9-23 March
Close-Up Film Centre
97 Sclater Street
London E1 6HR
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Master craftsman, Dadaist prankster, and unrepentant sensualist, Walerian Borowczyk spent half a century working at the juncture of fine art and cinema. Born in Poland during the 1920s, Borowczyk trained as a painter and sculptor before establishing himself first as a poster artist and later an animation filmmaker. Having relocated to France during the late 1950s, Borowczyk produced a succession of startling, often comic short films that were as innovative as they were provocative. When Borowczyk made the transition to feature films, he joined the ranks of the titans of world cinema.
Not only was Borowczyk a trailblazer for fine artists working in film but he also brought a keen, painterly eye to framing and editing objects, animals, and bodies. Expertly marrying film to both classical and electronic music, Borowczyk’s approach to cinema harked back to the silent days (Méliès, Keaton, Eisenstein) and even pre-cinema (Muybridge, chrono-photography, and zoetropes). From the outset, Borowczyk favored both fantasy and eroticism, tendencies in his work that became more pronounced with the relaxation of censorship. A sense of earthy humour masks a distinctly moral sensibility, eager to satirize the corruption of institutions, whether they be feudal, clerical, or bureaucratic.
Presented in collaboration with Friends of Walerian Borowczyk this programme focuses on the Polish artist’s early features alongside two shorts programmes, one of which is dedicated to his rarely screened art documentaries. These screenings are accompanied by an exhibition of Borowczyk’s graphic art, and a talk by Daniel Bird, co-producer of Arrow Academy’s Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection, co-founder of Friends of Walerian Borowczyk and author of Boro: Walerian Borowczyk, copies of which will be on sale throughout.
Walerian Borowczyk: Obscure Pleasures
