Kisieland
SYNOPSIS
"Kisieland" is a documentary presenting Radziszewski's meeting with Ryszard Kisiel, a personality behind the first East-Central European gay-zine, Filo and "re-discovered" by the director. The backdrop of the film is Kisiel's hitherto hidden archive, consisting of dozens of color slides, documenting photo shoots organized by Kisiel and his friends in a private apartment. The photos taken in 1985 and 1986 may be considered a direct reaction to the Polish anti-gay militia campaign ("Hiacynt"), during which the Secret Police collected information about homosexuals in Poland using them later for blackmail. Radziszewski invited Kisiel to his studio and asked the editor of Filo to reenact the creative process of his photo shoots from 25 years ago with the help of a model.
BIOGRAPHY
Karol Radziszewski (b. 1980, Poland) works with film, photography, painting, installations and creates interdisciplinary projects. His archive-based methodology, crosses multiple cultural, historical, religious, social and gender references. He is founder of the Queer Archives Institute. His work has been presented in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; New Museum, New York; VideoBrasil, Sao Paulo; Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest; Kunsthaus Graz; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, NOMUS New Art Museum, Gdansk; Museum of Contemporary Art, Cracow and Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz. He has participated in several international biennales including PERFORMA 13, New York; 14th Baltic Triennial, 7th Göteborg Biennial; and 15th WRO Media Art Biennale. His films have been screened at the T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, Wroclaw (2014, 2012); Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival, Warsaw (2022, 2019, 2013); BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival (2014) and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (2011); among others.
