop a screenplay with "the most wanted man in the world" - Ronald Biggs, one of the perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery in England. The film “The Prisoner of Rio” (1989) is based on the story of Biggs' abduction. Majewski is the director and executive producer of the film, starring Stephen Berkoff, Florinda Balkan, Peter Firth and Paul Freeman. This is Hans Zimmer's debut as a music composer.
In 1992, together with David Lynch's Propaganda Films, Lech Mayewski produced and directed “Gospel According to Harry”, which Pierce Handling called the Toronto Film Festival a "visionary film poem" and the magnificent Vigo Mortensen debuted in the lead role.
Penderecki's 1993 production of UBU REX introduced Majewski to the world of opera and won him several awards, including the Golden Mask for Best Production and the Golden Orpheus at the 1994 Warsaw Autumn Festival. In September 1995, the Polish National Opera opened the new season with his production of Bizet's “Carmen”, broadcasted live on CANAL +. The prestigious Opera International magazine named this production one of the best opera productions in the world in 1995.
In the same year, Lech Majewski co-produced “Basquiat”. The film is based on Majevsky's story, directed by Julian Schnabel and awarded at the Venice Film Festival. It stars Jeffrey Wright, Benicio del Toro, William Defoe, Gary Oldman, Tatum O’Neill, Courtney Love, Dennis Hopper and David Bowie as Andy Warhol.
In 2000, Majewski became a member of the European Film Academy and began filming “Angelus”, an epic about Silesian miners living in an occult commune. "Angelus” has a purified aura of beauty, which sometimes brings the stunning feeling that the imagination overcomes all obstacles," Variety writes. "The way the film creates fantastically designed and shot shots has an almost hallucinatory effect on perceptions." Angelus has won a number of awards, including the Fellini Prize.
In 2005, two major retrospectives of Majewski's work were organized in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata and London, where the British Film Academy, Riverside Studios and Curzon Cinemas screened his films and the Whitechapel Art Gallery screened his video art.
In 2007, Lech Majewski's retrospective, which began at MoMA, also traveled to Chicago, Portland, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Berkeley and Washington. The Washington Post writes: "Mayevsky is a brilliant director whose ghostly aesthetics have been reworked by a lively mind and imagination, purified and softened by history, and recreated on screen with the rigor and perfectionism of an artist who can sculpt castles from toothpicks. . In his films, the major categories of our existence - public and private, personal and political, the natural world and the man-made world - are not at all limited but constantly dissolving into one another ”.
During his work on “The Mill and the Cross” (2011), which we will see at the 26th SFF, Majewski gave retrospectives of his work in New Zealand, where he lectured at the University of Canterbury on “The Hidden Language of Symbols in Art “.
"Even before the initial inscriptions began, The Mill and the Cross promised a captivating charm as Peter Brueghel the Elder, the great 16th-century Flemish artist, spoke with his patron, Nicholas Jonchelink, as he sketched sketches for his great work. In this lavish and mesmerizing study of an artist's work and the time in which he lived, Majewski presents a long reflection on the creative process itself. Not the artist - art is the star here, and the director subtly recreates its details. He paints cinematically. An inspiring, enticing meditation on images and stories - the common coin of history, religion and art, "writes the film" The New York Times ".
The Wall Street Journal describes it as a visually lavish historical drama. Lech Majewski rediscovers the process of making the canvas, using extensive computer graphics and cast to create not only an extraordinary living mass against the backdrop of the panorama of the Lowlands, but also to tell the stories of those whom Bruegel touched and who was a witness. "
In 2019, the film "Valley of the Gods" will be released, shot in Utah, Los Angeles, Rome and in the castles of Poland. Lech Majewski is a screenwriter, director and producer. In it he intertwines three plot threads: an archaic legend from the Navajo tribe about gods locked in the rocks; the story of the richest man on earth who lives hidden from the world and suffers from personal tragedy; and the story of the narrator who works as a copywriter in the company of a billionaire. The cast includes Josh Hartnett, John Malkovich, Berenice Marlowe, John Rhys-Davies and Care Dullea.
In 2019, Mayevski will become a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the right to vote, and in March he will be a special guest in Sofia.
At the 26th SFF we will also watch Lech Majewski's latest film "Bridgitte Bardot Forever" (2021), based on his novel "Pilgrimage To The Grave of Brigitte Bardot Miraculous". The action takes place in the middle of the XX century in communist Poland. Adam lives with his mother, who is being persecuted by the State Security Service. Adam's father fought in World War II as a British defense pilot and has not been heard from since. It is unclear whether he remained in England or returned and hid to avoid persecution. Packets and postcards arrive from him, but Adam, who has never seen his father, suspects that someone else is sending them. At school, he continues to dream that one day his father will land on the school's sports field with his Spitfire and raise dust from which he will emerge alive, heroic and majestic. One day, while watching the film "Contempt" by Jean-Luc Godard, the boy is transported to the dressing room of the young Bridget Bardot and her world of movie and music stars ...
The exceptional Lech Majewski will perform
Master class within the 26th Sofia Film Festival.
His visit is carried out in partnership with the Polish Institute in Sofia.
CODE # CINEMA is everywhere in March!
We are expecting you!
# 26SofiaIFF