Atlas and the making of a promising Polish director
Who has not felt stuck at one point or another in their life — trapped by indecision, immobilized by uncertainty, or simply burdened with something that landed in their lap. Those sentiments are no foreign concept to Maciej “Matthew” Kawalski, the budding Polish director who was inspired by his own lived experiences to write and direct Atlas, a short film about getting unstuck. The serial comedy focuses on a catatonic patient in a psychiatric institution who is a riddle to all around him. He serves as a blank slate for successive interpretations as to the true nature of his condition. A tabula rasa on which the viewer, too, is invited to impart their own assumptions, channeled through the various opinions presented by the colorful cohort of characters that are the staff and fellow patients at the facility. As gossip swirls the viewer is taken on a whirlwind tour of personalities that concludes with an earthshaking twist.
Kawalski wrote the script for Atlas during the fourth year of his medical studies, when he was still studying both film directing and medicine. It was at that time that he says he felt stuck, torn as to which passion to pursue in life. A chance encounter with a catatonic patient left a lasting impression on the young medical student, as he realized how quickly others will tell your story, if you are unable to do it for yourself.
“The world won’t wait for us to write our story — the world will do it for us, that’s why we have to be very adamant in writing our own story, in defining ourselves, because if we don’t someone else will, and it might not be the box you want to be put in” explained Kawalski during an appearance on a morning talk show. The words, befitting of an acceptance speech, are hopefully an omen of things to come for the Polish production.
U.S. audiences should have no problem recognizing Cold War star Tomasz Kot who plays the film’s protagonist, known only by his nickname, The Atlas. He stars alongside Marian Opania, a legendary Polish actor who has over 90 film credits to his name. A hidden star of the film’s on-screen magic comes from its setting, the Lubiąż Abbey, which is a former Cistercian monastery in Southwestern Poland that dates back to the 12th century. The complex’s fortress-like walls and the piercing cold that hangs in the air add to the aura of suspense. The fact that the Abbey at one point also served as a mental institution, which was unknown to the production team when selecting the location, is uncanny.
The film is qualified to be considered for the 92nd Academy Awards and is currently being screened at festivals across the United States. It recently won an audience award at the DC Shorts International Film Festival and Judges’ Citation Award at Syracuse International Film Festival. Be on the lookout for this curious and comical tale, but even more so, for this promising Polish director, who we will certainly be hearing much more from, if not during this year’s Oscars, than certainly in years to come. As Kawalski explains, one thing he learned while working on Atlas is that, “I cannot live without storytelling. No matter how difficult it is to make a film, and to make a living from it as well, I know after Atlas that it is as essential as oxygen to me. It is both humbling and empowering to learn that.”
This article was published in the December 2019 edition of the Polish American Journal
