Michał Walkiewicz - Festival MC: Introducing films and moderating Q&A sessions at APFF 2024

Michał Walkiewicz is a film critic, essayist and video games journalist. He graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with a degree in film studies. Since then he worked for the most prominent polish cultural media outlets and was awarded for his work with multiple The Polish Film Institute Awards among many others. He was a lecturer at the Warsaw Film School; radio, video & podcast host and co-authored books about movies, pop culture and video game theory. Nowadays he is a contributing writer to “Tygodnik Powszechny”, MINT Magazine, CD-Action Magazine, PSX Extreme and Newonce. He is a co-host of “Zero Kultury” show for YouTube channel Kanał Zero alongside Marcin Sońta and Maciej Dąbrowski. “AC Milan for life!” - he never said. But he would if someone asked him to. 

Piotr Dominiak - In attendance on Friday, Nov. 8

Piotr Dominiak graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, majoring in painting and graphic design, and earlier from the State High School of Fine Arts, also in Łódź, with the title of stucco artist. Piotr specializes in landscape painting. As a hobby, he is a big fan of comic books and science fiction literature.

At the beginning of his career, he engaged in literally every activity related to painting. He was involved in interior decoration, polychrome, painted custom paintings, advertising walls and murals. He got into the film industry, working on the Oscar-winning “Peter and the Wolf,” produced by BreakThru Films, where he was involved in set design work - painting with a group of several painters more than 1,000 square meters of forest background and moonlit night.

A little later he became head of painting animation on Dorota Kobiela's short film, “Little Postman,” and later became one of the painters involved in the research and development of “Loving Vincent.” Together with them, he painted-animated the concept trailer for the world's first full-length painting animation movie. He was the main tutor for painters beginning their painting training in preparation for work on “Loving Vincent,” and then supervisor of 125 animators working on the film. He also painted some of the film's most difficult shots and had a hand in creating the set design, for which he received the Eagle, the Polish Film Award, in 2017.

During the development of the “Peasants,” he mainly served as art director/animation director and second production designer. He was in charge of supervising the overall art work, involved in the creation of matte paintings, keyframes and, of course, the painting animation itself, done in four studios by about 80 painters.

Artur Owczarski - In attendance on Saturday, Nov. 9

Artur Owczaeski is an accomplished author, filmmaker and entrepreneur based in Warsaw, Poland but who has traveled the world in ways that most people only can dream.

He is the author of books about U.S. regions targeted at a Polish audience: 

  • Route 66, Mother Road -- About History, Legend and Travel

  • Texas is a State of Mind, and

  • Louisiana Gumbo. 

Over many years he has roamed the Southern States, giving voice to the inhabitants of small towns and remote villages in his books, describing less-than-obvious places and people through whom his readers can learn about these uniquely American regions. He talks about America, not from the perspective of a political or economic debate, but looking deeper into the country -- into the dinner plate -- presenting the everyday lives of unique people. 

He has floated through the swamps of Louisiana with hunters, listened to jazz and interviewed Grammy Award winners, held an interview with a Voodoo priestess in New Orleans, and covered the rattlesnake massacres that occur every year in the town of Sweetwater, Texas. Unusual locales off the beaten path, small local rodeos and chili cookoffs are the settings where he feels most at home.  Every one of his trips to the U.S. involves thousands of miles driving, interviewing countless people, and making observations about American culture. 

In 2023, together with cinematographer Dakota Wortman and Texas historian Roy Dugosh, Artur produced and directed a film called The Cowboy Capital, which has been shown at many film festivals, won several awards, and will be released globally to streaming in 2025. 

In 2019, he received the title of honorary citizen of the town of Bandera, Texas, the self-styled “Cowboy Capital of the World”.  Artur has also founded and runs an import-export business and a publishing house.  He is the father of three children and resides in Warsaw, Poland.

More about Artur Owczarski at: www.owczarskiartur.pl

Paweł Wysoczański - In attendance on Saturday, Nov. 9

Paweł Wysoczański is a film director, screenwriter and producer. Paweł graduated with a degree in film directing from the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Poland. His film "Point of View”, created during film school, received multiple awards. 

His graduation film “On the Road” tells the story of a coal miner from Silesia who sets off on a journey to meet Dalai Lama. The film received multiple awards in Poland and abroad. Pawel's next film "We Will Be Happy One Day" is about a boy from a poor district in Silesia, who makes a film with his cell phone about his friends' dreams. The film was awarded in Los Angeles, Madrid, Cagliari, Reykjavik, Kiev, Warsaw, Jihlava, Miskloc, Leipzig.

In 2015, Pawel Wysoczański made "Jurek" - a portrait of Jerzy Kukuczka, a world famous Himalaya and Karakorum mountaineer. The film received 27 awards worldwide, including Vancouver, Bilbao, Sheffield, Autrans, Copenhagen, Kathmandu, Torello, Ujlu in South Korea, and many more. “Jurek'' was released in cinemas in Italy, Spain, Poland, and France and was screened in TV stations all over the world.

In 2019, Wysoczański made a film “Long Day Tomorrow” about Polish doctor Helena Pyz working for over 33 years in Jeevodaya, India. The film was released in cinemas in Poland in 2021. “Long Day Tomorrow” received awards in Chicago, Austin, Florence (Italy), Auckland, Warsaw, and Gdynia. 

The film “Mensch” about Ludwik Hirszfeld was released in February 2024. “Mensch” was directed and produced by Paweł Wysoczański. 

Pawel is the founder and owner of Black and White Productions film production company and is the producer of his latest films: “Jurek”, “Long Day Tomorrow”, and “Mensch”.

He's currently working on a film about Roman Polański.