Project details
script
Julia Bui-Ngoc
director
Julia and Mai Bui-Ngoc
composer/music
Jarosław Jóźwik / Michał Chęć / Justyna Święs
producer
Marta Szarzyńska / kinhouse studio
genre
fantasy / thriller
duration
19 min
language
polish with english subtitles
premiere
2018
Film polski
Link
Production company
Co-production
Bui Film
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Narodowe Centrum Kultury
TVP Kultura
Timeline
Development
Pre-production
Production
Dystrybution
Synopsis
The short film, “The Nixie”, is a dark folk tale, based on an old Polish legend, immortalized by Adam Mickiewicz in a poem of the same name. It tells the story of a water nymph who takes on a human form to seduce a young man she
encounters in the forest. Mesmerized, he makes a vow of love towards her, and the woman transforms back into the nymph to test his love. The young man, who does not know the nymph and woman are the same, succumbs to her mystical
beauty and breaks his vow. The nymph then takes her revenge by swallowing him into the lake, where he will eternally remain as his punishment.
The film begins in a life-like world and slowly morphs into the fantastical as the line between the real and the mystical blur. A coming-of-age fairytale, “The Fairy of Switez Lake” is a modern, seductive, filmic poem with a
catchy new wave soundtrack for this timeless cautionary tale.
Director’s Statement
Adam Mickiewicz’s ballade contains the quintessence of the romanticism movement where the incomprehensible elements of the world were explained by metaphysics. This story, full of passion and magic, is very characteristic of 19th-century literature. We wanted to explore whether we could tell this story once again from a modern perspective and I think that we managed to maintain its energy and tension. The most difficult challenge was to stick to the original Mickiewicz text, but mix it with modern music and voice, making it a classic for all times.
Crew
Julia Bui Ngoc - director
Film director, sculptor, dancer, and choreographer born in France. Three-time French gold medalist of the Chinese martial arts Wushu. Co-founder (together with Mai Bui-Ngoc) of the Bui Sisters cinematographic duet. Founder of the School of Dancing with Combat Fans. In 2011 she graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She developed her artistic sensitivity under professor Grzegorz Kowalski in his multimedia atelier. Holder of the scholarships granted by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and by the Capital City of Warsaw. Since 2003 Julia Bui-Ngoc has created more than twenty video-arts, over a dozen theatre performances and six short movies. Her works were presented and awarded in prestigious art centers in Poland and abroad, inter alia at National Museum in Prague at Prague Quadrennial (Czech Republic), at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw (Poland), at Zachęta Galery of Art in Lublin (Poland), at Japon Expo Festival in Nice (France), at Readymade Film Fest in Los Angeles (USA), at Sorbonne in Paris (France). From 2003 Julia cooperates (as an actress, choreographer and a tutor at Academy for Theatre Practices) with Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice, taking part in such theatre productions as: Metamorphosis, Elektra, Francois Vase, Iphigenia at Aulis. She performed and ran masterclasses inter alia at Columbia University in New York (USA), Yale University (USA), LaMaMa Theatre (USA), the European Commission in Brussels (Belgium), Sikyone (Greece), Hebel Theatre in Berlin (Germany), Meyerhold Center in Moscow (Russia), Barbican Center in London (UK).
Mai Bui Ngoc - director of photography
MA in engineering and architecture, film director, camerawoman. Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and Film and Television Academy in Warsaw. Multiple France champion in Chinese martial arts (kung-fu wu-shu). Worked as an architect in France and Ireland. In Poland she worked in one of the best architectural firms Jems Architekci, winning a number of awards and distinctions in various architectural competitions. She is also active in the field of video-art and short films. Her artistic productions have been influenced by numerous travels around the world and many years of work as an architect. Co-founder (together with Julia Bui-Ngoc) of the Bui Sisters duet.