Lech Kowalski
Rock Soup
(1992)
It's the summer of 1989 in New York's Lower East Side. Homeless people have turned Tompkins Square Park into a tent city. On a nearby corner lot deeper in Alphabet City, where punk became famous and Allen Ginsburg wrote much of his poetry, a bunch of people try to ... (more)
It's the summer of 1989 in New York's Lower East Side. Homeless people have turned Tompkins Square Park into a tent city. On a nearby corner lot deeper in Alphabet City, where punk became famous and Allen Ginsburg wrote much of his poetry, a bunch of people try to ... (more)
Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?
(2003)
Punk rock devotees will welcome director Lech Kowalski's reflective video portrait of late bassist Dee Dee Ramone and his life as a music industry icon -- including his self-destructive bouts with heroin. The centerpiece of the hourlong documentary -- which is ... (more)
Punk rock devotees will welcome director Lech Kowalski's reflective video portrait of late bassist Dee Dee Ramone and his life as a music industry icon -- including his self-destructive bouts with heroin. The centerpiece of the hourlong documentary -- which is ... (more)
Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie (2001)
Veteran documentary filmmaker and hipster Lech Kowalski creates this film about his friend and hard-partying rock god Johnny Thunders, member of legendary proto-punk band the New York Dolls. Through archive footage and interviews with such musicians as Dee Dee ... (more)
Veteran documentary filmmaker and hipster Lech Kowalski creates this film about his friend and hard-partying rock god Johnny Thunders, member of legendary proto-punk band the New York Dolls. Through archive footage and interviews with such musicians as Dee Dee ... (more)
D.O.A.
(1980)
Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage. (more)
Documentary chronicaling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage. (more)
Holy Field Holy War (2014)
Film art as a vehicle for denounce. This time, documentary film maker Kowalski chooses the seemingly quiet Polish landscape, a land chosen for gas drilling, making a careful examination through a cautious revision of the tracks left on the fields and the sincere ... (more)
Film art as a vehicle for denounce. This time, documentary film maker Kowalski chooses the seemingly quiet Polish landscape, a land chosen for gas drilling, making a careful examination through a cautious revision of the tracks left on the fields and the sincere ... (more)
The End of the World Begins with One Lie (2010)
"I deconstructed Flaherty’s film. Rearranged the order and changed the context of his scenes and used the music in many different ways even rearranging the music. His film gives the narrative structure to my film. Without it I could not have made The End Of The ... (more)
"I deconstructed Flaherty’s film. Rearranged the order and changed the context of his scenes and used the music in many different ways even rearranging the music. His film gives the narrative structure to my film. Without it I could not have made The End Of The ... (more)
On Hitler's Highway (2002)
Lech Kowalski travels the oldest highway in Poland, built by Hitler as an invasion route to the east. As the road literally crumbles into history he discovers that it is now a vital link to the west and encounters people and locations that connect it to the ... (more)
Lech Kowalski travels the oldest highway in Poland, built by Hitler as an invasion route to the east. As the road literally crumbles into history he discovers that it is now a vital link to the west and encounters people and locations that connect it to the ... (more)
Blow It to Bits (2019)
A mix of Rock and Roll and Blues are the secret for successful rebellion. When I took my camera to the middle of France where the GM&S factory was threatened by a permanent shut down, I felt like something extraordinary was about to take place. And it did. The ... (more)
A mix of Rock and Roll and Blues are the secret for successful rebellion. When I took my camera to the middle of France where the GM&S factory was threatened by a permanent shut down, I felt like something extraordinary was about to take place. And it did. The ... (more)
The Boot Factory
(2002)
‘Imagine if the Sex Pistols made boots instead of music’, says director Kowalski of a group of Cracow punks who make leather shoes for a living. They run their business as if they were a band of rock stars, living by their own rules, making the product by hand, ... (more)
‘Imagine if the Sex Pistols made boots instead of music’, says director Kowalski of a group of Cracow punks who make leather shoes for a living. They run their business as if they were a band of rock stars, living by their own rules, making the product by hand, ... (more)
East of Paradise (2005)
Filmmaker Lech Kowalski explores his belief that struggle is "the epitome of living" in this documentary which compares the wildly different life experiences of himself and his mother. Kowalski's mother came of age in Poland during the early stages of World War II, ... (more)
Filmmaker Lech Kowalski explores his belief that struggle is "the epitome of living" in this documentary which compares the wildly different life experiences of himself and his mother. Kowalski's mother came of age in Poland during the early stages of World War II, ... (more)
Story of a Junkie (1985)
Filmed in documentary-style, the film follows the character of Gringo, a young man looking for fortune in New York, only to fall into heroin addiction. (more)
Filmed in documentary-style, the film follows the character of Gringo, a young man looking for fortune in New York, only to fall into heroin addiction. (more)
This Is Paris Too (2020)
Lech Kowalski has gotten us used to movements for a long time now. Movements of the street, of punks, of fetishists, of his mother, of Polish farmers, of strikers: the list is long, it is the almost endless inventory of a demoted humanity. But is it a habit? ... (more)
Lech Kowalski has gotten us used to movements for a long time now. Movements of the street, of punks, of fetishists, of his mother, of Polish farmers, of strikers: the list is long, it is the almost endless inventory of a demoted humanity. But is it a habit? ... (more)
The Virus is Capitalism: Extract (2020)
How has cinema changed with the experience of the pandemic experienced by the whole planet? The camera is no longer a "screen" to hide behind but a weapon to fight with. (more)
How has cinema changed with the experience of the pandemic experienced by the whole planet? The camera is no longer a "screen" to hide behind but a weapon to fight with. (more)
I Pay for Your Story (2017)
Lech Kowalski returns to Utica (New York), where he grew up. He decides to document the struggles of his fellow citizens by offering to pay to hear their stories. (more)
Lech Kowalski returns to Utica (New York), where he grew up. He decides to document the struggles of his fellow citizens by offering to pay to hear their stories. (more)
Ukraine-Poland: The Border of Solidarity (2022)
Since 24 February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, several million refugees have already been taken in by Poles. In the Lublin region, near the Bug River, which marks the border with Ukraine and Belarus, farmers, shopkeepers, a photographer, and a ... (more)
Since 24 February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, several million refugees have already been taken in by Poles. In the Lublin region, near the Bug River, which marks the border with Ukraine and Belarus, farmers, shopkeepers, a photographer, and a ... (more)