Budimex will build a gateway to the world of cinema in Warsaw. Establishment of an Educator with a Film Park

On 30 September this year, the general contractor signed an agreement with the Documentary and Feature Film Studio in Warsaw for the implementation of the Educator with the Film Park. A modern space will be created at 21 Chełmska Street, which will allow visitors to take a look behind the scenes of Polish cinema. The investment will combine film education with a public park and an open-air cinema. The value of the contract was PLN 61.36 million, and the project is to be completed by May 2028.

As part of the signed agreement, Budimex will carry out an investment on the premises of the legendary Warsaw Documentary and Feature Film Studio at 21 Chełmska Street. The Educatatorium will be a place of educational workshops, during which participants will learn about the entire process of making a film, from the script, through work on the set, to editing, sound, animation and special effects. An integral part of the project will be the green Film Park, which is a space open to residents for recreation, education and meetings. In the summer, an open-air cinema will become its heart. The entire complex will be available to, m.in, children, young people, students, seniors and anyone interested in film and the history of Polish cinematography.

How will the Film Park be designed?

The symbolic beginning of the visit will be the “gateway to the world of cinema”, i.e. the main entrance designed as a metal installation, which will feature the story of Kazimierz Prószyński – a pioneer of Polish cinematography, a director from the beginning of the 20th century. On the gates of the park there will also be a motif related to the film “Slide in the Łazienki”, considered to be the first recorded moving image in Poland.

” Film and construction have more in common than it may seem. Before the viewer can see the finished film, a good script, preparation of a plan and the work of many specialists are needed. The same is true of a large investment. Before we can see its effect, we need to get to know the area well, plan each stage and coordinate the work of many teams. We will create a place on Chełmska Street that will show exactly what is not seen on a daily basis. We are glad that as Budimex we can add our own chapter to this story ,” says Andrzej Sowa, Director of the Budimex SA Branch.

A scope of work that will please every resident of Warsaw

The two-storey Educatatorium will have 2999 m² of usable space. Its interiors will include educational spaces dedicated to individual stages of film production, m.in. rooms related to editing, sound production, animation and special effects, as well as a media library with an audio library and a projection room for 150 people. The assumption of the project is to enable visitors to learn about the stages of film production and experience how films are made.

– The Educator with the Film Park is the first stage of a strategic investment aimed at creating an innovative WFDiF film complex at 21 Chełmska Street. This is a particularly important project for us, as it develops the Studio’s many years of experience in conducting film education and conducting workshops for children, young people and adults. The Educator will create new opportunities for the development of these activities. A place is being created where film education will meet with cinema, its creators and audiences, creating a place open to learning about and experiencing film culture. –  said the Director of WFDiF, Agnieszka Będkowska.

In the green Film Park, the company will implement a path called “How a film is made”, which will present the next stages of film production in an accessible way. For the youngest, the Glade of Young Stunts will be created, i.e. a space for climbing and active play. This is a particularly important activity in the context of research conducted in March this year by the Academy of Physical Education, according to which over 90 percent of children in Poland do not have sufficient motor skills

New summer cinema on the map of Warsaw

The heart of the Film Park will be an open-air cinema, which will host film screenings for children and adults in the summer. The whole is to serve as Warsaw’s “third place”, i.e. – according to the concept of the American sociologist Ray Oldenburg – a space functioning between home and work, conducive to meetings, building relationships and activity of the local community. The investment will also include rain gardens supporting water retention, gazebos made of live willow and plantings of melliferous and nectar-bearing plants.

The implementation of the Educatorium with the Film Park develops Budimex’s experience in the implementation of educational, social and cultural facilities. In recent years, the company has been responsible, m.in, for the construction of the Museum of Polish History in Warsaw, and is currently implementing further investments related to culture and heritage, including the new headquarters of the Jewish Theatre and the Jerzy Kukuczka Himalayan Centre. The complex under construction at Chełmska Street will be a place that will combine education, culture and recreation in a space accessible to all residents of the capital.