Dawid Marcinkowski is a film director born in Toruń, author of Sufferosa, i.e. the first full-length interactive film ever made in Poland. He and photographer Katarzyna Kifert have created the Kissinger Twins artistic duo and work for the Unit9 production company.
Sufferosa was screened during the “Pole Wyobraźni” Festival organised by the Centre Of Contemporary Art “Znaki Czasu” in Toruń, in 2009. The final cut of the film was released one year later, in 2010, as part of the Tofifest International Film Festival in Toruń. Sufferosa is a film, where the viewers make decisions about the course of action. Their decisions have an impact on the development of the story in the film and its ending.The film features three different endings and it is comprised of 110 interactive scenes that constantly change. It took three years to make the film and it features performances by Beata Tyszkiewicz and Jacek Fedorowicz, to name a few.
Dawid Marcinkowski’s follow-up to that project was The Trip, another interactive project created in cooperation with Katarzyna Kifert and Andrzej Smolik. This time, it is more than just an interactive film designed for computers, tablets, and mobile phones, as it includes a 10-minute transmedial cinema release and large-format pictures taken by Kasia Kifert. The film is also accompanied by a soundtrack composed by Andrzej Smolik, a limited series of VHS cassettes, and a website. The authors found the inspiration to make The Trip in a meeting with Jack Torrance, an American film director, who claimed that the famous landing of the American astronauts on the Moon was bogus, as he was actually asked by NASA to make a film about that landing, which he accepted.
In his films, Dawid Marcinkowski combines the classic film form with modern technologies, which is based on interacting with the audience. During his career, he was also involved in commercial projects made for famous brands, for example Honda, Samsung, or Phillips, and music videos for Smolik or Maria Peszek. Starting in 2018, both the director and Katarzyna Kifert continue to create an interactive film series under the title @Sufferosa, on Instagram.
Selected Filmography
- 2010 – “Sufferosa”
- 2013 – “The Trip”
Selected Awards
Webby Awards in the Video Experimental & Weird category – a nomination for Sufferosa; Webby Awards in the Best Use of Interactive Video category – an award for The Trip; Tofifest International Film Festival 2013 – Flisak Award; Webby Awards – winner in the Social Arts & Entertainment (Series & Campaigns) category for the series @Sufferosa.
