Filmmaker and journalist Krzysztof Dzięciołowski’s latest doc takes on one of Poland’s most divisive (former) political operators, turned latter day social media pundit and polemicist. The pitch notes for the project The Ultimate Joker say it all.
‘A spokesman of the communist government in the 1980’s, Jerzy Urban, has now chosen the Internet to take on nationalism and the clerical right in no uncertain terms, proving himself an unlikely and controversial ally in the fight for the liberal order. Urban is the ultimate spinner, a devil and a poison dwarf of communism. After being prominent in the public space over seven decades, he’s as active as ever in challenging authority and bringing to light hard truths, not least by pranking and provoking his youngest and most active audience,” runs the narrative.
Director Dzięciołowski added during his Sunny Side pitch how, when he was growing up as a youngster during the communist era, he would watch Urban’s notorious, weekly press conferences with foreign journalists broadcast on national TV which made him one of the most hated men in the country. “His nickname was Goebbels of the Martial law,” says the filmmaker.
“Today I am a journalist working for the international media myself. I am reporting on a world full of populist leaders like Trump, Orban, Bolsanaro and the current Polish government,” Dzięciołowski comments. “They use media spin and fake news that often remind me [of] the propaganda I remember from the bad old days. And yet in my country that ugly dinosaur of communism has become the king of the internet, a sensation for the younger generation.”
“The young and liberal love the Ultimate Joker and love to hear his perspectives on everything – life, values, choices and history. I springboard from their questions and bring on screen people who remember Urban at different times of his life in order to understand the man and take his Joker’s mask off.”
The 90’/52’ doc project, currently in development, is produced by Agata Jujeczka of Polish outfit Vision House Productions. The shooting period is August 2019 – April 2022 ahead of delivery in February 2023. The budget is €350,000. At Sunny Side, producer Jujeczka is looking for co-production partners and broadcasters from Europe and beyond.
“There is no way to fund the film domestically,” Dzięciołowski claims. “The Polish Film Fund told us to make films about birds rather [than] about this communist evil. In the ironic twist of history, the state broadcaster TVP recently refused to release archival footage of Jerzy Urban for an independent exhibition about propaganda. But with Urban’s growing popularity among the young we believe this film has potential for [a] big audience when it hits [the] silver screen in 2023. We are looking for international funding, broadcasters and co-production partners. The first one, UpNorth from Norway, has joined us last week. Will you?” he implored potential international co-pro partners.
Dzięciołowski is determined to treat his subject with heaps of journalistic detachment. “Towards the end of his life he presents himself with no filter, he has seen too much and is no longer a player. He sets the record straight. But as he is so hated and controversial I am willing to approach him the way I have been approaching my contributors – with no prejudice, with empathy and willingness to see what kind of human rests behind the public image,” says the director.
“With my journalist instinct and toolbox I am prepared to challenge him,” he adds. “With the empathy I have built into my professional workshop while covering wars and conflicts I am ready to listen to him and not frame him as per narrow clichés and narratives. Living outside of Poland gives me distance to see his personal human story in the bigger and wider international context that changes the frame of reference from local to truly universal.”
