
Dorota Kędzierzawska
Directing
Biography
Dorota Kędzierzawska, born 1 June 1957 in Łódź, is a Polish director of feature and documentary films. She graduated from the National Film School in Łódź in 1981. In her films she concentrates on the experiences of disadvantaged children who contend with a difficult financial situation, rejection by adults, or both.
Known For

Lowa is motorcycle racing champion: the object of women's desires and the envy of rivals on the track. Cheerful, kind to people, "ordinary", he has fun in life and what he does. But his sly smile conceals daily struggles with fear and the specter of injuries and accidents. It all becomes even more complicated when the beautiful Roma (Jagoda Porębska) stands on his way. Will she compete with his love of speed and of motorcycles? When the sport is not only a crazy, youthful passion, but also an escape from the gray reality, can he find a place for true love in his heart?
Speedway

The monotonous everyday life of an elderly couple is recorded almost silently in a time frame of three days. A woman and a man who have lived their whole lives together no longer have anything in common, apart from habit and the arguments that separate them.
The End of the World

Even in Poland today, Gypsies are viewed with profound suspicion — not that things are that much better for them anywhere else in Europe. In this coming-of-age drama, Mala, an ordinary Polish girl who is about thirteen years old, is just beginning to wake up to the world around her. When she hears the adults of the village making disparaging remarks about Gypsies, that's exactly what it takes to motivate her to go out and visit them. She has a rich and rewarding encounter, until the authorities come into their camp to drive them off. No one is harmed, and Mala's life has been changed for the better by her adventures.
The Devils, the Devils

A story of Kundel, a boy searching for his place in life, his identity. After running away from an orphanage where he is treated as an outcast among outcasts by both his peers and the adults in charge, and being rejected a second time by his alcoholic mother, who had earlier abandoned him, the resolute 11-year-old finds a "home" on a deserted old barge on the outskirts of his hometown. He is still an outcast, but he is an outcast on his own terms, rejecting both patronizing charitable gestures and coercion by local thugs. In the process he makes one true friend, a girl from an affluent family who is also an outcast, despite living in material comfort.
I Am

An impressionistic, black-and-white portrait of the day-to-day of a nonagenarian woman as she experiences the final act of her life. Danuta Szaflarska stars as Aniela, who lives in a massive yet rapidly-deteriorating wooden house, filled with souvenirs and treasures of eras gone by. Aniela runs into conflict in her dealings with others, particularly a nasty neighbor who sees her property as an eyesore and wants to do everything in his reach to buy it up and tear it down, and her married adult son, who - though kindly - triggers paranoia within Aniela (she cannot help but believe that he is scheming and planning to wheedle the property away from her). Driven aback by these individuals, Aniela finds one of her only sources of comfort and reassurance in her daily talks with her dog, Fila - and develops a great affinity for spying on the neighbors' doings whenever boredom creeps in.
Time to Die

A mother of three is afraid of losing her husband if he finds out she's pregnant again, so she tries to conceal it.
Nothing

In a quiet, lonesome Polish city, a neglected ten year old girl kidnaps a pampered toddler and pretends to be her mother.
Crows

A short film about two children who stayed home alone.
The Egg

Tomek and Gucia are a pair of seven-year-olds. On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, they engage in typical children’s games after school – playing hopscotch and hide-and-seek, doing somersaults on the beater and climbing the wall. But above all, they play with each other – the boy tries to turn the girl into a boy named Piotrek. However, behind childhood games there is something much more serious – the first feeling.
Gucia

A little girl living in a ruined tenement house tells about her dreams. The camera observes her playing in the yard on a warm, spring day.
Agnieszka

Etude of women's work in one of the textile factories in Łódź. The protagonist of the film, after finishing his shift, goes home, where a small child is waiting for her.
Początek

Outstanding actress Danuta Szaflarska, in a colorful and humorous way, tells about her experiences from the old years.
Another World

A simple story of a meeting between two completely different and distant people. By chance, they spend a few days together.
Dreams Full of Smoke

Three Russian street kids, who live on their wits in a train station, take off to the countryside hoping to make it across the border to a better life in Poland. They are alternately looking for tenderness and pushing it away because they sense that it is a sign of vulnerability they can ill-afford. Kędzierzawska has the rare ability to take the world of children on its own terms. There is not a false note in this dazzlingly beautiful and emotionally involving story of three kids trying to find their path to a new life.