Bernard & Blue full movie :)

I had a pleasant opportunity to meet an incredible person called Bernard. On my way shopping I always pass an elderly man walking his dog, which by the way, is elderly as well. This gentleman always has a smile on his face and there is no person who would pass him without greeting him and smiling back. And Blue (the dog), despite of the fact that she barely walks, still playfully tosses her rubber frog around.

Bernard is an 82 years old gentleman from Salford who is suffering from dementia. As long as he can remember his life’s motto was to smile and laugh until it hurt. This approach to life made him stronger and helped him to face the struggle of life and cherish every minute of it.

In early 70's Bernard tragically lost his son who was only 17 years old. Last year he lost his daughter and shortly after his wife. Now it's only him, his loyal companion Blue and Karen, a lovely career who helps Bernard out with everyday stuff. They developed a strong bond, which grew in a strong understanding. This film is documenting one day of Bernard's life, his everyday routine filled with memories from the past and longing after his loved ones.

                     (This photo was taken by Sylwia Pawlowska)

Here you can find full movie. I hope you will enjoy this one day journey as much as I did and you will appreciate it :) Thank you all!

With Gratitude
Magdalena

"Bernard & Blue" is ready :)

"Smile, though your heart is aching

Smile, even though it's hurting..." John Turner & Geoffrey Parsons

I'm so glad to announce that my major project is done! I'm so happy but at the same time I'm sad, because it was a great experiance and I wish it could last longer... I am so grateful to have that chance to be invited to Bernard's life. During shooting and later at editing I just felt like I'm going back in time because of Bernard's music haha. It was just great sweet-sounding journey to 40's and 50's. Even writing this I have a big smile on my face...
That's why I love making documentaries about people because there  is something magical about it.It's like archeology, you can always discover something but not necessarily about that particular person, but about your self as well. Bernard's favourite song "Smile" sang by Nat King Cole (1954), was originally composed by Charlie Chaplin in 1936 for his movie "Modern Times".It was just the music, lyrics was added in 1954 by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. Bernard told me that this song was always his motto and that's the way he is approaching his life. And here it is a bit of that magic I spoke about earlier. Charlie Chaplin is one of my biggest inspirations and here we go :)somehow he inspired Bernard as well. 
Movie poster was design by lovely Silvia Asparuhova and drawing was done by my friend Eleonora Asparuhova (here you can find Eleonora's blog). Thank you so much guys xxx
The whole film is around 40 minutes and  will be on line soon...
For now here you can find trailer of my movie.

With Gratitude
Magdalena

Being Daz

"Being Daz" is a teaser trailer video for a project I'm currently working on. It is for Practice Research Project for my postgraduate degree at the University of Salford.

The project aims to tell the story of unfulfillment and emptiness in life. The video follows the story of Darren (Daz).
Sadly at the end he decided not to take part in the project therefore I had to find another person to replace him. This situation not only influenced my decision to change the overall structure of the documentary, but I have now put the emphasis on the connection between visual and sound, without the use of dialogue.

I will start shooting this weekend and I am going to leave my character in the shadows for now in order to keep your tension. Keep your eyes on my blog for more updates and meanwhile watch "Being Daz" here and let me know what you think. Thanks a lot!

With Gratitude
Magdalena