Conversation with Patryk Rebisz does not resemble regular interview where you sit at a table, turn on your recorder and the dialogue has its own rhythm. A number of emails, a few hours of talking through a text messenger on top of that include the difference in time zones. From those conversations an image is born of a person still young (born 1980) but already accomplished. He already has worked on over 30 productions: TV commercials, feature films short films and music videos, and still he's talking about new ideas and plans for the next few months.

Besides working as director of photography he also has directed a number of short films, which thanks to the Internet were seen by over 150,000 people. One of his most recent “Between You and Me” has won awards on various film festivals. This four minute long film (shot with still camera) could be used as paraphrase of modern fascination with technology. Without technology, without the Internet his artistic production would be much harder if not impossible. Thanks to modern technology masses of people who have access to video cameras create films.This could be the reason why there is an avalanche of new film festivals and Internet showcases.

Rebisz's short films excel though as compared to other experimental productions. Each frame is visually refined and interestingly edited, often shot with natural light or with warm interior lighting – all that is so different from negligent form which so often is seen in short films. Award given at OFF Cinema in Poznan (Polish film festival) to “Stara Dacza” only proves that quality of the image is as important as the idea for the film.

Great pictures and Rebisz's bravery in his numerous experiments with film image show constant artistic growth and high professionalism. Rebisz has studies at Cooper Union School of Art where he certainly has found inspiration to experiment with his projects.

In our conversation we touch upon ways of making movies in New York City where borders between films, commercials and music videos is still very liquid. Never ending issues related to the productions and the problems that many low budget creations end up in swampy waters during post production. Banal American myth that everything is possible if there is desire sometimes doesn't come true. Still quite impressive artistic accomplishments of Patryk Rebisz shows something else. And even if he's still not Janusz Kaminski or Slawomir Idziak – who it's quote obvious are his idols - I'm pretty sure that we'll hear about Rebisz in the future.

You can visit his website at patrykrebisz.com where you can find his short films and fragments of other productions.

Where did your fascination with the camera come from?
The beginings were very different then usually for others. I started out working with video cameras and not film. Only later, because I had to, I picked up film cameras. At first I was studying painting. The thing though is that there is a problem with painting. You will work and work and people will spend only a few moments in front of your picture.

You think they never come back to those pictures? Why do we have museums?
There is this painting from XVIII, very small – i don't remember the artist – which shows interior of a museum, where aristocrats could go and watch hundreds of paintings – it looked like people who had access to hundreds of TV channels. If we assume that the TV is a “museum” for the masses then the real museums stopped being what it used to be. They started being some kind of amusement parks/churches - place people don't visits too often. In museums before the televisions the paintings were “stills from films” and it was up to the viewer to imaging what came before and what's coming after in that specific story.

Film images are easier accessible by people. The commercials exist in people's minds only for a few seconds, the time of the transmissions.
Film for sure is easier to understand. The production is a completely different matter – it's way more difficult, but because the satisfaction is also way bigger people keep creating movies even thou it's not easy.

How did you end up maing commercials? What's your role in convincing the client to buy given product?
Often the cause is the joy of making "something," not really importan what that something is. In reality no one really knows how it all works so the corporations are trying every possible way to try to sell. For instance "Marcus Hates his job" was a great idea. The concept was to create a series of short films and distribute them on the Internet. People could download them for free. Political correctness though cut out some of the humour.

How in a few minutes you can tell whole story?
The idea is very similar to a feature film. Hero going on aquest. Whats different is that quest must be finished much quicker. Feature lengh films talk about problems average viewer does not experience on daily basis – the problems are bigger then life. Short films on teh other hand talk about smaller issues. The problems need to fit its time frame. For instance it would be difficoult to extand any of the pieces of Kieslowski's "Decalogue" into a feature lenght story – the issues are perfect for its hour long format.

How did your eduaction at shool look like?
I was lucky enough to be accepted to Cooper Union Schol of Art which is the only (or one of the few) school in the country providing full scholarship to every of its students. Moreover the school does not have a specific major which means that it was up to me to choose what I'll concentrate on whether it was painting, film or anything else. At first I studied painting, then graphic design. About second year I choose filmmaking. People are attracted to stories...

How did you graduate from shooting personal short films? How did you enter this as your proffesion?
Right after school I was living off of financial aid. I started responding to help-wanted adds related to filming low and often no-budget productions.

Help-wanted adds?
For instance Columbia University has really good film program but not technically, so many people making films there are looking for DP's (director of photography) outside the walls of school.

How many from those productions end up being seen by general audiences? Is there some niche of viewers for those kind of films?
Electronic revolution caused that the technical and financial level of entrance is much lower so people started filming more. There is so many filmmakers out there that you can quite easily work in the field and support yourself. In the States alone you have a few hundred film festivals. Fast Internet connections cause that more and more people are looking to the Internet to find entertainment. Markets for short films are booming! The only problem is how to market short films and make them profitable. A movie ticket to see two-hour-long film costs $10 so ten-minute-long film should cost no more than a dollar. Unfortunately a dollar doesn't even cover the DVD it was printed on.

In Poland, unfortunately there is no space to present short productions other then at special presentations. There is also the Internet. The only exception might be films by Tomek Bagienski, but even those are showed only before feature films. If in the States there is such interest, is it worthy to send your films to say Poland?
Why not? The more people see your work the better. A number of times working on some projects during breaks we spoke about what we do. People would tell me that they saw “Between You and Me” long before they meet me. Great feeling! Once a guy started telling me about this one film not even knowing that I made it.

Where did the idea for “Between You and Me” came from?
It was suppose to be a commercial. A girl in a store sees a guy. She touches his shirt. He sees her. She's pretty – he thinks. They go on a date that we watch in extremely fast tempo. In the evening they go to his apartment, the same shirt lands in the laundry basket with the logo of the company. Whole day told in 30 seconds. Tons of locations, tons of extremely short takes often no longer then a few frames. I didn't want to (and probably couldn't) bring extra light so I needed very light-sensitive camera. Instead of normal film camera I decided to use photo camera that shoots at 5 frames per second was ideal for this project. We didn't end up making this spot but the idea was still in my head. How to use this technology? Maybe a short film? But how to incorporate the technology into the story?

In those few minutes there is a number of motifs. There is fascination with the camera presented as our second eye without which many can't live. Looking at the increase in the number of people owning even simplest digital cameras i keep thinking of a theory by Walter Benjamin. How can one nowdays distinguish real representation, original from a copy, reproduction of that what is reality? Which one is real if that image can be recreated again?
It's hard for me to talk about truth as making movies is lies from the very beginning.

Second issue is your fascination with the city probably very usual to everyone living in New York City or any other big metropolis.
Yes, you are right. Especially at night there is this strange energy in the air.

If “BYaM” wasn't available on the Internet would it be seen by so many people?
Probably not, but if not for the technology the film itself wouldn't be possible. If not for the technology I wouldn't be able to experiment with photographic film.

“Serial” is the first feature film you have shot. The next one was “Good Times.” How easy was to cross from short films into feature length? In Poland it's still very hard.
“Serial” was a strange project. It was low budget (about $ 75,000), almost without any lights, and everything filmed using “real” camera – seen through the lens of the camera that was there in real life (TV news camera, etc.). I was making very little money but I was really happy because from now on I could say I have shot a feature length film. For the directors it was first feature-length project too and I think they were a bit scared. They didn't want someone who would look at them from above. “Good Times” on the other hand got stuck in the post production. Money ran out when we have shot about 90% of the material. In theory there was enough to edit something out of it so that it could make some sense. At first “I Believe in America” too had money problems in post production. The film cost about $500,000 and it was hard to imaging that that amount of money would be wasted.

What is that last film about? Puerto Rico. Sounds serious.
Puerto Rico has fought for independence; a number of political prisoners were killed by CIA. When Hillary Clinton was running to be a governor, Bill Clinton has freed a number of political prisoners only so his wife would be seen favorably by Puerto Rican community.

But it's not what this film is all about?
Indeed. The film is something of Puerto Rican “Godfather.” It's a story of a family living on two sides of the front in the battle for the independence of Puerto Rico. The story revolves around Reynaldo.P. Ferrera, a former activist now living under a different name. His father – Popo, a high level member of the organization, is now posing as a double agent in order to protect his family. Reynaldo wants to avenge his son's death and come to peace with his past. The film is a pilgrimage of this family’s journey and an entire culture.

There were working actors used to high level productions. Are actors, used to high rates, willing to work on movies with low budget?
“I Believe...” was shot under SAG modified agreement. Actors had a daily minimum but of course often they were getting extra perks. We had a good person doing casting so we had access to many really great actors. At first it was told that Kevin Bacon and Luis Guzman might play but it felt apart in the negotiations.

Lead character was played by Jamie Harris – really good actor – earlier he filmed “New World” with Terrence Mallick. I really liked him because he knew how to “help” me. He knew where the light is so each take with him look really great.

TV commercials, short and long films, paintings, music videos. What hasn't you touched? What else do you want to try?
Back in school we were told that we are here because we like to do “something.” And what that “something” is doesn't really matter. I like to tell stories with pictures.

“Between You and Me” ends as the real story was about to start. With the last frame of the film one once to ask: the end already? Is there going to be more?
At this moment I'm working on a number of projects. One of them is a series of fifteen short stories told using still camera. It's going to be a feature length but I also want to make it accessible on the Internet as a series of little vignettes.

And “The Doorman” - what is that film about? Is it short film too?
No, it's 75 minutes. Working on that project I learned that “no one knows anything and everyone know everything.” Documentary film crew is making a film about Trevor – the doorman, who is trying to present himself in better colors then real. In mean time he looses his job but he still pretends that everything is OK. He decides to use his connections to find another job as a star of show business: a rock star or TV presenter. Film shows that fame is often more our own invention that anything real. The best thing is that you never know what's real and what's fiction. Sometimes after a scene the directors says Cut and I double check to see whether he's still playing the director or is really telling me to stop the camera. We have access to a number of famous people, we tell them about the project and they agree to be in it. In front of the camera people say such thing... Unbelievable!

In films directed by you do you use professional actors or your friends?
Depending on how you define “professional actors” - in New York City almost every waiter is an actor. During the auditions I never pay attention whether someone was trained or not – I care whether in the actor/person there is this something that can sell the character really quickly. ...And of course whether they can follow directions.

Are the connections you make while working on those films working out?
Yes, but it's often based on the character. I have very easy approach to life and like to work with others with similar approach. When I collect a crew for next production I tell the producers to call this and this and this person because they are good people. The person who recommended me for “I Believe...” was one of the directors of “Serial.” And now the most recent feature (“He & She”) I'm shooting though recommendations too. Finally I'll be working with other Poles! All those connections are though the type: I know this guy and he's really cool, we never drank beer together but he's got skills and will work for this film.

It started out from help-wanted adds and now through recommendations.
Yes, and I don't have to eat pasta with sugar anymore!