...speaking to Kuba Czekaj – Monika Żelazko and Marcin Malecko.
Monika Żelazko & Marcin Malecko: A composite of English with Polish, animation with film, video clip with dialogues. Is the form of Baby Bump a reflection of chaos in adolescence or more like current mechanisms of communication?
Kuba Czekaj: Baby Bump is a cascade of pictures and sounds, frolics and tricks with perceptions of this very specific phase in human’s life. Main character has some image of a sexuality, but actually he is erring in maze of communication, rumours and illustration, especially in a background of new media and the internet. Too much information makes him know some things too soon, so he cannot understand them and put them together. He is not a child anymore, buy not yet a teenager, he is a bizarre creature pent up in a cage of puberty – it is a moment of great loneliness and alienation for him. Yes, in a chaos, in a chaos of emotions and communication.
MŻ&MM: In Baby Bump you can discern parallels to Harmony Korine’s or Xavier Dolan’s style, or even to Dorota Masłowska’s music videos. Which artists are inspiring to you?
KCz: Most inspiring things are often right next to me: people and situations. I overhear, peek, read. All that make foundation for my future characters and their adventures. My friends artists does not have any direct impact on me, they rather subconsciously implant their own picture of world in me. I like to reinvent the wheel, but I am always doing it my own way. It is director’s every-day reality – everything have been seen in cinema.
MŻ&MM: Kacper Olszewski, the leading actor in Baby Bump, amazed the audience of Gdynia Film Festival. How big was his influence to the final form of the main character? Are you going to continue to work with him?
KCz: When director and actor are working together, the most important things are mutual trust, knowing each other and trying to befriend each other. It’s the only way to break down the walls of shame in two persons that are kind of fated for each other. If you can reach an agreement, you can enter the set and work for several days to experience the most amazing moment: when actor takes a character from the director – he knows more, he works instinctually, he just is. There’s no need to talk much, to explain, a magical fusion succeeds. That’s how it was with Kacper. I would be glad to work with him again – I like getting back to friends.
MŻ&MM: Child’s point of view and topic of growing up are mentioned in your études too. What is childhood and puberty? An adventure or a nightmare?
KCz: It’s a phase that especially fascinates me: innocent and grateful, but on the other hand – very grim and dangerous. Emotions often escalates into tragedies. Everything is changing. World starts to extend. We never soak up as much surroundings as in this time. It’s unique, unrepeatable and mainly very individual moment – it’s different for each of us.
MŻ&MM: So you have been on some festival screenings. What audience would you like to reach with ‘Baby Bump’? Can you imagine screenings for schoolchildren?
KCz: Baby Bump can be interesting for young people, but I also count on their parents and open-minded, sensation-seeking spectators.
MŻ&MM: What thematic are you going to raise in your future works? What subjects are you interested in?
KCz: It’s a secret. Kids and directors have their secrets too. Time will tell, which of them will turn out to be worth sharing with audience.
