Agnieszka Piotrowska

Piotrowska graduated from Birkbeck, University of London in 2012 with a PhD.[4] Her PhD thesis was the basis of her 2014 book Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary.[5] In 2015 she edited "Embodied Encounters: New Approaches to Psychoanalysis and Cinema".[6] She published two further monographs with Routledge: "Black and White: cinema, politics and the arts in Zimbabwe"(2017) [7] and "The Nasty Woman and the neo femme fatale in contemporary cinema" (2019)[8] as well as essays, chapters and another edited collection on psychoanalysis and culture [9] [10]

Piotrowska lives in London where she has been a Reader in Film Practice and Theory at University of Bedfordshire since 2013.[3][11] In 2017 Piotrowska was shortlisted for the Times Higher Award in the category of Excellence and Innovation in the Arts for her creative work in Zimbabwe.[12]

In 1993, a series of 12 films were planned on the life and ideas of important philosophers, focusing in particular on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, produced by Tariq Ali on behalf of Channel Four. Only four scripts were commissioned, Socrates by Howard Brenton, Spinoza by Tariq Ali, Locke by David Edgar and Wittgenstein by Terry Eagleton. Spinoza was filmed and directed by Chris Spencer as Spinoza : The Apostle of Reason. Citizen Locke was filmed and directed by Piotrowska. They were transmitted in the UK as 52 min long television films. Wittgenstein became a full film by Derek Jarman in 1993.[13]

Piotrowska's 1995 BBC documentary Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski,[14][15] about the Polish-American writer who committed suicide in New York, included a rare interview with Roman Polanski. It was nominated for the Arts Documentary Emmy in 1995.[16] Her 1998 Showgirl Stories was less favorably received.[17][18]

She directed two episodes of Channel 4's Cutting Edge, Love Hurts (1999),[19] about domestic violence, and Trapped By My Twin (2007),[20] [21] about twin sisters who are constantly together.

Another Channel 4 documentary directed by Piotrowska, Poker Club,[22] shown on Channel 4 in their Cutting Edge series, was criticized by Victoria Coren in her Poker memoir For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker.[23]

In 2001 Piotrowska did a series of "Self-Portraits" of photographers for the National Geographic Channel, including features on French war photographer Isabel Ellsen,[24] Polish photo journalist Tomasz Tomaszewski [25][26] and Indian fashion photographer Max Vadukul.[27] Another photographer, David Alan Harvey was the subject of Piotrowska's 2002 film for National Geographic Channel's "True Originals" series.[28]

In 2005 Piotrowska completed a feature-length documentary The Bigamists.[29]

In 2006 her documentary Conman With 14 Wives, about international fraudster Oliver Killeen was broadcast on Channel 5.[30] Killeen attempted to stop the broadcast of the documentary but he later changed his mind and even gave permission to Piotrowska to use their correspondence in her academic writing.[31]

In 2009 Piotrowska filmed a one-hour documentary about the Best Job in the World phenomenon, which was the highest-rated show of the week it was broadcast on BBC1. In July 2010 it was shown as part Birkbeck College's Business Week.[32]

Her iconic film "Married to the Eiffel Tower"[33] continues to be screened around the world at different events and conferences[34] as well as on television.[35] It features on-line in blogs[36][37][38][39] and in 2015 was the basis for an MA Thesis at the Central European University (Budapest).[40]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agnieszka Piotrowska.

• Agnieszka Piotrowska at IMDb
• Agnieszka Piotrowska Film-maker Author Scholar