Composer Paweł Lucewicz has been presented with the 2023 International Film Music Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Composer of the Year, by IFMCA member Tomasz Ludward.
Lucewicz’s major score of 2023 was for the Polish drama film Znachor, or Forgotten Love, a remake of the beloved 1982 Polish film of the same name, which was itself based on a popular novel by Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz. Set in interwar Poland, the plot revolves around Dr. Marian Zych, a charismatic and unconventional healer who becomes known as ‘Znachor,’ a term that can be translated as a ‘quack’ or ‘charlatan’. The film follows Zych’s life as he travels from town to town, gaining fame and popularity for his seemingly miraculous healing abilities, despite him apparently lacking a formal medical education. However, Zych has a complicated personal and family life, and as the story progresses the story looks at his hidden history, while simultaneously delving into the social and political issues of Poland the time, providing a satirical commentary on the state of Polish society. The new film is directed by Michał Gazda and stars Leszek Lichota in the title role.
The other nominees in the Breakthrough category were Sherri Chung, Michael “Mika” Penniman Jr., Łukasz “L.U.C” Rostkowski, and Corey Wallace.
Lucewicz’s score is traditionally lush and romantic orchestral score in the film music tradition of composers like John Barry and Thomas Newman. IFMCA member Jon Broxton praised the score “being deeply emotional,” saying that “the first half of the score is mostly about loss and has a sense of melancholy, while the second half wallows in wonderous, heartfelt romance.”
This is the first IFMCA Award win of Lucewicz’s career; in addition to Breakthrough Composer, he was also nominated for Best Original Score for a Drama Film for the same project.
Lucewicz was born in June 1985 in Poznań, Poland, and is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano, percussion, jazz, and classical conducting. He made his debut as a composer of theatrical music at the Rondo Theatre in Słupsk, with a composition for the play “Dinner at Beelzebub’s” directed by Stanisław Miedziewski, and made his film music debut in 2010, composing music for the film Pixels directed by Jacek Lusiński.
He has since composed music for over forty films and TV shows, mostly in Poland, including the documentary series September 1939, Carte Blanche, The Black Mercedes, The Boxer, Disco Polo, Beneath the Surface, The Prosecutor, Don’t Worry About Me, The Guilty Century, and Szadź. In 2012 he was nominated for the “BoWarto!” award for the best young film music composer by the RMF Classic radio station. In 2013 he was nominated for Best Music Award at the Milan International Film Festival for his score for the film Beauty and the Breast. In 2014, he composed and produced the song “Miasto” (“City”) for Jan Komasa’s film Miasto ’44. The song, performed by Ania Iwanek and Pati Sokół with a guest appearance by Piotr Cugowski, reached number two on the Radio Zet Hit List, and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks.
See below for the acceptance speech and video interview conducted by Ludward: