Those of you who are congratulating yourselves after Cannes might like to consider a new location in which to shoot your next prize-winning ad: Poland. I was in Warsaw a few days ago after being invited to the city by the production company Graffiti Film, who fear that Poland is being overlooked by the international advertising community.
I’d been to Warsaw before, in 1998, when my hotel featured fur-clad prostitutes in the lobby and cheap caviar in the restaurant. This time I stayed at the elegant Bristol Hotel and discovered a sophisticated, hedonistic city that could easily rival Berlin. I was also shown evidence of the diverse landscapes that make Poland such a handy shooting spot.
But it’s in the technical field that Poland really shines. The film school at Lódz means that some of the best cinematographers in Hollywood are Polish (stand up Andrzej Sekula of Reservoir Dogs). And I was blown away when I visited the animation and post production house Platige Image, which has cool offices in redbrick fortifications. Its star director Tomek Bagiński’s animated film The Cathedral was nominated for an Oscar in 2002, while in 2005 Fallen Art won a BAFTA. His latest work – a history of Poland in eight minutes, in 3D – is a masterpiece of pace and editing. I left Warsaw with a faint hangover and a profound desire to visit again soon. You should go too.
