INTERVIEWS    imagofeminae.com   # XXXII Spring 2022

image: Alicja Wawryniuk Copyright Courtesy of

Alicja Wawryniuk- imagofeminae XXXII Spring 2022

Alicja  Wawryniuk is an art historian, theologian, film & tv producer & scholar, communication manager, author and painter. She has degrees from the University of Arts Berlin. Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin and from  the Camerimage Filmschool Toruń Poland. She is working and living in Berlin. She has written books about the both artists;  Shirin Neshat and Krzysztof Kieślowski. She has made a ray of Shortfilms and documentary Films including Shirin Neshat and Krzysztof Kieślowski. In this interview, she is giving a short comparison about these two artists.

Kieślowski was particularly interesting as a director because in Poland in the 70s and 80s he noticed that society was in a crisis. He addressed society in his films by showing them directly the reality in which they live. In doing so, he did a particularly good job of criticizing the gray reality of socialist Poland. Nevertheless, he was able to finance his films to a large extent from state funds.

As a personality, he was always humble, and said he didn't make the films for the audience, but for himself, in order to be able to better describe and understand the world. Despite this, he had a lot of success with his films and has often won awards at international film festivals.

As a strong personality and a successful artist, Shirin Neshat knows also the art of self marketing. She is an example of how you can market yourself. She photographs herself and at the same time addresses a major issue affecting women in Iran. Iranian women are required to submit to government regulations by wearing a long black dress and covering their heads. Shirin Nashat develops her art using various means. She switched from photography to video installation and later also to film. She faces a bigger challenge than Kieślowski. She addresses her country's issue from a distance and recreates reality.

Since she cannot recreate reality in her country, she staged reality in other similar countries in a believable and original way. Kieślowski also recreates reality in his documentaries. It's not that when he makes documentaries, he takes everything one-to-one from reality, rather he stages reality by using original sets and locations and using real people as actors For example, in the film First Love (Pierwsza miłość), where a young couple wants to move into their grandmother's apartment and they are in the process of painting the apartment.

There is a scene where a police officer comes into the apartment and asks the couple whose apartment they are renovating. Kieślowski makes this scene so believable that the audience doesn't notice that the situation was staged Kieślowski also used the power of the camera as a device itself.

During the court hearings, for example, it was enough for him to put the camera in the courtroom and the court hearings turned out to be completely different. In doing so, he prevented people from being convicted during the uprisings in Poland in the 1980s. Shirin Nashat is in much greater danger than Kieślowski. She risks her own life through her art. She would not be allowed to enter Iran for that. She would probably face a death penalty for that and that's a lot riskier than what Kieślowski did.

In Poland in the 80s there was a risk that the films would not be shown. The rolls of film were confiscated or set aside so that they could not be completed. But Shirin Nashat could face a death penalty. principlly, any artist who creates meaningful art must also have a strong personality, which he then radiates through his art. Artists offer art that is compelling to audiences and to society. However, many artists express their own personality with their art. They have something to say and use art as a medium. And this is an  art if you can  capture  the audience's interest.

ALICJA WAWRYNIUK art historian, theologian, film & tv producer & scholar, communication manager, author & painter. University of Arts Berlin. Freie Universität Berlin. Humboldt University of Berlin. Camerimage Filmschool Toruń Poland nWorks & Visions nFilms, Books & Arts Including  Krzysztof Kieślowski &  Shirin Neshat  INTERVIEW by Dipl.-Psych. Paiman Maria Davarifard Edited by: Alicja Wawryniuk & Paiman Davarifard imagofeminae.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ISSN 2195-2000  DNB.