Michal Kosakowski

michalkosakowski_1

Born in Szczecin, Poland, in 1975.

Kosakowski is the director, writer, producer, director of photography and editor of numerous short and experimental films, documentaries and video installations. His work includes more than 70 films, many of which have been shown in international festivals and exhibitions, and have received numerous awards. Currently he is finishing his first feature-length film ‘Zero Killed’ (2011).

At the age of ten Michal Kosakowski moved from Poland to Austria, where he discovered his passion for film making and film editing. The result was the foundation of Dark Productions, his independent film production company in Vienna that allowed him to experiment with his visual language following the principle of learning by doing, consequently producing more than 20 short films.

After graduating from the Academy of Commerce in Vienna in 1995, he studied film production at the Vienna Film Academy. From 1997 to 2000 he attended the artists’ workshop Fabrica, the Benetton Communication Research Centre near Venice, Italy. This allowed him to develop his own film ideas in collaboration with the Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani and Marco Müller, the Venice Film Festival director. He also experimented with new ways of visual communication for several cultural, social and political institutions, such as the United Nations and The International Criminal Court. In 1998, he worked in North Africa as cinematographer for Mohammed Soudani’s documentary film ‘Story Tellers’ (1998) and directed his film ‘Holy War’ (1999), which explores the crossovers between Christmas and war.

In 2000 Michal Kosakowski returned to Vienna where he continued his creative work in the commercial area as concept developer and film editor in the renowned agency DMC – Design for Media and Communication. In 2003 he founded the film production company Nosugar Added, focusing on documentaries, artist portraits, music films, commercials and experimental films, such as the award-winning ‘Sleepers’ (2002) and ‘Gipsy Express’ (2002). He also directed the short film ‘Wait a Minute’ (2004) and the documentary ‘The Heart of It’ (2004/2010) in collaboration with the Serbian writer Goran Mimica and the French writer Joseph Denize.

In 2006 Kosakowski moved to Munich, Germany where he intensified his artistic collaboration with the Austrian artist and curator Uli Aigner. Their film projects, such as ‘GhostAkademie’ (2005), ‘Just Like the Movies’ (2006), ‘Fortynine’ (1999–2007) and ‘The Inquisitive Museum’ (2010), were hosted by venues as renowned as the Kunsthalle Wien, Centre Pompidou Paris, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Kunstwerke Berlin, Städtische Kunsthalle München Lothringer13, C/O Berlin – International Forum for Visual Dialogues, the Rotterdam Film Festival, KunstFilmBiennale Cologne, ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Museo National Centro De Arte Reina Sofia Madrid, Pierogi Gallery New York, Soho Centre Beijing, Museo da Arte Garrillo Gil Mexico City, Multiplicidade Rio de Janeiro or the Clair-Obscur Filmfestival Basel.

Kosakowski’s passion for music has triggered several music film productions with and about the MKO (Munich Chamber Orchestra), the string trio TrioCoriolis, the Dutch musician and musicologist Francis Kuipers, the Berlin drummer Steven Garling, the Viennese violinist Mosa Sisic, the New York electronic music artist Ray Sweeten and the British DJ Graham Stark.

Since 2004 Kosakowski has been working with the Italian composer Paolo Marzocchi. For their experimental film ‘Just Like the Movies’ (2006) about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Michal Kosakowski was given the award for best film and Paolo Marzocchi received the best original score prize by the international film festivals of Milan, Amsterdam, Santiago de Chile and Forli, Italy. The film was also acquired for the collections of the Library of the University of Amsterdam and the Danish Film Institute and is regularly shown at international symposia and film seminars. ‘Just Like the Movies’ is also used as an instructional film by universities and academies worldwide.

From 2008 to 2011, Michal Kosakowski was active as a lecturer, teaching experimental film and theory of film-making at the MD.H (Media Design Hochschule) in Munich, Germany. In 2011 he was Jury Member of the Feature Film Competition at the Milano Film Festival, Italy.

Between 1996 and 2007 Michal Kosakowski created the video-installation ‘Fortynine’ with more than 160 participants from 28 countries on the subject of murder fantasies. His first feature film ‘Zero Killed’ (2008–2011), which will be released in 2012 and is produced by his own production house Michal Kosakowski Films, results from this.

He currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany, where he is developing his forthcoming feature films ‘Dark Tourism’ and ‘Visit from Poland’, in addition to the experimental film ‘So Others May Live’.

Michal Kosakowski / Director’s Filmography (Selection)

2011 / Zero Killed / Feature-Documentary / HDCAM / 81’
2010 / Deep Water Horizon / Experimental / DV / 9’
2010 / The Heart of It / Documentary / DV / 27’
2007 / Fortynine / Videoinstallation / HD / 154’
2006 / Just Like the Movies / Experimental / DV / 21’
2006 / Alessandro Kokocinski / Experimental / DV / 5’
2004 / Offside / Documentary / DV / 4’
2004 / Wait a Minute / Short Fiction / DV / 13’
2002 / Gipsy Express / Documentary / DV / Farbe / 10’
2002 / Sleepers / Experimental / DV / 3’
2001 / Josef in Wonderland / Short Fiction / DV / 3’
2001 / VAL – Vehicles for Another Landscape / Documentary / DV / 10’
1999 / Holy War / Experimental-Documentary / Digital Betacam/DV / 42’
1998 / Casting Livorno / Documentary / Digital Betacam / 10’
1997 / Is God Modern? / Experimental / DV / 2’
1996 / Airwar Hong Kong / Documentary / Hi8 / 2’
1996 / No Sugar Added / Short Fiction / Hi8 / 17’
1994 / Grünbacher Geheimnisse / Short Fiction / SVHS / 27’
1993 / Face of the Death / Short Fiction / SVHS / 20’
1992 / After Death / Short Fiction / VHS-C / 9’