Heart-Wrenching Documentary Follows Father’s Desperate Search for Missing Son

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Nine years following the successful debut of “All These Sleepless Nights” at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema – Documentary directing prize, Polish filmmaker Michał Marczak is preparing for a new project titled “Closure.” This venture was selected to be part of the Pitching Forum in Agora, the industry section of Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. In “Closure,” we follow a father as he embarks on a heart-wrenching journey along Poland’s Vistula River, seeking answers about his lost teenage son.

While on location scouting for a fictional film near the Vistula River, Marczak stumbled upon his documentary’s central figure, Daniel, by sheer luck. It was then that he noticed Daniel skillfully maneuvering a technologically advanced boat, equipped with sonar and a drone, along the river.

The director shares, “Initially, we were puzzled about what this man was up to; he seemed like a treasure hunter. However, as we spent the night around the campfire, he shared his entire tale with us, and eventually, we decided to assist him. This man discovered a skull that day, which turned out to be six years old. The raw emotions he displayed, holding that skull in his hands, was reminiscent of an ancient Greek tragedy – a rare occurrence indeed. I felt the story was so potent that it warranted a lengthy film format to do it justice.

Following their encounter with Daniel along the Vistula River that day, Marczak and his team sympathized with the mourning father and accompanied him in his quest. Regarding potential difficulties in portraying a family’s raw emotions intimately, the director notes that Daniel and his family have grown accustomed to media scrutiny due to the widespread attention their case received in Poland.

He emphasized that the focus was on fostering a strong bond. Initially, he wasn’t certain if he could present this project, but he approached it one day at a time, observing how our relationship developed. Surprisingly, things progressed quickly. We discovered we could create something substantial, and I am deeply thankful to them for placing their trust in me.

When queried about the lengthy interval between the achievements of “All These Sleepless Nights” and “Closure,” the director reminisces on his tireless work within the film industry since he was 16. After a hectic phase with his documentary, he felt the need to retreat and focus on learning how to write effectively. He spent five years honing his writing skills and started crafting fiction films. Initially, it was challenging, but he eventually grew accustomed to it and now has four distinct fiction projects in various stages of production.

Marczak remains somewhat mysterious regarding his future fiction works, yet he’s shared that one will be a joint production with the USA, whereas the remaining four will be collaborations in Europe. What ties them all together? In each case, Marczak takes on the roles of both writer and director.

Despite being a well-known documentarian, he found himself back at square one when venturing into fiction filmmaking. He underestimated the challenges ahead, but his experience in creating music videos and collaborating with artists like Thom Yorke gave him valuable insights into larger production teams. Now that he’s got the hang of it, he’s eager to see where this new path takes him.

One reason Marczak waited nearly a decade between projects was the lengthy process of financing “All These Sleepless Nights,” an experience he continues to find deeply frustrating. “Gathering the budget for ‘All These Sleepless Nights’ took an excruciatingly long time,” he explains. “It can be quite disheartening, making one hesitant to make another film for a while.

Reflecting on this, I find it intriguing how substantial investments seem scarce in documentaries and yet, there’s often a web of conditions attached. This prolonged, laborious process truly tests one’s patience, especially given the time-sensitive nature of documentaries. Emotions can run high, and quick action is sometimes necessary. Prolonging the process over several years could potentially diminish the quality of these films. I believe collaborative efforts would be beneficial in streamlining this process to better serve the urgency and emotional intensity that documentaries often embody.

In simpler terms, the director thinks that excessive red tape hinders the achievement of more fruitful European collaborative productions. They remark that there’s an excessive amount of tasks to complete and hurdles to jump over for relatively small sums of money. For example, you may receive 100,000 euros but then need to use most of it on production expenses in the co-producing country like transportation for the crew and accommodations while filming. This consumes a large portion of the budget and takes up much time. Ideally, they’d prefer all financiers, collaborators, and funds to unite and streamline this process.

The film “Closure” is created by Monika Braid from Braidmade Films, collaboratively made with Gregor Streiber from Inselfilm Produktion, and supervised in an executive capacity by Karolina Marczak.

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2025-03-12 10:46