Print this page
25-11-2010

Who's Who at Apple Film

By FNE Staff

    Apple Film Production is led by a three-person team, consisting of founder Dariusz Jabłoński, along with Violetta Kamińska and Izabela Wójcik. FNE looks at the team, their responsibilities and their individual biographies.

    Dariusz Jabłoński

    Director and producer, Dariusz Jabłoński studied at the Directing Department of the Film Academy in Lodz. As 1st Assistant Director he worked on the biggest film productions of Polish cinematography in the 1980`s: "Decalogue", "Short Film About Killing", "Short Film About Love" by Krzysztof Kieslowski, and the "White Visiting Card" and "Magnate" by Filip Bajon.

    In 1990 he founded one of the first independent production companies in Poland, Apple Film Production, producing feature films, documentaries and TV series.

    As a director, his first full length documentary "The Photographer" (1998), story of Lodz Ghetto based on colour slides taken by Nazi chief accountant, was awarded at leading international film festivals: the Grand Prix VPRO Joris Ivens Award at IDFA in Amsterdam 98; the Grand Prix FIPA D'OR and Prix Planete in Biarritz 99; the Prix Europa for Best Non-fiction TV Program of 1998; Best Documentary in Banff ‘99; Best Documentary at Double Take, Durham; Grimme Prize 2000 in Germany, Bavarian TV Prize ‘99, and others.

    In 2009, he directed his second documentary "War Games and The Man Who Stopped Them" about Ryszard Kukliński, whose actions may have saved the world from WWIII. It opened in November 2009 at the prestigious international documentary film festival IDFA Amsterdam. Since then it has been shown at a number of festivals including Hot Docs Toronto, Dok.Fest Munich, Melbourne IFF, Bergen IFF, ArtFilm Fest in Slovakia and RIDM Montreal.

    His first feature film was "Strawberry Wine" (2007), a story about policeman from Warsaw who after a personal tragedy moved to a pathetic and forgotten village at the other end of the country where the local losers help him to find beauty and meaning of life. It has been screened at more than twenty film festivals including Mannheim, Haifa, Brussels, Chicago, Kiev, Madeira, Milano, Prague, Bratislava, Sofia, and Moscow.

    Jabłoński is also an initiator of Polish Film Awards Eagles and a founder of the Independent Film Foundation, established to promote Polish films and their authors in Poland and abroad. He is the Artistic Director of ScripTeast, an innovative training program for Central and East European scriptwriters, and member of the European Film Academy and the Polish Film Academy.

    Violetta Kamińska

    Member of the Board and Head of Production in Apple Film Production, Member of the Board of Independent Film Foundation, President of Avocado TV.

    In Apple Film Production since 1996, she moved up the ranks through all posts in the company, from assistant to independent producer. She is responsible for the organizational and financial side of the production, co-operation with institutions financing projects, responsible for fundraising and financial reports for grants and subsidies.

    She was the Polish coordinator of Central European Screenwriters' Labs organized with Sundance Film Institute from 1996 till 2000. She has been the producer of the Polish Film Awards Eagles since its first edition in 1999, and is co-creator and Managing Director of ScripTeast.

    Before joining Apple Film Production she worked as PR Manager in Polish Television responsible for creating the Marketing and Advertising Department in OTV Bydgoszcz. She was creator and host of „Critics Lodge" and was a sales specialist at Canal+ Poland responsible for selling licenses for Canal+ productions.

    She is a member of Polish Film Academy.

    Izabela Wójcik

    Head of development at Apple Film Production and Avocado TV, producer; director and producer of Polish Film Awards Eagles, the awards of the Polish Film Academy, responsible for the financial, organizational and promotional aspects of the project.

    She is the co-creator and Promotion Director of ScripTeast, the training workshop for experienced scriptwriters from Central and Eastern Europe, financed by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

    From 1994-1998 she was a press attaché at Canal+ Poland, and from 1998-2000 Public Relations Manager at Wizja TV/UPC. She has been with Apple Film Production since 2000, and is a member of the board at Avocado TV and the Independent Film Foundation.

    She joined Apple Film Production to work on "The Spring to Come" by Filip Bajon. As PR Manager she created a concept for promoting the film from the first day on the set to the day of the premiere. "The Spring to Come", produced in 9 months, hit 1,750,000 viewers and is still at the top of the Polish box office.

    Since 2001 she has been responsible for development and promotion of Apple Film productions. She seeks and develops new projects, both Polish and foreign and collaboration with partners from Poland and abroad until the project goes into production.

    She is a member of the Polish Film Academy.