A Meeting with Members of a Cult Band
Full auditorium, black and orange T-shirts worn by fans of the band, repeated applauses, and a lot of laughs. That is the shortest summary of the meeting with the band Kult and the author of the documentary film dedicated to the band. Torun is the second most important city in my life, said lead singer Kazik Staszewski, during the meeting. It was a great opportunity for the participants of the Tofifest festival to enjoy the film one month before its cinema première.
There is a group of people involved in Polish culture that somebody will make a film about, rest assured. It is usually just a matter of time. And there is no question that Kult, as a band “offering the best possible diagnosis of the reality in Poland,” as they are often defined, deserved such a film. Olga Bieniek, the author of Kult. Film, started working on the project back in 2013. Explaining why it took so long to make the film, she said that any film must be well thought-out. It is not about serving a ready product to the viewers in the fastest possible way. During the meeting, she also pointed out to the fact that such a long time of recording the band live was absolutely necessary, in order to be able to capture the performance of the band at this year’s edition of Pol’and’Rock Festival, which became an umbrella unifying their whole fanbase – one of the most loyal any band could wish to have. There was over half a million people, who came to see their concert, she said. Bassist Ireneusz Wereński answered the question whether the band could actually explain the phenomenon of the band’s immense popularity. He said: It is literally a shock, and it is beyond my comprehension. I do admire the scale, but I fail to understand it, he added, confirming the words you can hear in the film: There is no such thing as fans of Kult. There are only Kult maniacs.
One participant of the meeting asked a question, whether anybody had had fears that the portrayal of the band would come out as too smoothed out or too biased, given the fact that Olga Bieniek has an affinity for Kult. It is a documentary, not a puff piece, replied the film director, while members of the band added that they did not interfere with her vision and did their best to behave naturally and feel no constraints. They admitted, though, that the presence of a camera was a little intimidating at first. Olga Bieniek emphasised the fact that she did not feel like a director of the film, but rather its authors, explaining that nothing in the film was staged. The total of two hundred seventy hours of footage was shot in the natural environment of the band, i.e. during tours, rehearsals, at gigs, or even in their homes. All of that in an effort to offer a true picture of the band, instead of creating characters. It was also helpful to shoot the film over such a long time-span to have that effect, as Wojciech Jabłoński pointed out. He added that watching himself on the screen was sort of a personal trip to his inner self. Back in 2013, I was totally depressed. You can see in the film how deep my change really was.
Being a punk rock band, Kult is associated with rebelliousness, same as the Tofifest IFF, which has made it its motto. Somebody from the audience inquired, whether the rebel spirits they demonstrate in everyday life led to any conflicts regarding their world-views. They admitted having greatly diversified of views and opinions. Jarosław Ważny, for one thing, said that he and Janusz Grudziński differ in virtually all possible opinions and standpoints, and both of them avoid any potentially sensitive topics, being aware of the differences. We leave politics on the tour bus, he summed it up.
The people participating in the meeting remarked on the very strong bond between the members of the band. This film is first and foremost about friendship, emphasised Kazik Staszewski, while other members of the band clarified that it was in fact about many different forms of friendship, not just one. The film is about nine guys, each of them at different age, who live and work together, and the relationship it creates. It is also about Didi, a great fan of the band, who has become part of the band family, and about the bond between Kult and their fans, one which can only be described as friendship.
They sold only 14 tickets for their very first gig, and today Kult performs at sold-out events and still enjoy immense popularity. Kult. Film hits cinemas on 22nd November, while the famous Orange Tour (sometimes called the October Tour) is already rolling. Today, on 24th October, you will have a chance to see the band perform at the OdNowa Students’ Club in Torun.
Aleksandra Boniecka
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