LATALLO CINEMA Ai MASTERCLASS

 

Krzysztof Kieslowski on the set of “Decalogue V”, photo by Romuald Pienkowski / Fototeka, 1988

DECALOG

An Interactive Series

by Martin Latałło

"Whosoever destroys one soul, it is as though he had destroyed the entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the entire world.”

Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:9, also quoted in Schindler’s list…

DECALOG

“Decalog” is a workshop and film series inspired by the works of Krzysztof Kieslowski about the Ten Commandments, but our Decalog is set in contemporary Europe and on it’s borders, here and now, true stories, real “Action films”, part documentary, part fiction, where film stars, actors, human rights workers and ordinary heroes have to face the greatest problems of our times in the ultimate “Reality Show”: War, Poverty, Pandemic and the Death of our Ecosystem - can we save our planet before it’s too late? And what about our souls? Our series, directed by men and women from different countries, will search for answers to beat seemingly impossible odds, and each episode will be accompanied by a series of online and “on the ground” workshops, allowing all, people of good will, to take part in the DECALOG series through our interactive website. The very serious themes of our series make it suitable for 18+ Audiences, but there will also be a workshop for children called “CINEKIDS”.

Our “DECALOG" is an interactive platform of cinema workshops, inspired by the works of the Polish masters, like Krzysztof Kieslowski, but also many others, my own “Voyage through Polish cinema”, with Masterclass dedicated to Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski or Jerzy Skolimowski or to Stanislaw Latallo, my father, a cult figure of Polish Cinema. The workshop series will bring together film enthusiasts and allow them to learn from the masters of the past and present: directors, writers, actors, cinematographers and photographers, sound engineers, set designers, costume designers, make-up artists, editors, composers, special effects and graphic artists, the workshops will also integrate participants with disabilities and mental problems as well as children with handicaps and from difficult backgrounds. The workshops will also cover legal aspects, human rights, activism and ecology as well as the influence of Artificial Intelligence on cinema and our world. 

At the end of the workshops, participants will present their work over the Internet on a dedicated YouTube channel and on the website in front of a panel of experts, producers and contracting editors, which will allow them to find financing, distribution or partners for their projects. 

The workshops will also allow participants to work with the best equipment, cameras, lenses, sound recorders and post-production sets, in cooperation with the best brands, under the supervision of recognized specialists, and jointly discover a new language for the 21st century media, i.e. a fusion of cinema, photography, sound, music and graphics via the Internet.

The DECALOG will also feature a “making of” documentary that will follow the 10 workshops and the participants during the course of a year.

Stanislaw Latallo, Marcin Latallo, “Illumination” by Krzysztof Zanussi, 1974, photo by Renata Pajchel

"For us, the most important of the arts is Cinema." Włodzimierz Ilich Lenin 

(Inscription above the entrance to the Lodz Film School, later erased)

1. THE DIRECTOR

The ten stages of making a movie - are there rules for a successful movie? The first workshop will allow participants to meet the Masters of Cinema and listen to their advice in their own words, trying to write down the "DECALOG" of the director and his team. Each workshop, step by step, will initiate participants into the next stages of the film's making, from the idea to the premiere ... 

WITH FILMS BY: Steven Spielberg, Jerzy Skolimowski. Robert Gliński. Wojciech Smarzowski. Janusz Majewski. Roman Polański, Tom Tykwer, Raoul Peck or Danis Tanovic, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi, Jacek Bromski, Władysław Pasikowski, Piotr Szulkin, Józef Robakowski, Pawel Pawlikowski, Iwona Siekierzyńska, theater directors Krystian Lupa, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Grzegorz Jarzyna, Janusz Józefowicz…

2. THE WRITERS 

The second workshop will concern the script - inspired by reality or historical events, through literature and poetry, each master has his favorite source and each workshop participant will be able to find their own. We will examine the specific connections of Polish cinema with the literature that inspired the so-called Polish School, as well as history, especially of World War II and the Holocaust, but also relations with poetry, theater and visual arts that inspired and still inspire Polish cinema, with such writers as Witold Gombrowicz, Jerzy Andrzejewski, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Tadeusz Konwicki or Stanisław Lem or the poet Miron Białoszewski ... We will also look at different genres: psychology, romance, drama, comedy, history, science-fiction, fantasy, thrillers and workshops only for adults, such as horror and erotica ... 

WRITERS: Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Olga Tokarczuk, Maciej Karpiński, Dorota Masłowska, Andrzej Sapkowski, Agata Tuszyńska, Jean-Claude Carrière...

LAWYERS: 

During the workshops we will also cooperate with lawyers from various areas: copyright, criminal law, business law, inheritance law, housing law, divorce law, etc. ... Each lawyer will talk about their cases , experiences and dreams for the future ... 10 lawyers, 10 short films about law and lawlessness.

Attorney-at-law Jakub Wende, Mec. Maciej Slusarek, attorney-at-law Wardyński, Mec. I Czyzyk Przygoda, Piotr Kulikowski, Lawyer of ZASP, Attorney-at-law. Przemysław Królicki, Marcin Ungier.

3. ACTORS 

The actor is the face, the director's body and his voice. This workshop will look at their art from ancient Greece and the times of the Shakespeare Theater, as well as Konstanty Stanisławski and Lee Strasberg, founder of the famous Actor's Studio (who also came from Poland and studied with a Pole, Richard Boleslawski). We will look at the role of actors such as Zbigniew Cybulski, Elzbieta Czyżewska, Tadeuz Łomnicki, Zygmunt Malanowicz, but also non-professionals such as Stanislaw Latałło or Jan Himilsbach in Polish cinema, not forgetting the underrated heroes, i.e. stuntmen and motion capture actors. 

ACTORS: Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, Irene Jacob, Julie Delpy, Maja Komorowska, Krystyna Janda, Daniel Olbrychski, Janusz Gajos, Marek Kondrat, Jerzy Stuhr, Maciej Stuhr, Jan Englert, Mirosław Baka, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Artur Barciś, Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, Bogusław Linda, Beata Tyszkiewicz, Alina Spack, Alicja Bachleda- Curuś, Wojciech Klata, and also stuntman Tomasz Krzemieniecki and motion capture actor Maciej Kwiatkowski …

CASTING DIRECTORS: Margot Capelier, Marie Sylive Caillerez, Magdalena Szwarcbart, Wiola Buhl, Paulina Krajnik, Marta Kownacka…

4. PRODUCERS

The production team plays a key role in making the director's dreams come true. In Poland, "FILM GROUPS" with outstanding figures such as Stanisław Różewicz, Barbara Pec-Ślesicka, Janusz Morgenstern and others were of key importance in the creation of post-war cinema. We will examine how this model could work in our time.    

Masterclasses: Marin Karmitz, Alice Brauner, Grażyna Kozłowska, Michał Szczerbic, Dariusz Jabloński, Piotr Dzięcioł, Dominique Lesage, Ewa Puszczyńska, Marta Habior ...

5. CINEMATOGRAPHERS + PHOTOGRAPHERS: 

90% of our perception is sight, therefore such an important role to cinematographers have a role. We will talk about their inspirations (in painting, sculpture and photography), which define the visual style of the film, and we will pay tribute to masters of photography, without whom photo art would not exist, such as David Seymour, called "Chim", and post-war Polish masters of film photography such as Renata Pajchel, Zofia Nasierowska and the painter Jerzy Mierzejewski, dean of the cinematography department at the Łódź Film School …

PHOTOGRAPHERS: David Seymour “Chim”, Robert Doisneau, Edouard Boubat, David James, Sebastiao Salgado, Bruno Barbey, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Chris Niedenthal, Studio Harcourt...

CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Janusz Kaminski, Jacek Petrycki, Sławomir Idziak, Jacek Bławut, Krzysztof Pakulski, Andrzej Jarosiewicz, Paweł Edelmann, Bogdan Dziworski...

7. SOUND AND MUSIC

Sound was added to the cinema in 1929, but the real revolution was made by one man, Stefan Kudelski , a Polish engineer who emigrated to Switzerland and in 1957 invented a sound recording device called "NAGRA". Movies were never the same again. Our workshops will explore the role of sound and music in cinema.

Masterclasses: Malgorzata Jaworska, Kacper Habisiak…

Composers: Krzysztof Penderecki, Krzysztof Komeda, Wojciech Kilar bring their own musical universe to the director's work. 

Masterclasses: Zygmunt Konieczny, Paweł Mykietyn, Zbigniew Preisner, Stanisław Syrewicz, Janusz Stokłosa, Antoni Łazarkiewicz ...

8. ARTS DEPARTMENT: 

The basis of the film image are set design, costumes and make-up as well as special make-up effects, creating what is visible on the screen, and architecture and fashion play a special role in Polish Cinema.

SCENOGRAPHERS, COSTUMOLOGISTS AND MAKEUP ARTISTS: Allan Starski, Ewa Braun, Krystyna Zachwatowicz, Anna Shephard, Ewa Krauze, Waldemar Pokromski and designers such as Grazyna Hase or Tomek Ossoliński and Artists such as Wilhelm Sasnal, Paweł Althamer, Mirosław Bałka, Anna Niestorowicz…

9. EDIT

The first part is devoted to editing. According to Krzysztof Kieślowski, editing is the most important stage of making a film, where everything either falls into place or everything falls apart, and this workshop will be devoted to this most important part of filmmaking.

10. SFX and AI

This part is devoted to special effects, regardless of whether they are created mechanically or digitally, on set or using the motion technique capture, and will also include digital post-production and “coloring”.

Masterclasses: Ewa Smal, Lidia Zonn, Jarosław Kamiński, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Tomek Bagiński, Grzegorz Jonkajtys, Stephan Fleet..

POSTERS

There will be one additional workshop dedicated to the art of the FILM POSTER: The poster is the last stage when the movie is ready for distribution in cinemas, television or on the Internet on various streaming services. This workshop will also cover the aspect of film advertising and its promotion by the so-called "Trailer".

Masterclasses: Andrzej Pągowski, Lech Majewski, Mieczysław Wasilewski, Justyna Czerniakowska, Barbara Baranowska …

+ FOOD AND CHARITY

All workshops will be accompanied by culinary workshops with the best chefs, also related to the subject of cooking and feasting together in the cinema, with films such as "The Wedding" by Andrzej Wajda and Wojtek Smarzowski or "Babette's Feast" by Gabriel Axel and others…

Food and wine experts: Mateusz Gessler, Marcin Kręglicki, Robert Mielżyński

# DIRECTOR’S DECALOGUE: 

Director's Notes

I believe that our world needs a change of perspective, a new approach to reality: each film will start as a "webdoc", documentary reportage, composed of texts, still and moving images and sounds followed by a reality fiction show with actors involved in real "Action Movies", then "in the field" and online workshops. More than 25 years after the death of my friend and mentor Krzysztof Kieślowski, I would like to continue his ideas and promote the vision of cinema that is close to the viewer. The walks between document, fiction and real life will fall. We have mobile phones, cameras, computers, the Internet and now Artificial Intelligence, we can work wherever help is needed and raise social awareness. Thanks to audiovisual tools and social media, we can work across borders, overcoming differences and divisions, using film, photo and radio media to connect local networks with global activities and work together towards a common goal, saving our planet and making a better world for us and for our children. 

Martin Latallo, Paris 2025

FILMS

1 THE ILLUMINATION

2 SCHINDLER’S LIST

3 TO KILL A PRIEST

4 THE SACRIFICE

5 SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING

6 CHRONICLES OF AMOROUS INCIDENTS

7 EUROPA EUROPA

8 SHORT STORIES OF LOVE

9 PASAZERKA

10 ZYGMUNT MALANOWICZ ZYGA KNIFE IN THE WATER TO A SAILOR IN LODZ 

11 IVAN’S CHILDHOOD

12 THE GIRL IN RED 

Oliwia Dabrowska, “Schindler’s List”, directed by Steven Spielberg, 

photo by David James

To explore these theories in practice, join our 

AI Cinema Masterclass.