Describe your typical day at work
With a risk of sounding quite generic – it is rather difficult to describe my typical day at work. The cinema industry is incredibly dynamic itself and we have been witnessing a number of exciting years in terms of change and development in the Polish cinema market. Heading a finance division in today’s environment brings its own dynamics into the daily routine as well. I’ve grown to revel in the unexpected. The more structured part of me enjoys the weekly rhythm of the cinema industry – I very much appreciate Mondays when we all focus on content and programming as it helps us feel grounded in what our industry is all about: letting people enjoy the great cinema experience. If there is anything set about my routine it is that I’ve learned to accept that we all need to find one that works best for us – if one is not a morning person, they usually can take advantage of the fact that it may be easier for them to tune in and really listen to what other people have to say. There is usually more than one good way to get from A to B and the best route may be the less obvious one.
The moment you fell in love with the Big Screen?
I was around 10 when – in a very short period of time – both my parents took me out for a first respective ‘grown up’ film. It was the original Jurassic Park with my dad and Paper Moon with my mom. I loved both! No wonder I have developed a fondness for both independent and commercial titles and I still love seeing both on the Big Screen. It’s been with me throughout the years – skipping classes in high-school to watch A Beautiful Mind with my friends, early Sunday morning screenings at university, when the auditoriums were almost empty and the Boxing Day ritual of watching the new chapters of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and later Star Wars with my brother with our sci-fi avert dad falling asleep but still joining in...
The best thing about the cinema experience?
The quicker the pace of our everyday lives and the more information we get bombarded with every day, the more I personally feel cinema has to offer. I don’t mind the limited phone reception if it means it’s just us, the audience, the story and the magic of the Big Screen in a dark room for those two precious hours. I do believe that as social beings people will continue to be drawn to the cinema experience – after all no state-of-the-art home viewing system will let you experience shared emotions with a room full of complete strangers. Especially the shared murmurs such as ‘that was great, but just 10 minutes too long’.