Screening of the Film "The Faint Clatter of Birds" / "Niewyraźny klekot ptaków" by Franciszek Berbeka

We are pleased to invite you to the premiere screening of Franciszek Berbeka's film Niewyraźny klekot ptaków (2024), which will be held as part of the exhibition "Domowroty / ПОВЕРНЕННЯ / Homing. Włodzimierz Puchalski".

In 1978, Włodzimierz Puchalski set sail for Antarctica to fulfill his dream. It was this voyage that became the inspiration and the axis of Franciszek Berbeka's film.

During the trip, Puchalski documented his life on film until the last moments — on January 19, 1979, his death interrupted the journey on King George Island. It was Puchalski's archival footage from the trip that captured his life on the expedition, on the ship, as well as Włodzimierz's diaries and other found materials that formed the basis of the film. Along with the archival materials, the creators of Niewyraźny klekot ptaków did not deprive it of artistry. For example, the cricket, who lived in Puchalski's cabin, became a kind of co-narrator and hero.

"My film tells the story of a man who risks everything to get to Antarctica: 'an untouched and pure land — heaven on earth'. I would like to tell the story of a true passion and its price," says director Franciszek Berbeka.

Franciszek Berbeka was born in Zakopane in 1989, where he graduated from the Higher School of Art. He studied philosophy at the Pontifical University in Krakow and later continued his studies at the University of Warsaw. Since 2019, he has been studying film and television directing at the Lodz Film School. At the film school, he made several short fiction and documentary films. One of his most important films is The Disappearance of Janusz Klarner / Znikniecie Janusza Klarnera (2021), which was made with the found footage technique. The film premiered at the 37th Warsaw International Film Festival.

Natalia Jastrzębska, a member of the film's production team and co-editor, will join the event. The meeting will be moderated by Inna Zolotar, an independent guide whose interests include the "cross paths" of different groups and societies in Galicia, their (in)visibility in space, and the history of conflicts between different communities.

The event accompanies the exhibition "Domowroty / ПОВЕРНЕННЯ / Homing. Włodzimierz Puchalski" organized by Andrij Bojarov, Center for Urban History, Lviv Municipal Art Center in partnership with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Lviv and the Department of Culture of Lviv City Council.

The exhibition also includes an accompanying program called "Domowroty / ПОВЕРНЕННЯ / Homing" that actualizes reflections on the ongoing process of physical and material return, as well as emotional and intellectual reflections on what place, belonging, and connection are. The public program is part of the project "Homing: Returns of People, Places and Archive." The project is implemented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine.

Credits

Cover Image: Włodzimierz Puchalski on a still from the film Niewyraźny klekot ptaków