Written and directed by: Konrad Szołajski
Camera: Kamil Król
Editing: Hanna Kłoskowska
Lenght: 49’
Completed: 2006
Production: Ewa Żukowska, Konrad Szołajski – ZK STUDIO, TVP S.A.

A Polish Film Institute Co-financed Production

About film:

The footage recorded with a hidden camera follows a female student meeting with men who would be willing to support her in exchange for sex. However, the film is not a documentary about sexual services but a presentation of working methods of an investigative reporter. ‘Deceiving’ or rather ‘undercover journalism’ is a method involving a reporter impersonates a member of the community he or she is trying to describe. The goal of such “impersonation” is to obtain a material that cannot be accessed in any other way – questions asked openly would influence the behaviour of the subjects in focus. The pioneer of ‘undercover journalism’ in Poland was Jerzy Urban, who opened a fictitious marriage agency in 1957 to conduct a survey among those who were looking for a spouse. He obtained results that were contradictory to the official image of the Polish society. Janusz Rolicki was his follower in the 1960s and he impersonated a blue collar worker, herdsman, sailor and finally – a corrupt liquidator who was later described in his book entitled ‘I took bribes’ (“Brałem łapówki”). Tomasz Łysiak calls various public institutions impersonating different people to collect examples of absurdities in modern Poland, which he presents on Radio WAWA in his radio show – ‘Detektyw Inwektyw’. The reporters of ‘Fakt’ are organizing an undercover report modelled on Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Inspector General’. By presenting examples of the most known ‘undercover operations’ this film poses questions about the ethical aspects of journalistic “cheating”.