Archive of films Man Who Made Angels Fly / The Man Who Made Angels Fly

United Kingdom / France / Poland
2013, 64 min

Section: Documentary Films - Competition
Year: 2013

Deferring to the power of suggestion, Polish director Wiktoria Szymańska eschews a standard biopic of one of the world’s top living puppeteers, Michael Meschke, focusing instead on his uncanny ability to imbue his puppets for a few minutes with living emotion and inimitable expression.

Synopsis

Michael Meschke is one of the world’s top puppeteers. At the age of five, he and his family escaped from Nazi Germany to Sweden. From there, after graduation, he set off around the world, traveling with his puppet ensemble for over six decades. During that time he amassed a collection of over 3,000 marionettes that must now vacate unsuitable basement storage in a Stockholm museum. But each has its own story and unmistakable personality, whether the charismatic Don Quixote, the lovely Penelope, the inquisitive Baptiste, or the mysterious Antigone. Deferring to the power of suggestion, Polish director Wiktoria Szymańska eschews standard biopic methods, focusing instead on Michael Meschke’s uncanny ability to imbue his puppets for a few minutes with living emotion and inimitable expression. In charmingly filmed scenes, the master induces his "actors” to portray the gamut of archetypal human emotions – from love, regret, and passion, to the fear of death.

About the director

Wiktoria Szymańska (Gdańsk, Poland), director, producer, writer, and painter, studied at the Wajda School in Warsaw and at the Sorbonne’s film and art department (2004-05). Currently, her work environment alternates between London and Paris, although she lived previously in New York where she worked in experimental film and theater. Her documentary Themerson and Themerson (2010) was presented by several TV stations and at numerous international festivals (e.g. Nyon, Leipzig, Wrocław, Lisbon, Nantes); at the Art of the Documentary, the film won the Future Media award. Szymańska also worked on a number of television programs for Arte TV, and she conducts workshops in Rio de Janeiro and at the École du Louvre in Paris. In 2009 she initiated cooperation with colleagues from ESoDoc on the European multimedia project Stories from the Bench.

Contacts

Wiktoria Szymańska
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Poland
E-mail: [email protected]

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About the film

Color, DCP
European premiere

Section:	Documentary Films - Competition

Director:	Wiktoria Szymańska
Screenplay:	Wiktoria Szymańska
Dir. of Photography:	Wojciech Staron
Music:	Florencia di Concilio
Editor:	Wiktoria Szymańska
Producer:	Greg Dawis
Production:	Luna W.
Contact:	Wiktoria Szymańska

Guests

Wiktoria Szymańska

Film Director

Florencia di Concilio

Music Composer

Greg Davis

Film Crew