PhD Aleksandra Zienowicz-Wielebska – sport psychologist and performance psychologist, practitioner and educator, active in the profession since 2011. She cooperates with the Branch Departments of the SWPS University Sopot and Katowice. She works with sportspeople at the youth and senior levels as well as
with the representatives of other performance areas (mainly with filmmakers).

As part of her individual practice in sport psychology, she specializes in working with martial artists and water sports athletes. She has been associated with the women’s handball super league team “Młyny Stoisław”; Koszalin for several seasons.

She earned her PhD from the Faculty of Management and Social Communication at the Jagiellonian University. Her thesis entitled “The system of values and leadership styles of directors and producers and the well-being and achievement motivation of other film crew members” was thematically inscribed in the field of the psychology of filmmakers. Co-author of the project “Performance psychology for filmmakers”;. In collaboration with Ewa Serwotka and Pola Weiner she wrote the book “Achievement Psychology for
Filmmakers”; (2017), commissioned by the Wojciech Marzec Publishing House.

Together with her team, she carried out projects on the psychology of filmmakers, including for:
– Cineo Studio, project "PRODUCTION FARM IV – Algorithm for calculating production
costs and film profitability” (2019),
– Władysław Ślesicki Film Foundation, project "IMPAKT" (2018-2019, 2019-2020),
– National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers, project "Accelerator for young entrepreneurs
from the AV industry" (2020),
– Wajda School,
– Lodz Film School,
– Gdynia Film School.
Since 2017, “Performance psychology for filmmakers”; has been part of the New Film Studies postgraduate program at the SWPS University in Warsaw, created and directed by Martyna Harland (Filmoterapia.pl), and is also part of Filmotherapy with Meaning.

Web address: http://www.aleksandrazienowicz.com/

Scope of consultation:
Filmmakers, like athletes or businessmen, can optimize (improve) their performances. In
order to do so, they need a number of mental skills, such as: focusing attention, coping with
pressure, emotional self-control, managing energy resources. Helpful in improving these

skills is performance psychology, which is concerned with developing a growth mindset and
maintaining optimal performance over the long term. It also includes techniques and tools
for:
● learning skills to manage cognitive load (e.g. volume of decision making),
● building habits aimed at taking care of mental and physical health,
● resilience (e.g. adaptation to changing conditions),
● forming self-awareness,
● building relationships,
● choosing and pursuing priorities,
● regulation of psychophysical arousal,
● managing stress and emotions.
In practice, the team implementing the project “Performance Psychology for filmmakers”:
● prepares directors or producers for pitchings,
● works with actors on their casting readiness,
● supports film crew members during filming,
● cooperates with the film crew during pre-production in order to prepare them mentally
for the challenges of working on a film set,
● assists in defining the professional path and the individual steps for their realization,
● provides assistance in forming self-awareness in the profession and in functioning
outside the film.