Filip Bartczak: Balance interrupted19.06.2020

He began his career in filmmaking as an editor. Not long after, he first took up the camera and moved into other areas of the industry. Today, Filip Bartczak, a Papaya Films-represented filmmaker, no longer works as an editor, although he still likes to maintain a degree of control over the final shape of the product. As director and screenwriter, he no longer takes on DP duties, but he still knows perfectly well what type of shot he’s going for. 

He’s been linked with the realm of music his whole life, he’s also a former DJ. It should come as no surprise, then, that his first advertising job involved an ad for Sprite featuring Pezet and Małolat. It was a pivotal moment in his directing career—since then, he’s earned the trust of brands such as Opel, Lech, ING, mBank, Grupa Żywiec, Hennessy, or Pizza Hut, as well as a number of musicians, including Pezet, Bitamina, Dawid Podsiadło, Kayah, Kamp!, Fisz Emade, O.S.T.R., and Otsochodzi. One of Filip’s most recent efforts was a DonGURALesko music video for Rak’n’Roll Music, a public awareness campaign launched by the Rak’n’Roll Foundation. 

When it comes to visuals, he prefers balance interrupted by distinct, expressive characters and their stories. He’s also fond of symbolism-laden forms, which he sees as close to his understanding of reality. Bartczak likes bold action and likes to select cinematic means for specific purposes—constantly seeking to justify them and produce certain effects. Filip also has strong storytelling skills and is known for his expressive characters. 

Filip loves advertising for its boldness and the ability to surprise the audience. He also likes it when commercials are infiltrated by more cinematic forms, like music video, documentary, or feature film—a phenomenon that has been steadily becoming more and more popular across the industry, like the emerging field of values marketing. “I think the best is still ahead of us,” Filip says. 

His biggest inspirations include travels, soundscapes, and light, the latter of which he considers the most powerful element of film production. Aside from traveling, he feeds his imagination with modern art and music, which often conjures up complete frames in his head. His creativity is also stimulated by the stories of the people he meets—after all, everyone has one to tell. And each story can be very interesting, but that depends on who’s listening. 

See Filip’s portfolio HERE.