Fantastic Matt Parey

The film attempts to capture the phenomenon of Maciej Parowski – the editor responsible for launching the careers of several generations of Polish science fiction and fantasy writers. He played a key role in the success of Andrzej Sapkowski’s “The Witcher” – developed by CD PROJEKT RED into a video game franchise and later adapted into a Netflix saga, as well as the Tomasz Baginski’s Oscar®-nominated short “The Cathedral”, based on a short story by Jacek Dukaj.

The documentary traces Parowski’s life through several pivotal moments in Poland’s history: from the turmoil of the communist times and the period of systemic transformation to the rise of the internet and the decline of print media. We get to know Maciej as remembered by his family, friends, collaborators and science fiction experts. This commentary is intertwined with comic book-style sequences in which we follow the protagonist’s animated alter-ego. The eponymous Matt Parey, seemingly less conspicuous than the talent he promoted, continued to shape the Polish science fiction scene through decades.