Chamber Pieces

Like curling up with a good book, there’s something deliciously seductive about chamber piece films. Sometimes cited as Chamber Dramas. They usually involve a small number of characters ‘Sleuth’ just two, ‘Buried’ only one. Mainly set at one or two locations, over a limited period of time, the closeted settings give the films an especially intimate feel, as if it’s just you and the characters in on the same joke, or that you the audience have been invited to a very exclusive party with a superior view of all that’s going on. They can provide one of the most rewarding and fun detours for film audiences, commonly derived from plays, ‘Death and the Maiden’, ‘Who’s Afraid of a Virginia Woolf’ and often with either a wildly inventive or dark and diabolical trick at their hearts, ‘Rope’, ‘Dogville’. Dialogue, plot and the actors’ performances are intrinsic to their success. However they’re also, for obvious reasons, the darling of the low budget and microbudget filmmaker, ‘Festen’, ‘Cube’, ‘Tape’. We’re big advocators of their tight structures at the BFA and the World Film Showcase, three of our forthcoming original content films could be considered chamber pieces; ‘Drowning Room Only’ ‘The Blood of an Englishman’ and ‘Misadventure’. And we have a film belief that filmmakers should embrace their restrictions and relish them for the creatively vitalising, subversive and daring stories they inspire.

Knife in the Water

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) nearly run over a young hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz). Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences. This was the first feature directed by Roman Polanski.

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