The forbidden love of Citizen GC
The Tofifest IFF is well on its way. We have seen the first films, had the first meetings, and experienced the first emotional moments. The Sunday meeting with the authors of Obywatel Miłość was particularly filled with emotions. The film is dedicated to the relationship between the legendary singer and leader of the band Republika and Anna Skrobiszewska.
Bearing in mind that people in Torun feel they have a specific bond with Grzegorz Ciechowski, it was no wonder to see the cinema auditorium filled to the very last seat, before the screening of Obywatel Miłość. It was right here, in Torun, where the famous Obywatel GC (Polish for “Citizen GC”) took his first steps in the world of music and debuted with a book of poems. It seems that the admiration and respect residents of Torun have for him are as strong as they have ever been. In Obywatel Miłość by Wojciech Skrobiszewski, we have a chance to take a closer look at the famous musician and get to know him from a completely different perspective.
It is a film about the beginning of a forbidden and yet a very strong and persevering love between Anna Skrobiszewska and Grzegorz Ciechowski. The film Obywatel Miłość is an important and very special piece of work, as it is the fruit of breaking the long years of silence, during which the former wife of the leader of Republika chose not to speak about their relationship. In the meantime, the void was being filled with rumours and ambiguities, and often the whole story was exaggerated by those, who never actually knew the real course of events. Anna is the only person capable of giving a credible account of what really happened and the significance of their affection for each other. And there is more, as the film makes it possible to arrange many events from the life of Grzegorz Ciechowski in a certain order, and also to interpret his lyrics and texts from a new, intimate perspective. The film presents the background to the process of creating many of his songs, and offering such a new perspective on his artistic work is both quite emotional and evokes yet another fresh wave of fascination with his art.
The meeting with the authors of the film started with questions about the reasons behind the long-time refusal of the former wife to say anything about the relationship with Grzegorz Ciechowski, and the reason for breaking the silence just now. Anna Skrobiszewska admitted that she chose to remain silent for the sake of their three children, back then in their adolescent years, and to spare them having to put up with the presence of journalists and being deprived of the intimacy of their childhood. Another reason for staying silent for so long was the respect she had for Grzegorz Ciechowski. In the meantime, interviews, films, and books kept popping up, some of which not only departed from the truth, but also shown the family of Grzegorz Ciechowski in bad light. Wojciech Skrobiszewski, the current husband of Anna Skrobiszewska and director of Obywatel Miłość, decided to talk Anna into making the film, as he believed it to be the only chance to clear the air and protect the family. The authors of the film confirmed that it was the work of total amateurs and none of them had anything to do with films before that, but such an approach stemmed from reluctance to trust any strangers with doing it for them, in order to make sure that all conversations in it were intimate and credible. Did they deliver? A wave of positive feedback from the viewers is certainly a proof that they did.
The audience at the Tofifest IFF were grateful for the film as it helped them see in Grzegorz Ciechowski not just a legendary artist, but a warm and loving husband and father. Some of them said that they needed the film to put all the pieces in a logical order, and that the story, as beautiful and touching as it was, did call for some clarification and taking a solid stand on all the disinformation and lies that had accumulated over the years.
There was also a number of people among the audience, who actually remembered Grzegorz Ciechowski from his student years. We could hear stories about the parties they had together on New Year’s Eve, about the first rehearsals of the band recorded on cassettes, or memories from performances the band gave. The meeting was filled with many different emotions, and the beautiful and yet somewhat controversial story of the love that bonded the two people made participants talk about it fervently long after leaving the screening room.
Aleksandra Boniecka
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