Father and Son on a Journey

Marcel Lozinski was born in May 1940 in Paris, and he spent part of his childhood in various children’s homes. His Jewish communist parents were members of the resistance. After the war he went with his mother to Poland, where he became a celebrated documentary maker of some 20 films. Prompted by his son Pawel, also a renowned documentarian, the pair embark on a road trip from Warsaw to Paris. Father and son point the camera at each other and themselves and take stock of one another. In the end, the two men each made their own film about this journey.

No subjects are off limits in the conversations that take place on the road. Pawel wants to know why his parents divorced and he criticizes his liberal upbringing, but he also poses open questions about sex and relationships. Meanwhile, Marcel evades the issues, explains and defends himself, and gives fatherly advice. While this travelogue interspersed with photographs and film footage from the family archives seems to have grown out of improvisation, the subtle editing results in a richly layered story.