Directed by: Piotr Stasik
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dziennik z podróży (Diary of a Journey) is a very straightforward, but highly affecting documentary about the relationship between acclaimed Polish photographer, Tadeusz Rolke, and his 15-year-old apprentice, Michał.
The idea of making a documentary entirely devoted to one of the most acclaimed photographers of his generation had been a bee in director Piotr Stasik’s bonnet for a while. Instead of opting for a restrained, biographical film fit only for DVD extras, the filmmaker embarked on a summer road trip across the Polish countryside with the master and his talented protégé.
The possibilities for exploring the teacher-student relationship in the hot-house atmosphere of a road trip are exploited to the full. Like the itinerant hawkers who once travelled from house-to-house offering their goods, Rolke and Michał travel through rural Poland in a modified camper van, photographing locals in their natural habitat. Rolke catapults young Michał into a parallel dimension, where digital photography is not even mentioned.
The filmmaker focuses on the reactions of the people photographed when they are presented with the results. Both the photographers and their subjects show themselves capable of being genuinely astonished by the beauties of analogue photography, almost 200 years after it was invented.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on August 29, 2014