National Film School in Łódź

Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź is appreciated and known throughout the world. PWSFTViT state university was founded on March 8th, 1948. It is one of the oldest film schools in the world. Famous American film magazine "The Hollywood Reporter" presented a ranking of film universities from around the world: "The Top 15", on second place, after London National Film and Television School was a film school in Łódź. Film School form Łódź is better listed than such giants as: the Paris Le Femis and Prague FAMU. The school educates directors, cinematographers, actors and screenwriters. Most famous graduates are: Roman Polanski (Oscar 2002, Golden Palm at Cannes 2002), Krzysztof Zanussi (Golden Lion in Venice and the Golden Lions), Krzysztof Kieslowski (European Film Award in 1988 and the Golden Lion), Andrzej Wajda (Oscar 2000, Golden Palm 1981). What distinguishes this school from many others, is a possibility to work with the professional film light-sensitive tape 35 mm.

ŁKS does not read books

Let's assume that you are foreigner, ok ? You learn or work in Poland or maybe you visit friends. Nevermind, you are here in Łódź. You are waiting for a bus and you start to look around. There are many advertising, banners and so on but you see also inscriptions on the walls. They are not beautiful or eye-catching but you also realize that people around you peek at them and smile. But why ?
First of all you must know that there are 2 football clubs based in Łódź. Widzew and ŁKS.
Widzew(RTS) was founded in 1922 and named after district of the city where it is based. Widzew has a lot of fans in Łódź. Their nickname is Czerwona Armia (Red Army). Widzew currently plays in the Polish Second Division.

ŁKS is based in the West of Łódź.  Unfortunately, after years of financial hardships, the club declared bankruptcy in May 2013. Now ŁKS competes in Fourth Polish Division.
The most important thing is that fans of these two clubs do not like each other but this statement does not fully reflect reality, if you know what I mean : )

In most cases this "war" is rude, offensive and inelegant. People on the streets screaming bad things, accusing everyone of being homosexual and stuff. This went on for a long time and is still ongoing but someone had a brilliant idea. If we still want to offend each other, let's make this less vulgar, in such a way that other people do not feel disgusted.

"ŁKS does not read books", "Widzew does not respect the fast", "ŁKS sleeps with socks on" and many others. To understand what's so funny, you have to know Polish culture, history and tradition, or you can ask your friend from Poland what it's all about. They are very sarcastic and ironic and ridiculous too.
It's very funny for us, even when we can't explain it. It's for us in some way natural that we understand it.
However I encourage all of you to ask your friends what these inscriptions mean. You can learn a lot about Polish mentality.

I post the website as well: https://www.facebook.com/FutbolFactoryPoLodzku

Check it out !

Light Move Festival

Light Move Festival was established by Cultural Foundation "LUX pro MONUMENTS" in 2011. It's a cultural and artistic event organized yearly in public spaces of Łódź for locals and tourists, where the first roles are played by the architecture, light, music and color. Free and open form of the event allows everyone to participate. This festival is a wonderful combination of light illuminations, installations, kinetic art, dynamics and 3D mapping. Tenement houses and buildings are illuminated with the use of ecological LED lights provided by Philips. The main goal of Light Move Festival is to promote the city of Łodz, both internally and externally, leading to change the city image that would attract the number of people seeking esthetic sensations that can be provided by light and impressive technology – which is the most effective way of getting the attention of multiple recipient. Every year the intention of Lux Pro Monumentis Foundation is to make these tree days of the Festival the time when the city is crowded, cheerful and capable of becoming artistically inspiring for locals, tourists and people associated with culture. 
LMF cooperates with  worldwide recognisable artists and light designers from Poland, France, Germany, Hungary and Great Britain. It also supports local artists and students from art schools, offering the opportunity to develop and exhibit their projects. Over 350 000 guests visited the festival during the last edition. The number of LMF participants is doubled every year.
Comparing to the 1st edition, total increase of audience in 2014 is 677%.

Light Move Festival statistics:
- 4,5 million of Internet searches
- over 17 000 active fans on Facebook
- over 6 000 pictures tagged with #lightmovefestival
- over 5 000 videos from last edition on YouTube
- 223 000 visits on the official festival web page
- advertising Value Equivalent of 856,829,00 zł

FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland

Are you interested in fashion? Even if you don't wear t-shirts designed by SOMEFAMOUSDESIGNER, you must take part in this event. FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland  is the biggest fashion event in East-Central Europe. It takes place twice a year. If you didn't see it yet, you should come in April this year and be a part of the XII edition. The members of Program Commitee are top authorities in the Polish fashion and media industries. The Poland Fashion Week  has earned international recognition. The event is a part of world Fashion Weeks. You don't have to spend a lot of money to go to Paris or Milan. You have all of this in ŁÓDŹ! Beautiful models, current trends, and of course you can buy something for yourself.

I think that, even if you are not a fashion blogger or you just don't pay attention on clothes every day, it is worth to see that huge world event.



To see more visit http://fashionweek.pl/

Walk of Fame

No visit to Lodz would be complete without a trip to Piotrkowska Street. The street is 4 km long and is said to be the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. If you feel lazy you can always take a ride in a rickshaw. There you can find interesting buildings, restaurants, cafes, shops and clubs.
The most interesting thing about Piotrkowska Street is Walk of Fame.

Borrowing the idea from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Łódź has created its own strip of sidewalk featuring star-shaped plaques honoring the best of Polish cinema. The Łódź Star Avenue is located at Piotrkowska Street, between 6 Sierpnia Street and Rubinstein Passage. The stars are on either side of Piotrkowska right outside the Grand Hotel and include names like Roman Polański, Jerzy Kawalerowicz and Pola Negri.  The originator of the Avenue was Polish actor Jan Machulski, who wished to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Łódź film school in 1996. The first star with the name of Andrzej Seweryn was uncovered in 1997. On the even number (east) side, there are stars of directors, cameramen, scenographers and film musicians. The odd number side is reserved for actors.  The idea of the Łódź Walk of Fame was to combine high culture with mass culture, which is why stars that shine the brightest are positioned next to ones that are remembered by few. The Chapter of the Star Avenue operates at the Museum of Cinematography in Łódź and the Łódź Film School.

OFF Piotrkowska

If you’re wondering what can you do in such beautiful city like Lodz, there is only one answer, nothing! Stay at home and barricade your doors! I’m kidding :D. Lodz is a very specific place, comparable to the  Detroit. We can take it for granted that its times of greatness are far away behind, but…Yes there is a "but"!

There are many interesting and fascinating places and the one of them is for sure OFF Piotrkowska. It’s a project created by Michal Stys. The main purpose of this investment is association of the creative industry. We can find there designers' and architects' workshops, music clubs, restaurants, exhibition places, rehearsal rooms, showrooms and concept stores. Everything is placed in old Ramisch’s cotton factory. ‘Never judge a book by its cover’, without any doubts this proverb match this place perfectly. At first sight, there is nothing beyond old, shabby buildings made of bricks, but this is only how it looks like from the outside. Inside is a pumping space filled with people where the  magic happens! I didn’t have the opportunity to visit all of the spots, but ‘Daleko Blisko’ is one of the most climatic coffee shop I have ever been to! It’s the mix of  good food and beer by day and tales from around the world by night. If you want to buy some clothes, you must visit ‘Sklad rzemiosl pieknych’. If you want to taste palm fruit soup, drop in to ‘MEG MU African food’. Printing photos? ‘Tkalnia obrazow’ is waiting for you! Good OFF-mainstream music? ‘Dom’ is the place where you will feel the bass! I could describe everything what you can find on OFF Piotrkowska but I won’t do this. Why? You must go there and explore it by yourself!

Below I’m posting a map, which will show you how get there!

International Festival of Comics and Games

International Festival of Comics and Games takes place every year in October. It's the biggest of this type of events in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, on which few thousand participants arrive from Poland and abroad .There are a lot of reasons why they come to Łódź - the possibility of meeting the most famous comics artists, shopping at the fair stands , taking part in workshops, visiting exhibitions and having  fun at the festival events. The festival takes place in Łódz since 1991 and is organized by the Association of Creators " Contur " and House of Culture.
Each festival is a meeting with drawers, writers and publishers who come to Łódź from all over the world. The festival has hosted artists, among other countries, from the USA, Canada, Russia, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Portugal, Austria and the UK. Invited authors not only meet with the audience, but also conduct drawing workshops and scenarios in which they learn to use the language of comics. Often, professionals and newcomers compete with each other during the "comic session” that is drawn live.

In 2009, formula of the festival zone has been expanded to games, where tournaments, presentations of Gaming Hardware and new realeses premieres take place. Thanks to the festival and the comics environment,  Łódź is known as the "Polish capital of the comic book." This allowed the organizers of the event to establish long-term cooperation with the biggest comic centers in Europe.