Jagoda Jabłońska talked with Arkadiusz Jakubik, an actor, film director and musician

Today at TWO RIVERSIDES we’re going to see your directorial debut film, ‘The Simple Story About Love”. You’ve had a plan to present it in cinemas- did it work?

We’re trying to do our best. We are searching for a distributor, but we still haven’t got any agreement signed. Life’s taught me that if there is no signature on the paper, anything can happen. But I can promise that „The Simple Story…” will be in cinemas in autumn. If no distributor provides us with the minimal amount of copies, we will do it ourselves. So far we have been offered only few copies, and we need to have 20 or 30 of them. We all remember what happened with Jan Jakub Kolski’s last film, „Venice”, which was distributed only in 10 copies; when the premiere screening was held, nobody noticed it. It’s a scandalous neglect on the part of the distributor. The same case was with Feliks Falk’s „Joanna”, with Urszula Grabowska’s brilliant performance – it also appeared in 10 copies. I’m asking: what’s the use of making such films, of spending money on production if nobody’s going to see them? Thanks to PISF we have a well-developed production system and there are lots of good films made in Poland. But unfortunately nobody knows what to do to promote them. How can we support the distribution and promotion of Polish films? It is necessary to allot part of the budget for advertising. Let’s not delude ourselves that films can be successful without proper promotion. If we don’t persuade the spectators that our film is best, nobody will care to watch it. And remember that we have to compete with American films.

Quite unexpectedly for you, the film qualified for the Independent Competition at the festival in Gdynia. Do you perceive yourself as an independent director?

We simply made a good, professional film. The reason why we didn’t get to the Main Competition will remain a secret for us. I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories, but after projections in Gdynia and Warsaw many journalists, e.g. Jacek Rakowiecki of the „Film” magazine, asked us how we got to this Independent Competition. Perhaps we got there because this film indeed was produced in an independent way, namely we didn’t get financial support from anybody. We are simply a group of cinema-loving madmen who decided to invest their own money in the production of this film. We withdrew our savings and persuaded actors and technicians to work for us on profit sharing basis.

Your film is bitter-sweet, in contrast to Smarzowski’s films, in which you star most often and which are more ‘spicy’. Which type of films do you prefer?

I’m lucky because I work on a ‘three-field planting system’- I like crop rotation. I wouldn’t be able to act all the time, even in Smarzowski’s films- though I don’t mind being sort of pigeonholed by the roles I played for him, because he is an excellent filmmaker. I know how difficult it is to clean your hard disc from the emotions generated while playing for Smarzowski. Those emotions were true. It’s not possible to take out a different set of emotions from another pigeonhole and simply cry or pull out an angry face. All those extreme situations were real. Apart from drinking alcohol, of course! We’ve never drunk while working on Smarzowski’s films.

What about other directors? Do they allow their actors to drink?

I think that such situations are legends of old times. Actors are more professional today. When somebody happens to be intoxicated while working, they get ‘a wolf ticket’ – it is obvious they have problems with alcohol and they are no longer employed, because it’s difficult to work with them. To finish: I’m lucky I can work as an actor once in a while- God let it be in Smarzowski’s film or in other equally good. I managed to make my feature debut, I work in theatre from time to time. Right now I’m working with Michał Siergoczyński on a play. It’s a monodrama entitled ‘Me’, with live music. We are preparing for a premiere in Tomasz Karolak’s IMKA Theatre in the middle of September. And there’s also my band!

So music is your way to relax?

A year ago I formed a band with some friends of mine. We’re called Dr Misio. We play good old rock with no compromises, only neat blasting.

Wasn’t it called Tekila?

It was just a working title. Lyrics are written by Krzysztof Varga and Marcin Świetlicki…

And by Norwid…

Yeah, there’s one smash hit entitled “A czy też ona wie”. It’s amazing, people listen to this song with disbelief, because they know Cyprian Kamil Norwid and his ghastly poetry, they remember reading his texts at school- oh God, it’s Norwid again, it couldn’t be worse. But it occurs that he was able to write a few decent poems, universal texts that are completely understandable nowadays. As a man of words I attach great importance to the text. I wrote a couple of them myself, some radio plays for example, but I would never dare to write song lyrics. It’s a different space, that’s why I reached for poetry. It works because apart from music, which is purely ours, it’s the lyrics that constitute the strength of each song and the whole band. We cribbed the name ‘Tekila’ from Krzysztof Varga, but since we wanted to have something of our own, we decided to change it. In the end we also took the name down from my favourite Varga’s poem- Dr Misio is a fragment of the title of one of his texts. I hope we’ll be able to give a concert at TWO RIVERSIDES Festival next year.

Why did you become an actor?
When I was 7, I went for a casting to the film “The Round Table”. I travelled with my parents from Strzelce Opolskie to Warsaw and out of 300 children that came to the casting, I was chosen to play the part. In the film there was a scene when Emilia Krakowska washes me and I had to appear completely naked. Then the time of the premiere came and all kids from my school went to see the film. Later when they saw me, they would shout “Hey you, actor- show us your willy!” I had to change my school. Once my mum invited some of my school friends when the film was shown on TV. I ran away and wandered around the park crying the whole night. After high school I submitted my application to the Jagiellonian University and the Film School in Wrocław. To my misfortune I was accepted to the film school and that’s why I’m here today.