Michał Krzywicki

He directs, acts, and produces. Recently, his star-studded thriller “Enemy” was released in theaters. A decade ago, he debuted with an intriguing English-language film, “Diversion End”, which he described as a “homage to B-movie cinema.” His next film, “The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash”, stands out as a highly original contribution to Polish cinema, set in a near-future social fiction landscape.

Born in Chełm in 1989, he began his film education in 2011 after winning a scholarship at the Warsaw Film School’s acting department. He quickly realized that his dream role could only be played if he wrote it himself. Initially, he and his university acquaintance, Dagmara Brodziak, along with cinematographer Łukasz Suchocki, planned to produce a YouTube series. Over time, the project evolved into the professional feature film “Diversion End”.

In 2015, the idea for a film was born—one that only we believed in. We had no budget, experience, or industry contacts. But we had one thing: an internal imperative to tell this story, rebelliously, genre-wise, in our own way, and to gain at least some influence and agency over our careers. We started with the characters we, as young actors, would like to play. We wrote them and cast ourselves in those roles,” Brodziak said in an interview.

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“Diversion End” takes place in a neon-lit, fictional city of lawlessness – New Warsaw. The somewhat lost-looking thief, Oleg (Krzywicki), has a very failed date with Rita (Sylwia Madejska), who prefers alpha males. The game of dominance spirals out of control, and the girl ends up with a bullet in her head. To help his friend, the corrupt police officer Blaz (Kevin Oestenstad) rushes in, motivated by his own interest in getting rid of the body, since the girl was killed with his service weapon, which he inadvertently lent to his friend during a crazy binge.

On their journey, Oleg and Blaz encounter Klara (Dagmara Brodziak) and Vero (Ida Jabłońska). The girls are also in deep trouble – they’re trying to escape with the stolen money from the gangsters. Instead of fleeing with the cash, the entire crew decides to have some fun, and during the next hit of white powder, they get ambushed by furious gangsters.

The web of intricate relationships among all the characters spins out like in Tarantino’s films, while the world of our protagonists is as brutal as that of his friend Rodriguez. Everything is steeped in a parody-laden sauce, seasoned with a tribute to 90s Polish B-movies. The creators themselves described “Diversion End” as a comic-book story about love and betrayal, forgiveness and revenge, yet they did not shy away from drawing inspiration from contemporary gangster cinema.

In 2017, “Diversion End” received the Youth Jury Award at the Koszalin Debut Film Festival “Young and Film” for its “fresh perspective on genre cinema, trust in the audience, and belief in their intelligence.” At the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in London, Andres Faucher was honored with the award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, at the Bilbao International Digital Festival “Seriesland,” the Best Supporting Actor award went to Michał Krzywicki.

Shortly after the premiere of “Diversion End”, Krzywicki and Brodziak moved to Bangkok, where they worked on the screenplay for their next film. “We were reflecting on how we like to categorize people, how cleverly those in power manipulate us, and how easily we turn against each other,” Dagmara Brodziak explained in an interview with “Vogue”. “From these concerns, the script for “The Day I Found a Girl in the Trash” was born—a film saturated with the anxieties, reflections, and fears of young Poles.”

This time, the film was made with financial support from the Polish Film Institute. The story is set in 2028. Poland has become a totalitarian state based on slavery. The government has devised a way to eliminate people who are either criminals or simply deemed useless to society. The “Human Recycling” project strips them of their senses and memories so they can serve society in various sectors – such as the military, social services, or family support. With shaved heads and collars delivering doses of a mind-numbing drug into their bodies, those condemned to this fate are no longer regarded as human in the eyes of their fellow citizens.

In a act of defiance against the inhumane conduct of authorities towards those who have broken the law, Szymon (Michał Krzywicki) publicly decides to commit suicide on New Year’s Eve. His death becomes a national event; millions of Poles await it, and the most influential global media outlets solicit interviews. The whole enterprise is lucratively exploited by a legal firm overseeing the entire spectacle. A few days before his planned death, Szymon discovers an abandoned slave girl, Blue (Dagmara Brodziak), in a dumpster. Freed from her collar, she gradually begins to regain her senses and learns about the world much like a small animal adapting to a new environment.

Szymon, increasingly more attached to the idea of helping Blue than to dying in front of the cameras, decides to smuggle her into Sweden, which offers asylum to individuals like her. Time is critically limited, and the intense media attention surrounding Szymon complicates their escape.

“I am fascinated by the theme of the disintegration of authority and the expanding grey zone between good and evil. When someone seeks to deprive us of our value or the rights we consider innate, they easily find explanations and convince a large part of society. We often aren’t even aware of how frequently we act in similar ways – especially when it involves someone outside our in-group. We are capable of stripping someone of their humanity. No one is immune to this,” Michał Krzywicki explained to “Vogue”.

The premiere of “The Day…” took place at the 46th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. In Rome, at the Fanta Festival, it won the award for Best Film, while at the San Jose Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, it received the prize for Best Sci-Fi, Horror, or Fantasy Film. In Bangkok, at the Thai International Film Festival, Oliwia Waligóra’s set design was recognized.

In January 2025, Krzywicki’s third feature film, “The Enemy”, was released in Polish cinemas. As the director explained in the making-of materials, it is a thriller inspired during production by, among other influences, the atmospheres of David Fincher’s cinema.

The luxurious villa “Kruk”, nestled within the Mazurian forests. Ania (Martyna Byczkowska) is there to provide discreet, top-tier service to the arriving guests. However, maintaining professionalism will prove difficult when someone appears in the villa—someone responsible for her sister’s death.

Leon (Michał Żurawski) had been involved in mafia dealings for years. When he planned to escape from his employers, he was severely punished: a bomb was placed under his beloved’s car, resulting in her death, and Leon was falsely accused. Ania was a key witness in the case. Thanks to her testimony, Leon was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The action of “The Enemy” begins when Leon, alongside the attractive Eleni (Joanna Opozda), and his friend, honest Bruno (Piotr Stramowski), with his longtime partner Magda (Katarzyna Sawczuk), arrive for a weekend at the “Kruk” villa. The first few hours of the escape unfold quite normally. While the women enjoy all the amenities the villa has to offer, the men secretly film a scam involving cryptocurrency trading—an elaborate con of a lifetime.

In the evening, after a few drinks, everyone is caught off guard when Ania wakes up in the forest, holding a bloodstained knife. She has no memory of what she did. Was their reunion after all these years a mere coincidence, or part of a complex revenge? Who lost what in the past, and who is truly the victim here?

“My goal was for the audience to feel from the very first moments that they are right at the heart of the story, alongside the characters,” declares the director. “*The Enemy* uses a dark and mysterious atmosphere to draw viewers into a world filled with unease and secrets. The group of five characters is thrown into extreme situations—each losing control individually. This mood elevates the tension as well as feelings of uncertainty and fear. The conclusion of this story will be unpredictable for viewers, but they should feel that all the necessary pieces have been presented, allowing them to solve the mystery themselves, with the film’s narrative only slightly ahead—by half a step.”

Currently, Krzywicki is working on a road film titled “Naked Coast”, set in a fictional world. It tells the story of two young people raised in a closed-off community. They embark on a journey toward the mythical city, the eponymous Naked Coast, to fight for freedom—no matter what form it may take for them.