Attention, they shoot… films

Filming in Praga

Praga, with its preserved historical atmosphere, is often chosen as a site by filmmakers.  The tenement houses in Praga make up the scene for many productions, especially those related to the war period, but by no means confined to them.

The district appears not only in feature films, but also in documentaries and reports.  The productions shot in this area are not only a form of entertainment, but often provide information about buildings that no longer exist or give a glimpse of how the area looked decades go.

The filmmakers are particularly fond of Mała Street, which stretches from Inżynierska Street to Konopacka Street.  The road was laid down on private land belonging to Ludwik Walusiński.  Mała had a role in the 2002 war drama ‘The Pianist’ directed by Roman Polański, where she represented the ghetto.  To this day, on the gable wall of the tenement house at No. 12, one can see an advertisement for ‘Dobrolin’ shoe polish, created for the purposes of a film, and often confused with an authentic, pre-war advertisement.  Mała Street appeared in the 2014 film ‘Miasto 44’ directed by Jan Komasa.  Among the older productions in which this Praga street appears on the big screen are ‘Pokolenie’ from 1954 (directed by Andrzej Wajda) ‘Cafe pod Minogą’ from 1959 (directed by Bronisław Brok), ‘Girls from Nowolipki’ from 1985 (directed by Barbara Sass) or ‘Korczak’ from 1990 (directed by Andrzej Wajda).  Mała also starred in the series ‘Kolumbowie’ from 1970 (directed by Janusz Morgenstern) and ‘Wiedźmy’ from 2005 (directed by Jan Kidawa-Błoński).

When sightseeing the Praga buildings that have appeared on the big screen, it is worth going to Kowelska Street, where at No. 6 there is a tenement house built for Maria Kossakowska.  The façade of the house has kept traces of the ‘false’ architectural details created for the ‘House’ series.  From the 13th episode onwards, the building represented a tenement house at 6 Złota Street.

Praga appears in the 1973 series ‘Stawiam na Tolka Banana.’  On the screen, one can see the buildings of the Warsaw Metal Goods Factory “Wulkan” at 4-6 Jagiellońska Street, which no longer exists.  There are also buildings from Kamionek (Praga South): a tenement house at 14 Targowa Street and a Bereżyński villa called ‘the villa with bubbles,’ which stood in the area of ‘Dzwonkowa’ by the Kamionkowskie Lake.

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ul. Mała