"CAMERAWAR.TV"
FROM JANUARY, 1ST 2009 TO APRIL 30 2010
"What is cinema in the era of globalization? How can it convey reality today? Which medium will allow it maximum distribution? Why are some films that are projected in the context of "private" festivals not accessible to a wider public? Where and how will we watch films tomorrow? Will the Internet be the preferred medium for a new type of cinema?"...
These are all questions that the artist Lech Kowalski asks himself, and they have led him to create www.camerawar.tv.
Every Monday since 29 September 2008, the British director of Polish origin has put film chapters of variable length on line.
Designed by Elephant, a web-design company, the site is linked to a blog written by the director. The public are invited to leave their comments, send in their own film, or a piece of music they have composed.
Each film can be viewed independently of the others, and the whole thing is linked up, unquestionably telling a story – a link reinforced by the shared sound presence of the creations of Mimetic.
During his residency at the CENTQUATRE, the artist will edit his "film chapter", then put them on line, and reply to the comments and interventions of the "inter-pectators/players".
He will present his work within the CENTQUATRE to the public periodically.
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The "camerawar.tv" project is sponsored by the CNAP (image/movement), the CNC (aid to documentary innovation), the DICRÉAM, the DMDTS and the Pays de la Loire Region.
A Capricci Films Production, in co-production with Extinkt Films. In partnership with the CENTQUATRE.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in London to Polish parents, in his childhood Kowalski led a nomadic existence in the United States. As a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York in the Seventies, he met Vito Acconci, Nam June Paik and Shirley Clarke, one of the pioneers of cinéma vérité techniques, which would have a considerable influence on his work. In close touch with the underground scene in New York, he became a crucial witness of the birth and subsequent development of the punk rock movement of the late 1970s. In 1981 he directed "D.O.A." (first Prize in Paris Music Film Festival and Best actor to Johnny Rotten), based on the legendary tour by the punk group The Sex Pistols in the United States. He then became interested in the junkies of the Lower East Side in "Gringo Story of a junky" (selected for the Berlin Film Festival), one of the very first docufiction films, after that in the homeless of Tompkins Park in Manhattan for "Rock Soup" (an awardwinner at Sundance and San Francisco) and in the musicians of the 1970s ("Born To Lose" and "Hey is Dee Dee Home").
Going back to his Polish roots, he produced a trilogy entitled "The Fabulous Art of Surviving" in association with Lucarne d’Arte: "The Boot Factory" in 2000 ("meilleur documentaire de création de l’année" [Best Creative Documentary of the Year] at SCAM), "On Hitler's Highway" in 2002 (Special Jury Award at IDFA) and "East of Paradise" in 2005, an award-winner at the Mostra in Venice and elsewhere.
