30 Stills

2011
5th Five Flavours Film Festival, Muranów Cinema, Warsawa

„I’m a maniac when it comes to Asian films. My mania verges on obsession because I do watch ONLY productions from the Far East. What I expect from the cinema is to distract me from this grey, boring reality. I like the Asian intensity of emotions which seems to be lost in the Western, intellectually cold cinema.

My illustrations are filled in with emotions, too. They are filtrated through my personality and emotionality. Bearing in mind that the collective work is more important than individuality in the cultures of the East, I tried to adjust to the director’s imagination, accurately capture the quintessence of each films, its atmosphere, colours, the most important threads. I wanted the pictures to intrigue viewers, to invite them to watch the films.

While creating my illustrations, once again I took the subject of the cinema. It was 11 years ago when I painted a series titled “I Cry in the Cinema” (2000, Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw), which was a pastiche of the melodramatic tone of Hollywood and its impact on the collective imagination. What links me with the cinema is also my tendency to build up the narration – my works are always arranged in a series and bring a story.“

Dorota Podlaska