SHOOT STORY | COLD WAR
We had Pawel and when you have Pawel Pawlikowski, you have an artist with integrity who is going to be his own worst enemy
viability of the film. But, we had Pawel and when you have Pawel Pawlikowski, you have an artist with integrity who is going to be his own worst enemy. If it meets with his high standards, it should meet with ours.” Producer, Ewa Puszczyńska, interjects: “The way Pawel works is scary for producers. It is not comfortable, good or friendly. It might turn your hair grey or give you an ulcer or a heart attack, but this is the way he makes his film… you just go with him. You understand his process and you follow.” Some may be perplexed to read the end credits that list 14 producers, 10 production companies, six funding agencies and 15 distributors. “We had television financiers who back Pawel and public funders from previous films and now French collaborators. This kind of international co-production is indeed complicated, with various funding bodies in each of the three main participant countries and each one has different rules and terms of agreement,” says Tanya Seghatchian.
“But,” adds Ewa Puszczyńska, “all the legal contracts were done under British law. The contracts had 120 pages; others 89 pages. We make films in a different way in Poland, the budgets are not so heavily leaden with costly legal issues. That was one of the hardest parts of this production and it was a huge learning curve for me. You have to be prepared for that and now I am.” LUKASZ ZAL The titles on Cold War credit Pawel Pawlikowski with director, writer, screenplay and ‘Images’, while Lukasz Zal is listed as cinematographer. Zal was originally the camera operator on Ida in 2013 with cinematographer Ryszard Lenczewski, but
36 DEF I N I T ION | NOVEMBER 20 1 8
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