The Balcony Movie (15) + ScreenTalk with director Paweł Łoziński

When Polish director Paweł Łoziński was short on ideas for a new film, he made lemonade and took his camera to uncharted territory: his balcony.

Both an extension of an interior and, as The Balcony Movie attests, a platform from which to watch and interact with the outside world, the balcony is a singular sliver of architecture that facilitates equally unique exchanges. From his fixed vantage point, Łoziński encounters a cynical but sprightly widow, a recently released convict, and countless strangers who reflect on lives lived – whether as hoped or otherwise.

Łoziński is variously an agent, agitator and observer in his incisive documentary, which paints a cubist portrait of both a nation and humanity, through chinks of often unprecedented insight into the lives of passers-by. Winning the Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique prize at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, the film creates a streetside confessional and turns over two years of footage into a quotidian tableau vivant.