/ Don't hate the media, become the media.
Jello Biafra

Can you tell me how “Kowalsky” came together, what was the inspiration behind your screenplay, and what was the message you wanted to convey with this film?

From a formal aspect, the impulse was to explore a different flavour, another visual language. I wanted to create a world that’s completely artificial, staged and theatrical – and then tear the facades down, so to speak. I wanted to play with style, have fun with textures and palettes, and especially try and mash together a tasty blend of genres. I used to work as a cartoonist for newspapers when I was a teenager, so I have a thing for dark humour. At the same time, that Hitchcockian orchestrated approach to suspense is something that excites me enormously, so I wanted to try that, ("Psycho" had a huge impact on me. I think it shows). So, you might call it an exercise de style.

On a deeper level, the story and characters come from a very personal place. Most of what happens in this film is rooted in my own life, my family, people near and dear to me, and actual tragic-comic occurrences. I know these characters and their situations very well. Until recently, that’s what I thought they were – caricatures of my relatives. But as it turns out, they’re all me.

When I started writing the script, I thought it was inspired and based on other people’s dilemmas. In retrospect, I realise that it was actually about my own fears and what I was going through at the time. I had to poke fun of my demons here, in a way. It’s an exorcism of self-doubt and fear of failure. For a long time, I had such high expectations of myself that it became paralysing. I was choking on my own ambitions. Nothing I did was good enough, and my self-criticism could get really mean at times. I could feel my greedy ego wanting, needing perfection and success – but all it engendered was a constant feeling of inaptitude.

I must have been too much of a coward to confront these fears head-on, so it had to happen in a playful manner. It’s like a wacky cathartic nightmare where deep-rooted problems bubble up as characters, symbols, and metaphors. It sounds pretentious, but it’s almost Jungian. It’s about moving out of that toxic relationship with one’s own critic, that rotting house we sometimes live in.

How close were you able to keep to your script once you started filming, did you allow yourself and your cast much flexibility?

I prepared meticulously. Nothing was left to chance. I collected tons of references, created mood boards, look books, and a playlist with mood music. I storyboarded the entire thing, which I then animated and edited together, adding dialogue, sounds, and temp music. So we basically had a finished animation version of the script. It was a good way to get everybody on the same page and get the whole team excited about the shoot.

Then, of course, reality comes in and throws it all out of orbit. I love it. All of a sudden, you see the stuff that seemed to work so beautifully in your mind, looks like shit when you try it out. You need to embrace that. I love to be surprised by the actors and what the crew brings to the table. I always think of a film like a wild animal that you try to tame, but eventually becomes what it needs to be.

​

When working on a short like “Kowalsky”, due to all the creative roles you take on, what were some of the challenges you faced bringing this short to life?

Obviously, restraints and delays due to the pandemic didn’t make things easier, but I think the biggest challenge was to portray the main characters in a way that the audience would follow them since they’re both so “unlikable”. The protagonists act out of utter selfishness, but we had to show the reasons and motivation behind their despicable actions. That was already a big hurdle at the writing stage. Before and during production, I spent a lot of time with the actors, Raoul and Josiane, to figure out their cadence and behaviour. Their performances were crucial. Much of it was finding the sweet spot between sincerity and fakeness, since the characters are constantly lying and pretending. It was important for us to not judge them, even if you didn’t approve of what they did or said. It eventually came together in the edit. But for a while, I wasn’t too sure if that balancing act was going to work.

This film is all about atmosphere, so the music plays another key part. It was vital for me to find the right tone and mood. The score is like the special adhesive that glues all the other elements together and makes it all feel like one solid piece.