Michał Otłowski

Although his films depict a dark world dominated by men, he gives a voice to female protagonists—courageous and uncompromising women who take on unequal battles against the system. In Lake District (Jeziorak) and The Tenant(Lokatorka), working within the framework of genre cinema, he skillfully portrays the distortions of the justice system, the pathologies that plague hierarchical and male-dominated police and bureaucratic structures, and the ongoing corrosion of the political system.

Lake District (Jeziorak)

The intricate criminal plot in Lake District seems designed, almost incidentally, to expose the flaws and pathologies afflicting a small-town police station: the personal connections between police officers and local businessmen and criminals, corruption, lack of transparency, and chronic underfunding. The protagonist, Inspector Iza Dereń (played by Jowita Budnik), faces her colleagues’ sexist jokes on a daily basis, yet she herself is personally entangled in the investigations she conducts. As the story unfolds, these private connections become increasingly surprising and disturbing. The dark tone of Otłowski’s screenplay is perfectly matched by the cinematography of Łukasz Gutt. Warmia proves every bit as atmospheric as the bleak, brooding landscapes familiar from Scandinavian crime dramas.

Reviewers of Lake District agreed on one point: at the time of its release in 2014, Polish genre cinema virtually did not exist, certainly not within the festival circuit. The very fact that a debuting director chose to work within the framework of a crime film with thriller elements was enough to attract critical admiration.

“Lake District is an important and commendable event in the Polish film market, where crime films—even decent ones—practically do not exist. All the more so because Otłowski’s film is a debut. At last, someone making a first film is not attempting to create a masterpiece, but rather a piece of cinema in which craftsmanship is the most important thing,” wrote Paweł Felis in Gazeta Wyborcza.

Zdzisław Pietrasik of Polityka echoed this assessment:

“After the film’s first screening at the Gdynia Festival, critics were astonished—a Polish crime film, and a good one at that! Moreover, it was the work of a debut director who proved that he feels entirely at home within the conventions of genre cinema, where craftsmanship is above all else.”

The film also received recognition at festivals. In Koszalin, Otłowski received the award for Best Screenplay “for technical mastery and success in tackling the difficult genre of the thriller,” while Cezary Skubiszewski was honored for a musical score “that supports rather than competes with the image.”

Sebastian Fabijański received awards for Best Acting Debut at the festivals in Gdynia and Tarnów. Jowita Budnik won the Elle Crystal Star Award in Gdynia and the award for Best Actress at the Prowincjonalia Festival in Września.

The Tenant (Lokatorka)

“The peace of the residents of a tenement building in Warsaw’s Mokotów district is shattered by the arrival of a man claiming to be the building’s legal owner. Using ruthless methods, he begins forcing one family after another to move out. The most determined to fight for her right to remain in her apartment is Janina Markowska (Sławomira Łozińska). She refuses to leave the home where her family has lived for more than seventy years. However, when the building gradually empties and Janina disappears under mysterious circumstances, the police launch an investigation. The case is led by Anna Szerucka (Irena Melcer), the head of a special police unit. As the investigation progresses, the officer uncovers evidence of a conspiracy involving politicians, former intelligence agents, and prominent members of the legal profession. An unequal battle against a powerful network begins, with the lives and rights of evicted tenants hanging in the balance.”

This was how the film was presented by its distributors.

The story of Janina Markowska, which explores the background of the so-called Warsaw reprivatisation scandal, was directly inspired by the real-life story of Jolanta Brzeska—a resident of a tenement building on Nabielaka Street in Warsaw, a social activist and defender of tenants’ rights, who was brutally murdered by unknown perpetrators in 2011. Sławomira Łozińska, who portrayed the character inspired by Brzeska, received the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Gdynia Film Festival.

At first glance, the conventions of social drama naturally evoke socially engaged cinema—films that expose the injustices of systems that generate inequality and reward those whose power derives from wealth and social status.

In The Tenant, Otłowski presents the mechanism behind the takeover of Warsaw tenement buildings in a clear and suspenseful manner. He exposes a corrupt system built on the cooperation of fraudulent heirs, cynical lawyers, and corrupt public officials. Otłowski unequivocally takes the side of the victims, portraying their helplessness while simultaneously revealing the ruthlessness and amorality of the larger structure above them—a structure that, horrifyingly, operates within the framework of the law itself.