Bartosz M. Kowalski on ‘Blazing the Trail of Horror’ in Poland and Working with Late ‘Night Silence’ Lead: ‘I Hope and Believe He’s Proud of the Film’

In horror “Night Silence,” Polish director Bartosz M. Kowalski follows retired Lucjan (Maciej Damięcki), moved into a nursing home by his son. The residence is hiding a secret, but the film took on another “terrifying dimension” after they wrapped the shoot.

“Maciej played a dying actor and unfortunately, this story turned out to be true,” Kowalski tells Variety. Damięcki passed away last November, before the premiere. He was posthumously awarded for his performance at the Polish Film Festival.

“It was emotional for all of us,” admits the director.

“I quickly understood he had to play the main character. It was love at first sight. On set, I worried the subject we were tackling might be difficult for him and for most of our actors, who were over 80. But Maciej always joked a lot, sang and even danced between takes. He didn’t get to see it, which is very painful for me.”

“I hope and believe he’s watching us and is proud of the film.”

“Night Silence,” sold by Latido and heading to genre mecca Sitges Film Festival, and Warsaw Film Festival next, is Kowalski’s most “emotionally challenging” film to date. He’s also behind Netflix’s slasher “Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight,” its sequel, and “Hellhole.”

“I’d started to move away from comedic exaggeration in ‘Hellhole,’ so it felt like a natural step. I wanted to create something more intimate and reflective, completely personal. In many ways, ‘Night Silence’ was my most difficult film.”

Not just because of its emotional depth.

“I was told this film can’t be made. Because of the fact the cast consists mainly of elderly people, because of its subject matter. It wasn’t an easy sell. Closing the budget was a real horror,” he says.

“Today, I’m just grateful it exists, despite all these obstacles. And who knows, maybe it was supposed to see the light of day right now and not before?”

Loosely inspired by his own family experiences, Kowalski found himself thinking about death quite often.

“It’s a topic that absolutely terrifies and fascinates me. Passing away, for me, has to do with more than just aging. It’s these slow, inevitable changes that occur in the body, the mind, relationships and even the world around us,” he says.

“Lucjan wants to believe there’s something more. Deep down, we all wish that our passing away is not just a disappearance, but some form of transition. An adventure that awaits us at the end of the road.”

Despite having made multiple films, Kowalski continues to feel he’s “blazing the trail of horror movies in Poland almost single-handedly.”

“After a fifth film, I still feel a bit like a misguided knight. In Poland, genres like horror, fantasy and sci-fi have always been on the extreme margins, but streaming platforms helped a lot. Thanks to them, I had more freedom to experiment. For ‘Night Silence,’ we got support from the Polish Film Institute, which is a sign that something’s changing after all. This reluctance, or fear, is giving way to curiosity and interest.”

Kowalski wrote the script with Mirella Zaradkiewicz and Paweł Maślona, the latter also known for rule-bending period drama “Scarborn.”

“We needed his fresh perspective. I believe there’s room for more than just romantic comedies and ‘cinema of moral anxiety’ [a Polish film movement that originated in the late 1970s]. The Polish audience deserves a wide range of experiences,” Kowalski says.

“With Mirella, we met when I was making my first documentary for HBO. She’s produced every film I’ve ever made and co-written almost all of them. Her perseverance, determination and talent made ‘Night Silence’ possible.”

At the moment, he’s interested in “everything related to horror,” but Kowalski still doesn’t know where his love for the genre comes from.

“I have no idea. Recently, I even talked to my mother about it. My parents allowed me to watch horror films and I wrote my first horror script when I was 13 years old,” he recalls.

“These films should never pretend to be something they’re not, because authenticity in this genre is crucial. That being said, horror allows you to explore all sorts of emotions. I would like to make them for the rest of my life.”