Agnieszka Piotrowska | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1957 (age 66–67) |
| Alma mater | University of London |
| Occupations | |
Agnieszka Piotrowska (born 1957 in Poland) is an author, academic and award-winning filmmaker, probably best known for her 2008 documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower, [1] [2] about women who fall in love with objects." [3]
Piotrowska graduated from Birkbeck, University of London in 2012 with a PhD. [4] Her PhD thesis was the basis of her 2014 book Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary. [5] In 2015 she edited "Embodied Encounters: New Approaches to Psychoanalysis and Cinema". [6] She published two further monographs with Routledge: "Black and White: cinema, politics and the arts in Zimbabwe"(2017) [7] and "The Nasty Woman and the neo femme fatale in contemporary cinema" (2019) [8] as well as essays, chapters and another edited collection on psychoanalysis and culture [9] [10]
Piotrowska lives in London. In 2017 Piotrowska was shortlisted for the Times Higher Award in the category of Excellence and Innovation in the Arts for her creative work in Zimbabwe. [11] Piotrowska was the Head of School of Film, Media and Performing Arts at the University for the Creative Arts from August to December 2020. [12]
In 1993, a series of 12 films were planned on the life and ideas of important philosophers, focusing in particular on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, produced by Tariq Ali on behalf of Channel Four. Only four scripts were commissioned, Socrates by Howard Brenton, Spinoza by Tariq Ali, Locke by David Edgar and Wittgenstein by Terry Eagleton. Spinoza was filmed and directed by Chris Spencer as Spinoza : The Apostle of Reason. Citizen Locke was filmed and directed by Piotrowska. They were transmitted in the UK as 52 min long television films. Wittgenstein became a full film by Derek Jarman in 1993. [13]
Piotrowska's 1995 BBC documentary Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski, [14] [15] about the Polish-American writer who committed suicide in New York, included a rare interview with Roman Polanski. It was nominated for the Arts Documentary Emmy in 1995. [16] Her 1998 Showgirl Stories was less favorably received. [17] [18]
She directed two episodes of Channel 4's Cutting Edge , Love Hurts (1999), [19] about domestic violence, and Trapped By My Twin (2007), [20] [21] about twin sisters who are constantly together.
Another Channel 4 documentary directed by Piotrowska, Poker Club, [22] shown on Channel 4 in their Cutting Edge series, was criticized by Victoria Coren in her Poker memoir For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker. [23]
In 2001 Piotrowska did a series of "Self-Portraits" of photographers for the National Geographic Channel, including features on French war photographer Isabel Ellsen, [24] Polish photo journalist Tomasz Tomaszewski [25] [26] and Indian fashion photographer Max Vadukul. [27] Another photographer, David Alan Harvey was the subject of Piotrowska's 2002 film for National Geographic Channel's "True Originals" series. [28]
In 2005 Piotrowska completed a feature-length documentary The Bigamists. [29]
In 2006 her documentary Conman With 14 Wives, about international fraudster Oliver Killeen was broadcast on Channel 5. [30] Killeen attempted to stop the broadcast of the documentary but he later changed his mind and even gave permission to Piotrowska to use their correspondence in her academic writing. [31]
In 2009 Piotrowska filmed a one-hour documentary about the Best Job in the World phenomenon, which was the highest-rated show of the week it was broadcast on BBC1. In July 2010 it was shown as part Birkbeck College's Business Week. [32]
Her iconic film "Married to the Eiffel Tower" [33] continues to be screened around the world at different events and conferences [34] as well as on television. [35] It features on-line in blogs [36] [37] [38] [39] and in 2015 was the basis for an MA thesis at the Central European University (Budapest). [40]
Since November 2012 Piotrowska has embarked upon a series of creative projects in Zimbabwe as part of her ongoing research on post colonial trauma and creative collaborations across cultural, ethnic and gender divides in postcolonial systems. Her work was supported by a grant from the British Council and the Zimbabwean Theatre Association. In 2013 her film The Engagement Party in Harare premiered at the International Images Festival for Women in Zimbabwe and was nominated for Best Documentary Film. [3]
In April 2014 she directed "Lovers in Time", a play by Zimbabwean writer Blessing Hungwe, at the Harare International Festival of the Arts. [41] The play was controversial for its irreverent portrayal of two spirit mediums who are Zimbabwean national heroes. [3] [42] Piotrowska made an experimental documentary film out of the events which was completed in 2015. The film entitled "Lovers in Time or how we didn't get arrested in Harare" opened a discussion on freedom of speech and cultural sensitivity and screened internationally. It was praised for its originality and boldness [43]
In October 2014 she presented her short film Flora and Dambudzo, which featured Zimbabwe writer Dambudzo Marechera, at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival to considerable acclaim. This was the first time the iconic Zimbabwean writer's life was presented on film. [44]
In 2016 Piotrowska co-directed a feature film called Escape, an African film noir. The film was previewed at the end of that year and was nominated for the best film at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, and won awards for the best performances for the leading actor (Eddie Sandifolo) and for the leading actress Nothando Nobengula. [45] It also won an award for its screenplay at the LA neo noir film festival. [46] The film was screened internationally including at the most important festival in Poland, the Gdynia Film Festival in September 2018 where it was very well received. [47] When Escape was selected for the 2017 Zanzibar International Film Festival its screening was banned at the last minute, allegedly for its erotic content, resulting in some media controversies. [48]
In 2018 Piotrowska staged and adapted the play ″Finding Temeraire″ [49] by Stanley Makuwe, an award-winning Zimbabwean playwright, resulting in the experimental film entitled Repented (2019) which explores how political history and external circumstances can profoundly impact an intimate personal relationship. [50] The film has begun to preview at international events. [51] [52]
Tsitsi Dangarembga is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, Nervous Conditions (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC in 2018 as one of the top 100 books that have shaped the world. She has won other literary honours, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the PEN Pinter Prize. In 2020, her novel This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2022, Dangarembga was convicted in a Zimbabwe court of inciting public violence, by displaying, on a public road, a placard asking for reform.
Wittgenstein is a 1993 experimental comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Derek Jarman, and produced by Tariq Ali. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and Japan, the film is loosely based on the life story, as well as the philosophical thinking of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The adult Wittgenstein is played by Karl Johnson.
Jocelyne Saab was a Lebanese journalist and film director. She is recognized as one of the pioneers of Lebanese cinema. A reporter, photographer, scriptwriter, producer, director, artist and founder of the Cultural Resistance International Film Festival of Lebanon, Saab focused on the deprived and disadvantaged – from displaced peoples to exiled fighters, cities at war and a Fourth World without a voice. Her work is grounded in historic violence, and in an awareness of the actions and images required to document, reflect on and counteract it.
Immodesty Blaize is an English burlesque dancer who performs internationally. She was crowned Reigning Queen of Burlesque in June 2007 at the Las Vegas Burlesque Hall of Fame formerly known as Exotic World.
Oliver Killeen is an international bigamist and fraudster.
Erika Eiffel, also known as Aya, is an American competitive archer and advocate for object sexuality. She "married" the Eiffel Tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007.
Alfred Guzzetti is a maker of documentary and experimental films and videos. His work has been shown at the New York Film Festival, the Margaret Mead Festival, and other festivals in London, Rotterdam, Germany, Spain and France, as well as in installation settings in New York, Copenhagen, and Santa Monica.
Vegucated is a 2011 American documentary film that explores the challenges of converting to a vegan diet. It "follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks."
Jit is a Zimbabwean film made in 1990, written and directed by Michael Raeburn. It is about a young man, nicknamed UK, who lives in Harare with his musician uncle, Oliver Mtukudzi, who plays himself. UK is knocked out when he falls out of a taxicab and then falls in love with the woman he gazes up at when he regains consciousness. He determines that he must marry her, but her father insists on a "bride price" in the form of an expensive stereo and cash. UK sets out to obtain these things, but has to appease his jukwa, who is visible only to him and wants him to give her beer and earn money to send to his parents in the countryside.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Yaba Badoe is a Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker, journalist and author.
Menelik Shabazz was a Barbados-born British film director, producer, educator, and writer, acknowledged as a pioneer in the development of independent Black British cinema, having been at the forefront of contemporary British filmmaking for more than 30 years. Shabazz is best known for the 1981 film Burning an Illusion, his first feature. He was also co-founder in the 1980s of Kuumba film production company and Ceddo Film and Video Workshop, as well as being "founding father of the BFM media project" as the publisher of Black Filmmaker Magazine (BFM) and creator of BFM International Film Festival.
Susana de Sousa Dias is a Portuguese independent filmmaker.
Ingrid Sinclair is a director, screenwriter and producer best known for being an important filmmaker of the African Renaissance. She is internationally recognized for her 1996 film, Flame, a drama about the Zimbabwe War of Liberation and her documentaries about Zimbabwe. Flame was chosen for the Director's Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival and the Nestor Almendros Award at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York City.
The International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) is an annual international film festival established in 2002 in Harare in Zimbabwe. It is the only women's film festival in sub-Saharan Africa.
Zimbabwe has an active film culture that includes films made in Zimbabwe during its pre- and post-colonial periods. Economic crisis and political crisis have been features of the industry. A publication from the 1980s counted 14 cinemas in Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare. According to a 1998 report only 15 percent of the population had been to a cinema. European and American films have been made on location in Zimbabwe as well as Indian films. American films are popular in Zimbabwe but face restrictions limiting their distribution.
Cook Off is a 2017 Zimbabwean romantic comedy film written and directed by Tomas Brickhill. Set in contemporary middle class society of Harare, the film stars Tendaiishe Chitima, Fungai Majaya and Tehn Diamond. Production of the film was constantly hit with power failures, budget constraints, anti-government protests and riots which erupted during the final stages of the Presidency of Robert Mugabe. It became the first film to be released after the Zimbabwe Mugabe era which lasted for nearly 40 years. The film also became the first Zimbabwean film to be streamed on Netflix. It received international media attention since its release on the Netflix platform in June 2020. It is only the second Zimbabwean film to receive international attention after Neria. The film is hailed as one of the finest ever films in the Cinema of Zimbabwe after Neria and Yellow Card and opened to extremely positive response from Zimbabweans. The film is credited with shattering stereotypes of the Zimbabwean film industry which had been crippled by economic crisis and hyperinflation in the country.
Thamsanqa 'Tamy' Moyo is a Zimbabwean musical artist and actress. She rose to fame after releasing her 2016 song “Ndibereke" she is also known for her role in the 2020 film “Gonarezhou".
Kushata Kwemoyo is a 2018 Zimbabwean drama film produced and directed by Shem Zemura. The film stars Kudzai Msungo, Charles Muzemba and Gamuchirai Duve in the main lead roles. The film was set in the backdrop of communal lands of Murewa and Harare's affluent suburbs.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a 2022 American biographical documentary film about photographer, artist, and activist Nan Goldin. The film is produced, co-edited and directed by Laura Poitras, and tackles Goldin's life thought her advocacy during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 80's, and her fight against the Sackler family for their role in the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Poitras, a long-time friend and fan, stated that "Nan's art and vision has inspired my work for years, and has influenced generations of filmmakers."
Bottom Line: So-so study of girls, girls, girls
Like the onstage demeanor of the women it profiles, Sunday night's two-hour Learning Channel documentary, "Showgirl Stories", is a bit of a tease, and what it presents is more superficial than substantial. ... [An] often meandering and incomplete study.
There is less chat and laughter, more focused concentration. But the quiet is broken when Agnieszka Piotrowska (the director, camera-woman and 'brains' behind the TV documentary) thrusts a microphone towards Catman, who is dealing the cards, and asks whether he bribed the players to attend his tournament. We all look up, shocked. Bribery? Catman is the most shocked of all. He may be a poker player, but a single snide question has transformed him into a mass of tells. Not the tells of a duper, but of one who has been duped. Suddenly, Catman is seeing the whole picture. He isn't the hero of a glamorous TV show. He is the gull of media people hoping to rake scandal and skulduggery from the poker gutter. They want to hear about bribery, not charity. They want to make us all look like crooks. That is the story they came to tell.
