Lech Kowalski

Lech Kowalski

Born 1951
London, England, UK

Biography

He was born in London to Polish parents displaced during World War II, and grew up in the United States. While in high school he started filming in super 8. He later studied at the New York School of Visual Arts, while working to maintain himself. He began in film as Tom Reichmann's assistant, and also worked on a variety of jobs: from porn films to being Shirley Clarke's assistant. In the late seventies, he got into the punk scene and made the cult film D.O.A. (1981), about the Sex Pistols. Later he also portrayed the hip hop scene in his short Breakdance Test. Following by films such as Gringo, about the art scene and drugs on the Lower East Side, and Rock Soup, about a social dining room. In 1991 he made the film about punk musician Johnny Thunders Born To Lose (the last rock and roll movie). At the end of the 90s he returned Europe and produced the Polish trilogy  to The Fabulous Art of Surviving. In the 2000's his cinema was split between punk and social struggles, carrying out several experimental and performative projects and gaining international prestige. His other films are Holy Field Holy War (SEFF 2013), I Pay for Your Story (2017) and Blow it to Bits, which premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes.

Festival de Cine de Sevilla

Director

Producer

Screenwriter

Movies
1975

New Loops

Documentaries
2019

Blow It to Bits

2013

Drill Baby Drill (TV movie)

2007

Winners and Losers

2005

East of Paradise

1980

D.O.A.

Cinematographer

Editor

Actor

Documentaries
2002

On Hitler's Highway - narrator

2000

Un-Defining Punk

Composer

Documentaries
2002

The Boot Factory