This Wednesday at Collegium Civitas, there took place a unique meeting Kordian Kądziela, the director of the Netflix series 1670 and the feature film LARP: Love, Trolls and Other Quests, set to premiere in Polish cinemas on October 17. Kądziela, who comes from our region’s Głogówek, spoke with students about his inspirations, the behind-the-scenes process, film studies, and the creative journey that shaped his work. The event, organized by the Faculty of Political Science and Social Communication, drew a full house, as many students interested in the field, from both Poland and abroad, filled every seat to listen and take part in the conversation.
1670 is a Polish historical comedy available on Netflix that combines humor with social commentary. Set in the fictional 17th-century village of Adamczycha, the series cleverly plays with language, anachronisms, and all kinds of modern stereotypes to create a satirically-driven reflection of contemporary society. This had brought on the challenges of casting, noting that some roles even changed hands during preparation. As was explained, Polish comedy often follows a Russian-style tradition of very exaggerated acting, while he aimed for a much more subtle, American-style “cringe” humor — based on realism rather than overstatement. Despite this small difficulty, he added that, in his opinion, local, Polish comedy is evolving and gaining new life after years of stagnation.
He also discussed the differences between the seasons: the first leaned toward a sitcom format, while the second became more experimental and artistic. He mentioned that the third season will aim to strike a balance between the two approaches and introduce new themes to keep the story evolving. He also mentioned that the show was originally written with a summer setting in mind, but filming and release schedules shifted it to December. This unexpected change forced the team to adapt many visual aspects of the production — and the ever-present mud, as he noted, ultimately became one of the defining visual features of the first season. One of the most interesting moments of the event came when a student asked about the absence of fourth-wall breaks in more melodramatic scenes. Kądziela admitted that this piece of observation might spark discussions within his creative team and might influence future ideas for the show.
LARP: Love, Trolls and Other Quests is an upcoming coming-of-age story blending comedy and fantasy. It follows a seventeen-year-old named Sergiusz, who finds both virtual and real-world spaces for his self-expression through live-action role-playing games and fantasy literature, while navigating the complexities of family life and young love. The project began as a short student film that won awards at festivals in Barcelona and Brest. In its short version, LARP represents a long-awaited passion project for Kądziela — a film that, as he said, took years to complete due to other creative commitments but is now ready to meet audiences in cinemas.
The Interview
Q: What is the situation the third season of 1670?
A: The third season is already confirmed. Yesterday I was still on set: we’re finishing filming now. We have eight shooting days left, so we’re almost done. It will definitely come out next year, but I don’t yet know which month — probably early summer or late autumn — the decision hasn’t been made yet. We’d like to make a fourth season, but there’s no decision on that yet. We’re waiting for Netflix to respond, they have this rule that you have to wait a month after a season’s premiere before they decide about the next ones. (…) There might be completely different territories coming, with some elements of the Opole region in there, but unfortunately, I cannot confirm that.
Q: Was it planned from the beginning that the series would go on for this long?
A: No, there was never any plan to make more than one season. The fact that there are more is entirely thanks to how successful the first one was. Thinking from the start that there would definitely be three seasons would have been madness. Nowadays, things move so fast: a show can appear overnight and disappear just as quickly. If people do not watch it, it is over. But if something truly connects with the audience and becomes popular and easy to recognize, then you can start thinking about continuing it. It is simply impossible to predict something three seasons ahead.
Q: Did you expect such a huge response, that people would become so fascinated, that there would even be fan clubs for characters like Father Jakub?
A: No, that is something you simply cannot predict. Of course, we hoped people would like it — not just us, but a broader audience — but no one expected it to blow up like this. There were so many memes, so much merchandise, and even two Polish prime ministers referenced the show in the month it premiered. First Prime Minister Morawiecki, just before losing power, and then Mr. Tusk from the opposition, it was completely surreal. We also knew it probably would not happen again, that this kind of craze only comes once. Right after the first season premiered, we had a meeting with the main creative team. We said then that it all felt surreal and amazing, but also a bit melancholic, because we realized that we would probably never experience that kind of madness again.
Q: What was it like working with Netflix?
A: Fantastic. Contrary to what people often say, Netflix is not really that “safe” or conservative. I think that is more of an internet stereotype: that Netflix only makes predictable, soft content. But they have plenty of edgy titles; it is just that online people tend to repeat that image. It is not a family-friendly service, after all. For us, the collaboration was a dream: we had complete creative freedom. We were actually very surprised, because we also believed in that myth that Netflix controls everything. But they simply trusted us to make our own, original show. It is a genre show, yes, but also a very authorial one, which is rare these days. Nothing was algorithmically calculated; no one told us how much humor or what kinds of plots to include. Netflix gave us freedom. Their representatives only visited the set a few times. We felt fully supported and creatively free.
Q: What makes you the most proud in regards to your work?
A: For me, I think the best compliment is when something enters everyday language. It’s great when lines that at first belong only to us, to our circle, start to live outside of it. Of course, there are those one-liners — all the “swój chłop” (“one of us”) stuff and so on — but I actually prefer the longer ones, the ones that never became popular. For example, in the second season, my favorite line is something that didn’t catch on at all. It’s when Andrzej says to Jan Paweł at the festival: “John Paul, one thing I know about you is that you’re not an altruist,” and John Paul replies, “That’s true, but I can play something on the flute.”
Q: What do you think about the international reception of the series, how it has been received outside of Poland?
A: From what I know, it’s been received mainly in neighboring countries, so to speak. It’s really our kind of humor. Sure, it has some viewership in the U.S. and on larger markets like India, but not as much as some other Polish series. For example, Sexify did much better in the U.S. and India, but much worse in Poland and nearby countries. It is “our kind” of a show and we are actually proud of that, that it is watched mostly in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary, but interestingly also in Italy. It surpeised us, that it is doing quite well there, mainly thanks to a really good dubbing version that added a bit of Italian flavor and humor. So yes, we can say the series is popular mostly in our region, but it is also starting to gain recognition in Italy, which makes us very happy.
Q: What is the current outlook regarding the upcoming movie?
A: It’s going to premiere next week, on Friday the 17th. We invite everyone to the cinemas. It’s a film that I hope will start gaining attention once it’s out, since it hasn’t premiered yet. We’ve just come back from Gdynia, really encouraged by the feedback — the reviews after the festival were very positive. So I hope it finds its audience in Poland. There was a Young Jury Award, a prize in Montreal for the screenplay, and just this past weekend at a German festival I received another Young Jury Award. And there was also an award for actor Andrzej Konopka, who, in my opinion, gave a wonderful performance as the father of the main character. So far, the film has been received very well, festivals are giving us awards, and the reviews are positive. I hope it stays that way.
We are very thankful to the organizers and the special guest for this inspiring meeting, which brought film, creativity, and conversation together in one unforgettable afternoon. As we prepare future interviews with other remarkable figures, we invite all our readers to explore the works mentioned above as soon as possible.
(photo: OPOlink.pl; transcripts are partially based on the Radio Sygnały article by Edmund Borla)
