Interview: Tomasz Wasilewski :: Gone With The Movies

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Interview with ... Tomasz Wasilewski

Tomasz Wasilekski recently caught up with Gone With The Movies to discuss he newest film, Floating Skyscrapers. Previewed at the London Film Festival and out in cinemas this week, Floating Skyscrapers follows the engaging story of a young man first discovering his homosexuality, all as his girlfriend is trying to still cling onto him.

Whilst being the first story its kind to originate from Poland, Floating Skyscrapers is a fantastic second feature film: written, acted, and presented beautifully. In our interview we discuss the film's story, its influences, as well as what Tomasz is working on in the near future.

Floating Skyscrapers, recently released at the London Film Festival, is your second feature film. Can you explain to us what it is about?

For me, it’s a movie about love. I’ve got an impression that my movies are always about love. This one is about love of a boy to a girl, a boy to a boy, a mother to her son, and a son to his father. Floating Skyscrapers tells a story about difficult relationships between people who are close. It’s a film about finding our place in life, about trying to adapt to new, difficult situations and fighting for the things that we find the most important but which are sometimes the easiest to lose.

There have been many films based around LGTB before, but is this possibly the first adaption to originate from Poland?

Of course, in the Polish cinema there have been films that had homosexual characters, but they were mostly shown in quite a stereotypical manner, which was often really funny. These were always secondary or even episodic characters. I didn’t want sexual orientation to be the most important aspect of the film.

The main character of Floating Skyscrapers is a son, a swimmer, a boyfriend. He fulfils his dreams, he’s a candidate for the Olympics – one might think… and he falls in love with a boy. He’s a human being; he loves, suffers, desires, fears… This is the difference. We haven’t made a movie about a homosexual but about a human being. Sexual orientation isn’t the most important thing although it influences the life of my protagonist so much.

Over history there have been very different views on LGTB. Did this aspect make the film a challenge to produce? Especially in terms of writing?

Initially, Floating Skyscrapers told a completely different story. It was a story of a mother and a daughter and a relationship between the daughter and another girl. I wanted to make a film about two girls who fall in love with each other. It was important for me not to make a movie that would be socially involved. I wanted to tell a story about people and their emotions.

This is what interests me most in the cinema. Of course, the social background is always going to be there, but in Floating Skyscrapers it is exactly this – just a background of secondary importance. Regardless of the social aspect, I knew I had to find a heavier load for the film, and this is why I substituted girls with boys. Two women can function as an erotic fantasy. Two women walking down a street and holding hands are not the same as two men holding hands. This is exactly the load I meant.

Floating Skyscrapers

Was there anything specifically that inspired or influenced you whilst working on the project?

I remember a conversation I had with a friend whose son is my age. One night, eight years ago, she told me that her son confessed to her that he was gay. I asked how she felt about it. She didn’t say anything for a long time and then she admitted she was scared.

When I asked what she was scared of, she replied that she was scared that someone was going to hurt him. That he would be walking down a street with his boyfriend and someone would beat him up or even kill him just because of that… That made me think. That conversation was a starting point for creating the portraits of families in Floating Skyscrapers.

5.	As for the title of the film, how did that come about, the genesis of the unique name 'Floating Skyscrapers'?
I invented the title when I was a kid. When I was 12, my parents took me and my sister for a holiday in NYC. We visited the headquarters of the UN and I remember looking at Manhattan when we were taking photos in front of the building. Two words came to my mind – floating skyscrapers. It was then that I promised myself I was going to make a movie with such a title.

6.	Finally, are there any up and coming projects that you are working on in the near future?
Yes, I’m currently working on a new project, United States of Love. It’s going to be a portrait of five women just after the fall of communism. I’m very excited about it. In fact, I always feel like this, I can’t wait for my new film.