UNIVERSAM GROCHÓW

The starting point of this humorous and bitter story about the changing landscape of Warsaw is the dismantling of the famous department store, Universam. The film shows history, which, when removed, leaves emptiness, in particular for seniors, unable to find themselves in the modern metropolis. Wiesław, a loyal long-time employee of “Społem”, introduces the viewers to the reality of work at the company. The attitude to work as well as its economic model make Universam a living museum and, at the same time, a phenomenon spanning both urban planning and sociology.

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Country: Poland
  • Running time: 39
  • Year: 2018
  • Color: kolorowy

Director: Tomasz Knittel

Script: Tomasz Knittel

DOP: Kamil Hasiuk

Music: José Manuel Albán Juárez

Editing: Arkadiusz Iwaniuk

Production company: Striktfilm

Trailer

About the director:

Tomasz Knittel

Tomasz Knittel

Tomasz Knittel – director of documentary movies and short films. He has just finished a mini documentary series about Polish post communist blocks od flats. The creator of the sensational “Elektro_sonda”, a futuristic music film with the participation of top Polish electronic music groups (Kamp, Bokka, Rysy, amongst others).

He loves documentary music films and has dedicated several of them to this topic –  “From Podserednieje with Love” (2015), a film about an American who falls in love with a Russian dancer, “Bandmasters” (2016), a film about Polish traditional music, “Poland – Path of Dance” (2016), a film about the Polish and Swedish music project, „Mieczysław Karlowicz” (2017) is a documentary about one of the most important Polish composers.

His latest movie „Universam Grochów” (2018) has won a lot of awards (58th Krakow Film Festival, 34th Warsaw Film Festiwal, Grand Prix Kameralne Lato) and has just started its international festival career. Currently he is working on a new documentary project  called ‘Identity’ which will have a premiere in 2019.

At festivals:

58th Krakow Film Festival, Poland, 2018 (Maciej Szumowski Award)