Marcin Koszałka

Despite his cinematographic education, since the beginning of his career Marcin Koszałka has been fighting to avoid being pigeonholed and working only as a cinematographer. In 1999, after making two short films, he made his debut as a director with Such a Nice Boy I Gave Birth to, a document focused on relations within his own family. The film was received enthusiastically in Poland and abroad, bringing him awards in Berlin, Kraków, Kazimierz Dolny and Nyon . In this movie Marcin Koszałka concentrates on the story of his own family, which caused quite a stir and controversy among Polish documentalists and subjected Koszałka to criticism from senior colleagues, who quite differently perceived a place of documentary movies in Polish cinema. Since then, Marcin Koszałka has been one of the most important Polish documentary filmmakers of his generation . After this strong debut he has made other no less appreciated movies , like: It Will Be All Right, Death with a Human Face, Whole Day Together (dedicated to Jerzy Nowak), The Existence, Till it Hurts, Let’s Run Away from Her (dedicated to Piotr Korczak, a prominent Polish climber) The Declaration of Immortality, ''You'll Be a Legend, Man (a movie about Polish footballers preparing for UEFA Euro 2012), The Lust Killer. The latter document, which indirectly tells the story of a serial killer from Bytom, led Koszałka to a directorial debut in a feature film. That is how The Red Spider'', an artistic thriller, was created. It was met with a warm reception at festivals in Karlovy Vary, Arras, Cairo . After the release in Poland it was highly acclaimed by critics, film industry and audience yearning for a successful artistic cinema , with some stylistic features indicating a genre affiliation. It is a story of a serial killer operating in Poland in the 1960s, inspired only by real events and legends which have been circulating for many years around Kraków and rest of the country. Marcin Koszałka not only directed the movie but also wrote the script to it, did the cinematography and editing. He had a full artistic control over his feature film directorial debut. Moreover, Marcin Koszałka still remains one of the most important contemporary Polish cinematographers . Among his works are renowned and appreciated movies like: The Welts, Drowsiness and Close-ups by Magdalena Piekorz, The Lovers of Marona by Izabella Cywińska, Scratch by Michał Rosa, Reverse by Borys Lankosz, Entanglement by Jacek Bromski and The Happiness of the World, the latest film by Michał Rosa. Koszałka worked as cinematographer for television plays (i.a. Four of Them – the last directorial work of Marcin Wrona) and documents made by his colleagues (i.a. ''Plus Minus or a Fly's Trips to the East'' by Bogdan Dziworski). His works have brought him numerous awards and prizes . == Personal life ==