From Within
dir. Cezary Grzesiuk, Kystian Kamiński, Tomasz Szwan 2019 Poland 90 min.
2019 – IFF New Horizons Wroclaw
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Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005), is one of the most recognisable Polish painters of the 20th century. To this day, his surrealist, visionary painting arouses wide interest among audiences and remains an inspiration for successive generations of artists. For a decade – between 1987 and 1997 – Beksiński documented his family life and artistic process on video. This film entirely consists of footage shot by the artist himself and his direct family. This unique, intimate journal is at once a testimony of social changes in Poland, the fall of communism and the first years of democracy.
The filmmakers have tried to remain objective chroniclers of the approximately 300 hours of video material that Beksiński left behind him. Thire film can be seen as the artist’s last work, a last attempt to stand against the relentless passage of time.
