Polish Cinema

PERFORMING ARTS • FILM HISTORY

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF

Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 19

MAREK HALTOF is professor of film in the English Department at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. His recent books include Polish National Cinema (2002), The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance (2004), and Australian Cinema: The Screen Construction of Australia (2005).

For orders and information please contact the publisher SCARECROW PRESS, INC. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 1-800-462-6420 • fax 717-794-3803 www.scarecrowpress.com COVER PHOTO: Zbigniew Zamachowski (left) and Janusz Gajos in Three Colors: White (1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski). Courtesy of the National Film Archive (Filmoteka Narodowa) in Warsaw.

COVER DESIGN by Allison Nealon.

HD Polish Cinema_LITHO.indd 1

POLISH CINEMA

POLISH CINEMA

Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema fills the gap in film scholarship, presenting an extensive factual survey of Polish film. Through a chronology; an introductory essay; appendixes; a bibliography; and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on films, directors, actors, producers, and film institutions, a balanced picture of the richness of Polish cinema is presented. Readers with professional interest in cinema will welcome this new work, which will enhance senior undergraduate or postgraduate courses in film studies.

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF

In 1902, scientist and inventor Kazimierz Prószynski ´ made the first Polish narrative film, The Return of a Merry Fellow. Since then, the Polish film industry has produced a diverse body of work, ranging from patriotic melodramas and epic adaptations of the national literary canon to Yiddish cinema and films portraying the corrupt side of communism. Poland has produced several internationally known films, including Andrzej Wajda’s war trilogy, A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958); Roman Pola nski’s ´ Knife in the Water (1962); and Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963). Often performing specific political and cultural duties for their nation, Polish filmmakers were well aware of their role as educators, entertainers, social activists, and political leaders.

HALTOF

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5566-3 ISBN-10: 0-8108-5566-6

MAREK HALTOF

8/13/07 1:58:22 PM

HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1.

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Science Fiction Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2004.

Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes, 2007.

American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2005.

Japanese Traditional Theatre, by Samuel L. Leiter, 2006.

Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2005.

Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol Vieth, 2006.

African-American Television, by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, 2006.

Lesbian Literature, by Meredith Miller, 2006.

Scandinavian Literature and Theater, by Jan Sjรฅvik, 2006.

British Radio, by Seรกn Street, 2006.

German Theater, by William Grange, 2006.

African American Cinema, by S. Torriano Berry and Venise Berry, 2006.

Sacred Music, by Joseph P. Swain, 2006.

Russian Theater, by Laurence Senelick, 2007.

French Cinema, by Dayna Oscherwitz and MaryEllen Higgins, 2007.

Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2007.

Irish Cinema, by Roderick Flynn and Pat Brereton, 2007.

Australian Radio and Television, by Albert Moran and Chris Keating, 2007.

Polish Cinema, by Marek Haltof, 2007.

Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema Marek Haltof

Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, No. 19

The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2007

SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America

by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2007 by Marek Haltof All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Haltof, Marek.

Historical dictionary of Polish cinema / Marek Haltof. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of literature and the arts ; no. 19) Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5566-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8108-5566-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—Poland—Dictionaries. I. Title.

PN1993.5.P55H34 2007 791.4309438’03—dc22 2007017440

∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

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Contents

Editor’s Foreword

Jon Woronoff

vii

Preface

ix

Acknowledgments

xi

Reader’s Note

xiii

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

xv

Chronology

xvii

Introduction

xxxiii

THE DICTIONARY

1

Appendix A: Fifty Biggest Box-Office Hits on Polish Screens from 1945 to 2000

219

Appendix B: Twenty Best Polish Television Films

223

Bibliography

225

About the Author

261

v

Editor’s Foreword

That the Polish national cinema has survived—and occasionally thrived—is amazing, almost as amazing as the fact that the country itself has managed to survive. Indeed, the beginnings of cinema occurred at a time when Poland had already disappeared as a state, shared among its neighbors, and early films were screened before it regained its independence in 1918. Ever since then, under a variety of Polish regimes, and then under domination of Germany and the Soviet Union—aside from the period of World War II—films have continued appearing as they do today in a more relaxed if strongly commercial atmosphere.

Many of them were specifically Polish, of little interest to outsiders but precious for the Poles in maintaining their national identity, but others were more universal in scope, regularly winning awards abroad and appearing in art cinemas around the world. Meanwhile, some Polish actors and especially directors such as Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and Roman Polański attracted exceptional attention at home and abroad.

Admittedly, things have not been easy for the Polish film industry in the past, nor indeed today, in an age of globalization with world cinema heavily dominated by Hollywood, but there is justified hope that this intriguing national cinema will continue to flourish.

While most film buffs will readily agree that Polish cinema is definitely of interest, and worthy of study, they had to concede that it was not that easy to learn about given the limited literature. This more than justifies the Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema, which fills some gaps, but more pertinently provides the broader context in which Polish cinema can be better understood. This is actually done twice, first in a chronology, which charts its course over more than a century, and then in an introduction, which helps us see what makes it specific and different from, and what makes it similar to, other national cinemas. The dictionary backs this up with many of the details in entries on leading vii

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EDITOR’S FOREWORD

actors, directors, and others who make the films, the studios and “film units” they worked with, and the films they produced. Other entries describe major themes, notable genres, and basic trends. The bibliography, inevitably largely in Polish but with significant English-language works as well, can help readers find further information.

There are not many who could have written this book, indeed, exceedingly few, and it was fortunate that the task was taken on by Marek Haltof. Born and partially educated in Poland, he has also studied in Australia and Canada, subsequently teaching in Poland and Canada, and presently teaches in the United States, where he is professor in film at Northern Michigan University. Professor Haltof has lectured and written extensively on Polish cinema, including The Cinema of Krzysztof Kie lowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance, Polish National Cinema, and, as editor, New Polish Cinema. But his interests are considerably broader and he has also written on Peter Weir, Paul Cox, and Australian cinema. In addition, he has written two novels. This range of interests is to the good, since he not only knows Polish cinema inside out but can compare it to other cinemas, and he has had considerable experience in explaining Polish cinema both to fellow nationals and foreigners, as he does here.

Jon Woronoff Series Editor

Preface

The question of how to define Polish cinema seems appropriate in the context of this dictionary. The concept of national cinema has been much debated in film and cultural studies since the mid-1980s. Many writers have theorized the ideas of nation, nationalism, and national identity and have dealt with different national cinemas as multidimensional theoretical constructs. Leaving such theoretical perspectives aside, I would like to adopt a simple and functional definition of Polish cinema. For the purpose of this book, I am primarily focusing on works made in Poland (or in the Polish territories before Poland regained its independence in 1918) by Polish filmmakers (filmmakers living in Poland, regardless of their nationality). In addition, I discuss international coproductions with a significant Polish involvement, as in the case of Roman Polański’s The Pianist (2002) and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Polish-French films beginning with The Double Life of Veronique (1991).

Outside of Poland, only a relatively small canon of Polish films is known. It is my hope that these dictionary entries, several of them defining films, names, and terms perhaps less familiar to an English-language reader, will display the richness of Polish cinema and will also help to build a more complete, balanced picture of the Polish film industry.

ix

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Jon Woronoff for encouraging me to write this dictionary and for his guidance. I gratefully acknowledge the help of Northern Michigan University in Marquette for supporting this work with a generous Faculty Grant. In the course of writing this book, I also received help from a number of individuals. Special thanks go to Adam Wyşyński and Grzegorz Balski, of the National Film Archive (Filmoteka Narodowa) in Warsaw, for their kind assistance, as well as for providing illustrations reproduced in this book.

I am also very grateful to my colleagues in the Department of English at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, in particular Professor David Boe, for their insightful comments on several dictionary entries.

I would like also to thank my student research assistant, Abbey Palmer, for her meticulous reading of the early version of the manuscript and for her sharp editorial comments. This book could not have been produced without firm help and support provided by my wife, Margaret.

xi

Reader’s Note

The Polish alphabet has several accented letters such as ą, ę, and ł, as well as typically difficult-to-pronounce groupings of consonants such as cz, sz, and rz. Readers unfamiliar with Polish pronunciation are encouraged to consult specialized books.

With the exception of a few Anglicized versions of Polish names that are commonly accepted, such as Warsaw (Warszawa), Vistula (Wisła), and Silesia (Śląsk), the Polish forms are used. In cases where usage varies, the Polish version is adopted. For example, “Kraków,” not “Cracow,” is used throughout this dictionary.

For the sake of consistency, a film’s year of release on Polish screens is listed rather than the year of production. Several films produced during the Communist period were shelved by the authorities and released later. In such cases, both dates are provided, as in the case of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blind Chance (1981/1987) and Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation (1982/1989).

xiii

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AK ASP BAFTA DKF EU FIPRESCI

FN FPFF GUKPPiW

KFF KSF KUL NZK PFDKF PISF PKF POW PRL

Armia Krakowa (Home Army) Akademia Sztuk Pięknych (Academy of Fine Arts) British Academy of Film and Television Arts Dyskusyjny Klub Filmowy (Film Club) European Union Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (International Federation of Film Critics) Filmoteka Narodowa (National Film Archive in Warsaw) Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych (Festival of Polish Films) Główny Urząd Kontroli Prasy, Publikacji i Widowisk (Main Office for the Control of the Press, Publications, and Public Performances) Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy (Kraków Film Festival) Koszalińskie Spotkania Filmowe (Film Festival in Koszalin) Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski (Catholic University of Lublin) Naczelny Zarząd Kinematografii (Main Board of Cinema) Polska Federacja Dyskusyjnych Klubów Filmowych (Polish Federation of Film Clubs) Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej (Polish Film Institute) Polska Kronika Filmowa (Polish Newsreel) Prisoner of War Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa (Polish People’s Republic) xv

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

PSM PWSFTviT

PWST PZPR RP SE-MA-FOR SFP TVP UJ UNESCO UW WAiF WFDiF WFF WFO ZAiKS ZAPA ZLP ZPAV

Polskie Stowarzyszenie Montażystów (Polish Association of Film Editors) Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. Leona Schillera w Łodzi (Łódź Film School) Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna (State Acting School) Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (Polish United Workers’ Party) Rzeczpospolita Polska (Polish Republic) Studio Małych Form Filmowych (Short Film Studio Semafor) Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich (Polish Filmmakers Association) Telewizja Polska (Polish Television) Uniwersytet Jagielloński (Jagiellonian University in Kraków) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Uniwersytet Warszawski (Warsaw University) Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe (Film and Art Publishers) Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (Documentary and Feature Film Studio) Warszawski Festiwal Filmowy (Warsaw Film Festival) Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (Educational Film Studio) Związek Autorów i Kompozytorów Scenicznych (Association of Stage Authors and Composers) Związek Autorów i Producentów Audiowizualnych (Association of Audiovisual Authors and Producers) Związek Literatów Polskich (Union of Polish Writers) Związek Producentów Audio-Video (Association of Audio-Video Producers)

Chronology

1895 Poland has been wiped off the map of Europe since 1795, when it was partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Inventors Piotr Lebiedziński and brothers Jan and Józef Popławski work on their cameras. Scientist and inventor Kazimierz Prószyński creates his own camera, the Pleograf. Edison’s Kinetoscope is introduced in several major Polish cities.

1896 14 November: The first public screening in the Polish territories with the Lumière brothers’ Cinématographe. Bolesław Matuszewski films the tsar’s visit in Warsaw.

1898 Bolesław Matuszewski writes two pioneering studies on cinema: Une nouvelle source de l’histoire (A New Source of History) and La photographie animée (Animated Photography), published in Paris.

1902 Kazimierz Prószyński produces Powrót birbanta (The Return of a Merry Fellow), the first Polish narrative film, starring Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski.

1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz receives the Nobel Prize for Literature for Quo Vadis.

1908 Pathé cameramen Joseph Meyer produces a successful short comedy with Antoni Fertner, Antoś pierwszy raz w Warszawie (Antoś for the First Time in Warsaw). Pruska kultura (Prussian Culture, makers unknown) introduces another popular prewar genre—“patriotic pictures.”

1909 Aleksander Hertz founds the studio Sfinks (Sphinx), which dominates the film industry in prewar Poland.

1911 Adaptations of literary works, Dzieje grzechu (The Story of Sin, Antoni Bednarczyk), Meir Ezofowicz (Józef Ostoja-Sulnicki), and Sąd Boży (God’s Trial, Stanisław Knake-Zawadzki), originate an important xvii

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CHRONOLOGY

trend in Polish cinema. Der wilder fater (The Cruel Father), directed by Marek Arnsztejn, becomes the first production in Yiddish.

1913 The foundation of film studio Kosmofilm by Samuel Ginzburg and Henryk Finkelstein, incorporated into Sfinks in 1915.

1914 Famous silent cinema star Pola Negri (Apolonia Chałupiec) begins her career in Niewolnica zmysłów (The Slave of Senses, aka Love and Passion), the Sfinks production directed by Jan Pawłowski.

1916 With Ochrana Warszawska i jej tajemnice (The Secrets of the Tsarist Warsaw Police, Aleksander Hertz [?]), Sfinks begins to produce a series of “patriotic melodramas.”

1918 11 November: Poland regains its independence. Józef Piłsudski becomes the head of state. Pola Negri moves to Germany and builds her reputation with a series of films, including Ernst Lubitsch’s Carmen.

1920 The Polish-Soviet war is depicted in several propagandist “patriotic pictures,” such as Bohaterstwo polskiego skauta (The Heroism of a Polish Boy Scout) and Cud nad Wisłą (Miracle on the Vistula, 1921), both directed by Ryszard Bolesławski.

1921 Film director Wiktor Biegański establishes Kinostudia—film school and production company.

1922 Chłopi (Peasants, Eugeniusz Modzelewski), adapted from the novel by Władysław Stanisław Reymont. Rok 1863 (The Year 1863), directed by Edward Puchalski.

1924 Karol Irzykowski publishes his book X Muza. Zagadnienia estetyczne kina (The Tenth Muse: Aesthetic Problems of Cinema), the crowning achievement of prewar Polish film theory.

1925 Wiktor Biegański makes his most popular film, Wampiry Warszawy (The Vampires of Warsaw).

1926 After Marshal Piłsudski’s coup d’état in May 1926, several films mythologize him, his Legions, and the patriotic tradition they represented. The Sfinks star Jadwiga Smosarska appears in the boxoffice hit of the 1920s Trędowata (The Leper), directed by Edward Puchalski and Józef Węgrzyn, adapted from the best-selling novel by Helena Mniszkówna.

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• xix

1927 Ryszard Ordyński’s Mogiła nieznanego żołnierza (The Grave of the Unknown Soldier).

1928 Józef Lejtes directs Huragan (Hurricane), a film about the 1863 Uprising (the January Uprising), one of the best-known examples of “patriotic pictures.” Ryszard Ordyński’s Pan Tadeusz, adapted from Adam Mickiewicz’s national book-length poem, becomes the focal point of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of Polish independence.

1929 Leonard Buczkowski’s Szaleńcy (Daredevils, 1928) receives the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Paris.

Jonas Turkow’s film in Yiddish, In the Polish Woods (In di pojlisze welder, 1929), receives critical attention. Juliusz Gardan’s Policmajster Tagiejew (The Police Chief Tagiejew).

1930 March: Moralność pani Dulskiej (The Morality of Mrs. Dulska), directed by Bolesław Newolin, becomes the first sound film (sound-on-disc). October: Michał Waszyński’s Niebezpieczny romans (A Dangerous Love Affair) becomes the first 100 percent talking picture (sound-on-disc). Na Sybir (To Siberia, Henryk Szaro), a partly sound “patriotic film,” is popular among audiences. Foundation of the Society for the Promotion of Film Art (START).

1931 Jan Nowina-Przybylski’s Cham (The Boor), an adaptation of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novel.

1932 Adam Krzeptowski’s Biały ślad (The White Trail), set in the Tatra Mountains, is very well received at the Venice Film Festival. Aleksander Ford’s Legion ulicy (The Legion of the Street). Józef Lejtes’s Dzikie pola (Wild Fields).

1933 Każdemu wolno kochać (Everybody Can Love), directed by Mieczysław Krawicz and Janusz Warnecki, generally regarded as the first Polish film with sound-on-film (optical soundtrack). Pod twoją obronę (Under Your Protection), directed by Józef Lejtes and Edward Puchalski, voted the best Polish film by Kino readers.

1934 Fourteen films released, among them popular comedy Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna (Is Lucyna a Girl?), directed by Juliusz Gardan.

1935 Antek policmajster (Antek, the Police Chief), Michał Waszyński’s film starring Adolf Dymsza, often voted the best prewar Polish comedy.

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1936 Successful musical comedy in Yiddish, Yidl mitn fidl (Yiddle with His Fiddle), codirected by Jan Nowina-Przybylski and Joseph Green.

1937 Michał Waszyński’s adaptation of Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz’s novel, Znachor (The Quack), remains the symbol of Polish popular cinema in the 1930s. Der Dibuk (The Dybbuk), directed by Michał Waszyński and produced by Joseph Green, generally regarded as the best film in Yiddish made in Poland. Registration of the Cooperative of Film Authors (SAF), a continuation of disintegrated START. Dziewczęta z Nowolipek (The Girls from Nowolipki) by Józef Lejtes, an adaptation of Pola Gojawiczyńska’s novel.

1938 Perhaps the best year in prewar Polish cinema. Zapomniana melodia (The Forgotten Melody) by Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke becomes the crowning achievement of prewar Polish musical comedy.

Ludzie Wisły (The People of the Vistula, Aleksander Ford and Jerzy Zarzycki) and Strachy (The Ghosts, aka Anxiety, aka The Creeps, Eugeniusz Cękalski and Karol Szołowski), produced by SAF, are among the finest examples of prewar Polish cinema. Granica (The Line, Józef Lejtes), Testament Profesora Wilczura (Professor Wilczur, Leonard Buczkowski), and Wrzos (Heather, Juliusz Gardan) are among the most popular films.

1939 1 September: Nazi Germany attacks Poland. 17 September: Soviet armies invade from the east, thus completing another partition of Poland. No feature film production during the war in Poland. Although films are screened in cinema theaters, the Polish underground discourages people from visiting them and punishes filmmakers and actors who collaborate with the Germans.

1945 Poland’s war casualties amount to six million (including three million Polish Jews), about 22 percent of the entire population. Communist system forcefully imposed by the Soviets. Polish borders move to the west. Several filmmakers and actors choose migration rather than return to Soviet-dominated Poland. Film industry is nationalized in November. The formation of Film Polski (Polish Film) in Łódź, a national board of Polish film headed by Aleksander Ford, the sole body producing and distributing films. First installments of weekly Polska Kronika Filmowa (Polish Newsreel; every two weeks since 1957), shown in cinemas before a main feature.

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1946 Mostly prewar Polish films and Soviet films are in distribution. Educational film Wieliczka (The Salt Mine Wieliczka), directed by Jarosław Brzozowski, receives grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

1947 Leonard Buczkowski’s Zakazane piosenki (Forbidden Songs), the first postwar film and one of the most popular Polish films ever. Powódź (The Flood), directed by Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak, receives Grand Prix at Cannes as the best documentary.

1948 Foundation of the Łódź Film School. The film about Auschwitz, Wanda Jakubowska’s Ostatni etap (The Last Stage, aka The Last Stop), receives international acclaim and remains a prototype for future Holocaust cinematic narratives.

1949 Well-received comedy Skarb (Treasure) by Leonard Buczkowski. War drama Ulica graniczna (Border Street), by Aleksander Ford. The congress of filmmakers in Wisła enforces the doctrine of socialist realism. Stalinism flourishes until October 1956.

1950 Four feature films released, among them Miasto nieujarzmione (Unvanquished City, Jerzy Zarzycki), the mutilated version of an earlier project, Robinson Warszawski (The Warsaw Robinson), loosely based on Władysław Szpilman’s memoirs. There are 1,376 cinema theaters in operation.

1951 The beginning of political show-trials. The foundation of Centralny Urząd Kinematografii (Central Office for Cinema) in charge of the film industry.

1952 Critical acclaim for Aleksander Ford’s Młodość Szopena (The Youth of Chopin). Four films released, only fifty-nine films in distribution, including seven from the West. First Polish documentary film in color, Tadeusz Makarczyński’s Mazowsze. Kolorowy koncert na ekranie (Mazowsze: The Concert on the Screen in Color).

1953 Despite Joseph Stalin’s death (March 5), the Stalinist doctrine thrives. Three Polish films premiere.

1954 Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s epic diptych Celuloza (A Night of Remembrance) and Pod gwiazdą frygijską (Under the Phrygian Star).

Leonard Buczkowski’s socialist realist comedy Przygoda na Mariensztacie (An Adventure at Marienstadt) becomes the first Polish feature

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film in color and one of the most popular films in postwar Poland. The first television studio in Warsaw begins showing feature films.

1955 Andrzej Wajda’s debut, Pokolenie (A Generation), heralds the Polish School phenomenon. Creation of the Central Film Archive (later known as Filmoteka Narodowa [National Film Archive]). Newly formed film units, composed of film directors, scriptwriters, and producers, dominate the film industry for next several decades. Eight films produced. Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski’s Uwaga, chuligani! (Attention, Hooligans!) originates the “black series” of documentary films.

1956 The political changes after “October” (the post-Stalinist thaw) enable a move away from socialist realism. Władysław Gomułka becomes the Communist Party leader. The Polish School phenomenon begins. There are 2,881 cinemas in operation and annual attendance of 231 million viewers.

1957 Andrzej Munk’s Człowiek na torze (Man on the Track). Andrzej Wajda’s film about the Warsaw Uprising, Kanał (Kanal), receives Silver Palm at Cannes. Sixteen feature films produced, 124 films in distribution, including 88 from the West.

1958 The climax of the Polish School: Andrzej Wajda’s Popiół i diament (Ashes and Diamonds) starring Zbigniew Cybulski. Grand Prix at San Sebastian for Tadeusz Chmielewski’s debut comedy Ewa chce spać (Ewa Wants to Sleep). Grand Prix at Venice for Tadeusz Konwicki’s Ostatni dzień lata (Last Day of Summer). Andrzej Munk’s Eroica portrays the tragic-grotesque face of Polish heroism. Expressionistic Pętla (Noose) by Wojciech J. Has. As many as 3,329 cinemas in operation.

1959 Czesław Petelski’s Baza ludzi umarłych (Damned Roads), the main example of “black realism,” Polish reworking of film noir, and neorealism. Krzyż walecznych (Cross of Valor), Kazimierz Kutz’s debut. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Pociąg (Night Train, aka Baltic Express).

1960 The first postwar historical epic, Aleksander Ford’s Krzyżacy (The Teutonic Knights), an adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel, becomes the first widescreen film in Eastmancolor and the most popular film ever screened in Poland. Kazimierz Kutz’s Nikt nie woła (Nobody Is Calling), a film polemic with Ashes and Diamonds. Andrzej Munk’s comedy Zezowate szczęście (Bad Luck, aka Cockeyed Luck). Kazimierz

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Karabasz’s sociological documentary Muzykanci (Sunday Musicians).

The Communist authorities object to the pessimism of a number of Polish films.

1961 Andrzej Munk dies tragically. Matka Joanna od Aniołów (Mother Joan of the Angels), Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s classic tale about demonic possession. Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s cruel ballad Ogniomistrz Kaleń (Artillery Sergeant Kaleń). Stanisław Różewicz’s Świadectwo urodzenia (The Birth Certificate). The annual production is twenty-four feature films.

1962 Roman Polański’s feature debut, Nóż w wodzie (Knife in the Water), receives nomination for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film category in 1964.

1963 Wojciech J. Has’s classic film Jak być kochaną (How to Be Loved) winner of the San Francisco Film Festival. Premiere of Pasażerka (The Passenger), Andrzej Munk’s film finished by Witold Lesiewicz after Munk’s death in 1961. Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak’s Holocaust documentary Requiem dla 500 000 (Requiem for 500,000). Jan Lenica’s Labirynt (Labyrinth) wins Oberhausen Film Festival in the category of experimental short films.

1964 War comedy by Tadeusz Chmielewski, Gdzie jest generał?

(Where Is the General?). Naganiacz (The Beater), Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s Holocaust drama. Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski’s “Eastern” Prawo i pięść (Law and Fist). Stanisław Bareja’s comedy Żona dla Australijczyka (Wife for an Australian).

1965 The highest number of cinema theaters in Poland’s history—3,935, including 381 mobile cinemas. Wojciech J. Has’s seminal work Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie (The Saragossa Manuscript).

Jerzy Skolimowski’s films Rysopis (Identification Marks: None) and Walkower (Walkover). Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation Popioły (Ashes).

Tadeusz Konwicki’s Salto (Somersault). First Polish television series, Barbara i Jan (Barbara and Jan).

1966 Celebration of the millennium of Poland’s baptism. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s epic adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel, Faraon (The Pharaoh). Jerzy Skolimowski’s Bariera (The Barrier). Janusz Nasfeter’s Niekochana (Unloved). Krzysztof Zanussi’s diploma film,

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Śmierć prowincjała (The Death of a Provincial), wins awards at the Venice and Mannheim film festivals. Enormous popularity of television series Czterej pancerni i pies (Four Tankmen and a Dog, 1966–1967).

Krzysztof Kieślowski produces his first short film, Tramwaj (The Tram). First issue of film monthly Kino. The foundation of Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich (Polish Filmmakers Association).

1967 Tragic death of Zbigniew Cybulski. Classic Polish comedy by Sylwester Chęciński, Sami swoi (All among Ourselves). Westerplatte, Stanisław Różewicz’s return to the September 1939 campaign. Henryk Kluba’s folk ballad Chudy i inni (Skinny and Others). Jerzy Skolimowski’s Ręce do góry (Hands Up, released in 1985). Popular television war series Stawka większa niz˙ z˙ ycie (More Than Life at Stake, 1967–1968).

1968 The March Events: student demonstrations in Warsaw. AntiSemitic campaign orchestrated by a nationalistic faction of the Communist Party. Censorship tightened. Lalka (The Doll), Wojciech J. Has’s adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel. Witold Leszczyński’s acclaimed Żywot Mateusza (The Life of Matthew). Kazimierz Karabasz’s documentary Rok Franka W. (The Year of Franek W.).

1969 Jerzy Hoffman’s adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s epic novel, Pan Wołodyjowski (Pan Michael, aka Colonel Wolodyjowski), reaches ten million viewers. Krzysztof Zanussi’s feature debut, Struktura kryształu (The Structure of Crystals). Andrzej Wajda produces his most personal film, Wszystko na sprzedaż (Everything for Sale), following the death of Zbigniew Cybulski in 1967. Janusz Majewski makes Zbrodniarz, który ukradł zbrodnię (The Criminal Who Stole a Crime), often cited as one of the best Polish crime films.

1970 December: Workers’ strikes in the Baltic ports. Edward Gierek replaces Władysław Gomułka as the new Communist Party leader.

Andrzej Wajda’s Krajobraz po bitwie (Landscape after Battle). Marek Piwowski’s cult comedy Rejs (The Cruise). Kazimierz Kutz’s first part of the Silesian Trilogy, Sól ziemi czarnej (Salt of the Black Earth). Janusz Nasfeter’s classic children’s film Abel, twój brat (Abel, Your Brother).

Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s short story, Brzezina (Birchwood). Annual production of twenty-four feature films.

1971 Tadeusz Chmielewski’s comedy Nie lubię poniedziałku (I Hate Mondays). Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s Trąd (Leprosy). Krzysztof

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Zanussi’s drama Życie rodzinne (Family Life) and the celebrated television film Za ścianą (Next Door).

1972 Kazimierz Kutz’s Perła w koronie (The Pearl in the Crown) about the Silesian miners’ strike in the 1930s. Tadeusz Konwicki’s filmic essay Jak daleko stąd, jak blisko (How Far from Here, yet How Near). Janusz Morgenstern’s Trzeba zabić tę miłość (Kill That Love).

1973 Bohdan Poręba’s Hubal, a film about the legendary Major Dobrzański (Hubal). Iluminacja (Illumination), Krzysztof Zanussi’s philosophical essay. Na wylot (Through and Through, aka Clear Through), Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s documentary-like film about a murder case. Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Stanisław Wyspiański’s stage play Wesele (The Wedding). Janusz Majewski’s Zazdrość i medycyna (Jealousy and Medicine).

1974 Jerzy Hoffman’s popular adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Potop (The Deluge). Sylwester Chęciński’s comedy Nie ma mocnych (Big Deal). First Festival of Polish Films in Gdańsk (since 1991 in Gdynia). Grand Prix (“Gdańsk Lions”) goes to The Deluge.

1975 Hoffman’s The Deluge receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. Andrzej Wajda’s Ziemia obiecana (The Promised Land) wins festivals in Chicago, Moscow, and Valladolid. It also wins the Festival of Polish Films in Gdańsk together with another popular Polish film, Noce i dnie (Nights and Days), Jerzy Antczak’s adaptation of Maria Dąbrowska’s novel. Bilans kwartalny (Balance Sheet, aka A Woman’s Decision), Krzysztof Zanussi’s classic film starring Maja Komorowska. Walerian Borowczyk’s Dzieje grzechu (The Story of Sin).

1976 Workers’ protests in several Polish cities. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films Blizna (The Scar) and Spokój (Calm, released in 1980) originate the Cinema of Distrust (aka Cinema of Moral Concern/Anxiety). Andrzej Wajda’s The Promised Land receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. Some 144 million viewers visit Polish cinemas, including 45 million to see Polish films (twenty-eight released).

1977 Andrzej Wajda’s seminal film about Stalinism, Człowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble), starring Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, is ignored by the judges of the Festival of Polish Films.

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Krzysztof Zanussi’s political satire Barwy ochronne (Camouflage) wins the Festival of Polish Films (Zanussi declines the award). Sylwester Chęciński’s popular comedy Kochaj albo rzuć (Love It or Leave It).

Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for Jerzy Antczak’s Nights and Days.

1978 Foundation of the Katowice Film School. Stanisław Bareja’s satire Co mi zrobisz jak mnie złapiesz (What Will You Do with Me When You Catch Me). Krzysztof Zanussi’s meditation on death, Spirala (Spiral). Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s film about social advancement and social uprooting, Tańczący jastrząb (Dancing Hawk). Wodzirej (Top Dog), Feliks Falk’s metaphor for the Polish reality starring Jerzy Stuhr. Tadeusz Chmielewski’s moody thriller Wśród nocnej ciszy (In the Still of the Night). Stanisław Różewicz’s Pasja (Passion) and Andrzej Wajda’s Bez znieczulenia (Rough Treatment) win the Festival of Polish Films. October: The archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła, elected pope as John Paul II. 1979 Agnieszka Holland’s Aktorzy prowincjonalni (Provincial Actors). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s meditation on filmmaking, Amator (Camera Buff), wins Moscow and Chicago (1980) film festivals and the Festival of Polish Films. Filip Bajon’s nostalgic Aria dla atlety (Aria for an Athlete). Literary adaptations by Andrzej Wajda, Panny z Wilka (The Maids of Wilko), and Wojciech Marczewski, Zmory (Nightmares).

June: Pope’s triumphant visit to Poland.

1980 Barbara Sass’s Bez miłości (Without Love). Krzysztof Zanussi’s films about corruption, compromise, and moral choices: Constans (The Constant Factor) and Kontrakt (Contract). Piotr Szulkin’s dystopian Golem. Paciorki jednego różańca (Beads of One Rosary), Kazimierz Kutz’s portrayal of modern Silesia, wins the Festival of Polish Films.

Forty premieres of Polish films. Wajda’s The Maids of Wilko receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. August: Eruption of workers’ protests. Emergence of a mass-supported movement “Solidarność” (Solidarity).

1981 Rapid decline in cinema attendance partly due to the gradual elimination of films from the West (only fourteen in 1981). Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej Zajączkowski’s documentary Robotnicy ’80 (Workers 1980). Człowiek z z˙ elaza (Man of Iron), Andrzej Wajda’s se-

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quel to Man of Marble, wins the Cannes Film Festival. Dreszcze (Shivers), Wojciech Marczewski’s coming-of-age story set in the 1950s. Agnieszka Holland’s Kobieta samotna (A Woman Alone, released in 1988).

Stanisław Bareja’s cult political satire Miś (Teddy Bear). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s philosophical parable on human destiny, Przypadek (Blind Chance, released in 1987). Agnieszka Holland’s Gorączka (Fever) wins the Festival of Polish Films. The foundation of the new experimental production collective, the Karol Irzykowski Film Studio. 13 December: Imposition of martial law by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Polish Filmmakers Association suspended.

1982 Ban on several films made or released during the Solidarity period (e.g., Man of Iron). Ryszard Bugajski’s film about the Stalinist period, Przesłuchanie (Interrogation, released in 1989), starring Krystyna Janda, is seen on illegal video copies. Witold Leszczyński’s Konopielka, based on a popular novel by Edward Redliński. Janusz Zaorski’s examination of Stalinism, Matka królów (The Mother of Kings, released in 1987). Juliusz Machulski’s popular retro-gangster comedy Vabank (Va banque). Marczewski’s Shivers receives Silver Bear and FIPRESCI awards at the Berlin Film Festival.

1983 Lech Wałęsa receives Nobel Peace Prize. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Austeria (The Inn). Andrzej Wajda’s Polish-French coproduction Danton, based on Stanisława Przybyszewska’s play Sprawa Dantona (The Danton Affair). Antoni Krauze’s Prognoza pogody (Weather Forecast). Zbigniew Rybczyński’s animated short film Tango receives an Oscar award.

1984 Despite steady decline in attendance and gloomy economic and political situation, a record number of viewers visit Polish cinemas— 127.6 million. Polish films (thirty-two premieres) are seen by 56.6 million viewers, in particular Juliusz Machulski’s comedy Seksmisja (Sex Mission, 13 million viewers). Krzysztof Zanussi’s Rok spokojnego słońca (Year of the Quiet Sun) receives Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Austeria (aka The Inn) wins the Festival of Polish Films (not organized in 1982 and 1983).

1985 Krzysztof Kieślowski’s political drama about the martial law reality, Bez końca (No End). Stanisław Różewicz’s subtle morality play Kobieta w kapeluszu (A Woman with a Hat) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Andrzej Barański’s realistic Kobieta z prowincji (A Provincial

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Woman, aka Life’s Little Comforts). Wiesław Saniewski’s celebrated prison film Nadzór (Custody). Popular film debut by Radosław Piwowarski, Yesterday. Record number of Polish premieres—forty-five.

1986 Popularity of adaptations of national literature such as Dziewczęta z Nowolipek (The Girls from Nowolipki) and Rajska jabłoń (Crab Apple Tree), both directed by Barbara Sass. Ryszard Ber’s Cudzoziemka (Foreigner). Janusz Majewski’s C. K. Dezerterzy (Deserters). Witold Leszczyński’s Siekierezada (Axiliad) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Jerzy Zaorski’s Jezioro Bodeńskie (Bodensee) wins the Locarno Film Festival.

1987 New film legislation abolishes the state monopoly in the sphere of film production and distribution. Zbigniew Kuźmiński’s Nad Niemnem (On the Niemen River), an adaptation of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novel, dominates the box office. Filip Bajon’s epic Magnat (The Magnate).

Waldemar Krzystek’s W zawieszeniu (Suspended) about the impact of Stalinism. Janusz Zaorski’s Mother of Kings, banned since 1982, wins the Festival of Polish Films.

1988 Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue, famous ten-part series of contemporary television films referring to the Ten Commandments. Two extended feature versions of Decalogue, Krótki film o miłości (A Short Film about Love) and Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film about Killing), receive international acclaim and win the Festival of Polish Films.

1989 The peaceful transition from the totalitarian system to democracy. Tadeusz Mazowiecki forms the first non-Communist government in postwar Polish history. Juliusz Machulski’s pastiche of gangster cinema, Deja vu (Déjà vu). Leszek Wosiewicz’s Kornblumenblau about World War II and wartime suffering. The film 300 mil do nieba (300 Miles to Heaven), directed by Maciej Dejczer, wins the European Film Award (the “Feliks”) as the Young European Film of the Year. The premiere of Interrogation, banned since 1982.

1990 American films began to dominate the Polish market (as much as 73 percent in 1992). Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak, a film about Dr. Janusz Korczak’s martyrdom and legend. Kramarz (The Peddler), Andrzej Barański’s portrayal of provincial Poland. Radosław Piwowarski’s Marcowe migdały (March Almonds). Wojciech Marczewski’s Ucieczka z kina “Wolność” (Escape from “Freedom” Cinema) wins the Festival

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of Polish Films. Historia niemoralna (An Immoral Story) by Barbara Sass. Premiere of twenty-two Polish films (the average number of films since 1990). December: Lech Wałęsa’s presidential victory.

1991 Creation of the Script, Production, and Distribution Agencies to stimulate and protect the local film industry. Władysław Pasikowski’s debut, Kroll, a dark portrayal of the military. Podwójne z˙ ycie Weroniki (The Double Life of Veronique), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Polish-French coproduction. Jan Jakub Kolski’s well-received debut Pogrzeb kartofla (The Burial of a Potato). No Grand Prix at the Festival of Polish Films.

1992 Poland joins the Eurimages Foundation. Krzysztof Zanussi’s multinational (Polish, British, Danish) Dotknięcie ręki (The Silent Touch). Władysław Pasikowski’s film about the 1989 political transition in Poland, Psy (The Pigs), starring Bogusław Linda, considered a cult film among young viewers. Rozmowy kontrolowane (Controlled Conversations), Sylwester Chęciński’s comedy about the introduction of martial law. Wszystko co najwaz˙ niejsze (Everything of Utmost Importance), Robert Gliński’s film about Poles deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan, wins the Festival of Polish Films.

1993 Jańcio Wodnik (Johnnie the Aquarius), the essence of writerdirector Jan Jakub Kolski’s magic-realist style. Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s Przypadek Pekosińskiego (The Case of Pekosiński) and Radosław Piwowarski’s Kolejność uczuć (The Sequence of Feelings) win the Festival of Polish Films. Trzy Kolory: Niebieski (Three Colors: Blue), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Polish-French-Swiss coproduction, wins Venice Film Festival. First International Festival of the Art of Cinematography “Camerimage” in Toruń (since 2000 in Łódź).

1994 Kazimierz Kutz triumphs at the Festival of Polish Films. His political tragedy Śmierć jak kromka chleba (Death as a Slice of Bread) receives the Special Award of the Jury and political comedy Zawrócony (The Turned Back) is awarded the Grand Prix. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Trzy kolory: Biały (Three Colors: White) wins Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Kieślowski’s Trzy kolory: Czerwony (Three Colors: Red) receives, among other honors, three Academy Award nominations (in 1995) and New York Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Dorota Kędzierzawska’s art-house success Wrony (Crows). Strong Polish involvement in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Allan Starski

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(set design), Ewa Braun (costumes), and Janusz Kaminski (who lives permanently in United States, cinematography) receive Oscar awards.

1995 Aleksander Kwaśniewski is elected president. Juliusz Machulski’s Girl Guide wins the Festival of Polish Films. Maciej Ślesicki’s action melodrama Tato (Daddy). Pokuszenie (Temptation), Barbara Sass’s examination of the Stalinist period.

1996 Poland joins NATO. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s premature death at the age of fifty-four. Krzysztof Zanussi’s semiautobiographical Cwał (In Full Gallop), Krzysztof Krauze’s political thriller Gry uliczne (Street Games), and Filip Bajon’s Poznań 56 (Street Boys) receive special awards at the Festival of Polish Films (no Grand Prix awarded in 1996). Jacek Bromski’s comedy Dzieci i ryby (Seen but Not Heard).

Kazimierz Kutz’s popular political comedy about the Stalinist period, Pułkownik Kwiatkowski (Colonel Kwiatkowski). The number of Polish films released: twenty-one.

1997 Jerzy Stuhr’s Historie miłosne (Love Stories), winner of the Festival of Polish Films. Gangster comedy Kiler, Juliusz Machulski’s boxoffice success. Leszek Wosiewicz’s Kroniki domowe (The Family Events).

Sławomir Kryński’s Księga wielkich ˙zyczeń (The Book of Great Wishes).

1998 Jan Jakub Kolski’s Historia kina w Popielawach (The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Jacek Bromski’s comedy U pana boga za piecem (Snug as a Bug in a Rug).

Witold Adamek’s Poniedziałek (Monday).

1999 Epic adaptations of the national literary canon, Jerzy Hoffman’s Ogniem i mieczem (With Fire and Sword) and Andrzej Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz, are the most successful films to have premiered in Poland after 1992. With their help, Polish films share an unprecedented 60 percent of the local market. Krzysztof Krauze’s celebrated film about the weakness of law, Dług (Debt), wins the Festival of Polish Films. Jerzy Stuhr’s Tydzień z z˙ ycia męz˙ czyzny (A Week in the Life of a Man). Lech Majewski’s biopic Wojaczek. First annual film awards, Polskie Nagrody Filmowe “Orły” (Polish Film Awards “Eagles”), granted by the members of Polska Akademia Filmowa (Polish Film Academy).

2000 Andrzej Wajda receives an American Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Jan Jakub Kolski’s Holocaust drama Daleko od

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okna (Keep Away from the Window). Jerzy Stuhr’s Duz˙ e zwierzę (The Big Animal). Teresa Kotlarczyk’s film about the internment of the Polish Catholic primate Stefan Wyszyński, Prymas. Trzy lata z tysiąclecia (The Primate: Three Years Out of the Millennium). Krzysztof Zanussi’s Życie jako śmiertelna choroba przenoszona drogą płciową (Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease) wins the Festival of Polish Films and the Moscow Film Festival.

2001 Henryk Sienkiewicz’s popular adaptations, Gavin Hood’s W pustyni i w puszczy (In Desert and Wilderness), and Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Quo Vadis. With a budget of eighteen million dollars, Quo Vadis becomes the most expensive Polish film ever made. Robert Gliński’s realistic Cześć Tereska (Hi, Tereska) wins the Festival of Polish Films.

Andrzej Wajda founds his private film school, Mistrzowska Szkoła Reżyserii Filmowej Andrzeja Wajdy (Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing).

2002 Marek Koterski’s bitter comedy Dzień świra (The Day of the Wacko) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Piotr Trzaskalski’s wellreceived debut Edi. Przemysław Wojcieszek’s Głośniej od bomb (Louder Than Bombs). Roman Polański’s Holocaust epic Pianista (The Pianist, French-Polish-German-British coproduction) receives international acclaim and three Academy Awards, including Best Director for Polański. Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Aleksander Fredro’s classic play, Zemsta (Revenge).

2003 Jerzy Stuhr’s Pogoda na jutro (Tomorrow’s Weather). Konrad Niewolski’s prison film Symetria (Symmetry). Dariusz Gajewski’s Warszawa wins the Festival of Polish Films. Andrzej Jakimowski’s Zmruż oczy (Squint Your Eyes). Ryszard Brylski’s Żurek (White Soup).

2004 Poland joins the European Union. Krzysztof Krauze’s biopic Mój Nikifor (My Nikifor) about the “primitive” painter known as Nikifor Krynicki receives critical acclaim in Poland and wins awards at film festivals in Chicago and Karlovy Vary. Magdalena Piekorz’s first film, Pręgi (The Welts), wins the Festival of Polish Films. Juliusz Machulski’s crime comedy Vinci. Wojciech Smarzowski’s social satire Wesele (The Wedding).

2005 Founding of the Polish Film Institute (PISF). Feliks Falk’s Komornik (The Debt Collector) wins the main award at the Festival of

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Polish Films. Wosiewicz’s Rozdroz˙ e café (The Crossroads Café) and Zanussi’s Persona non grata receive critical recognition.

2006 Several film retrospectives and filmic events commemorate the tenth anniversary of Kieślowski’s death. Plac Zbawiciela (Savior Square), directed by Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze, wins the Festival of Polish Films.

Introduction

Since its modest beginnings in 1902, Poland’s film industry has been able to produce a diverse corpus of films. Several representatives of Polish cinema have enjoyed international fame; some are now regarded as masters of cinema. Almost every film history textbook contains a chapter discussing the emergence and importance of the Polish School phenomenon. The names of Poland’s best-known directors, such as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański, and Krzysztof Kieślowski, are mentioned among the most important world directors. In many books, the Łódź Film School serves as a model of film education.

Any writer dealing with the development of Polish cinema has to take into account the complexity of Poland’s history. Changing political situations typically defined the development of local cinema. Polish films thus reflected the history of a land in which national insurrections resulted in military defeat, the presence of occupying forces, and the suppression of Polish culture. Polish history provided an abundance of themes for the screen, and local audiences always seemed to prefer films narrating local history and referring to local culture. As a result, a large number of Polish filmmakers were preoccupied with local issues that were, sometimes, difficult to comprehend for outsiders. In addition, during the Communist period, Polish films were often seen in the West as works depicting the “political other.” Their value as works of art was often lost on politically minded Western critics. Furthermore, these films’ thinly veiled political messages were difficult to decipher by viewers accustomed to different narratives.

Given the uneasy political background, Polish filmmakers were often expected to perform various educational and nation-building duties. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they performed an educational role for a number of people deprived of their state and culture.

They produced a series of patriotic films showing struggles against xxxiii

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Poland’s mighty neighbors and efforts to preserve Polish culture and language. While also producing entertainment films, the filmmakers saw themselves primarily as guardians of national culture, propagators of the national literary canon. This may perhaps explain the popularity, then and now, of local historical adaptations, often based on the canonized literary works by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Stefan Żeromski, and Stanisław Wyspiański.

During Poland’s Communist period, local filmmakers were perfectly aware of their role within the nationalized film industry as educators, entertainers, social activists, and political leaders. Their films often performed the role of safety valves in a tightly controlled political reality. Filmmakers were at the foreground of Polish life, accustomed to the situation in which their voices were heard and their works carefully watched by the authorities and by the audiences. The process of the transition to democracy altered the relationship between filmmakers and their audiences. The beginning of the 1990s proved to be difficult for some of them, as well as for emerging young filmmakers, due to a deep economic crisis in the local film industry. In recent years, Polish filmmakers have succeeded in winning back their audiences with popular adaptations of the national literary canon.

HISTORY The first Polish narrative film, The Return of a Merry Fellow (Powrót birbanta), was made in 1902 by scientist and inventor Kazimierz Prószyński. It was followed later by several literary adaptations and a prominent group of films often labeled as “patriotic pictures.” The most important prewar film studio, Sfinks, attracted a number of known filmmakers and promoted to stardom its two leading actresses, Pola Negri and Jadwiga Smosarska. The return of independence in 1918 stimulated the production of films in Poland. Patriotic melodramas and historical reconstructions became staples of local cinema. Several of these films were directed by highly regarded directors, such as Józef Lejtes, Henryk Szaro, and Ryszard Ordyński. Although patriotically minded films still played an important role during the subsequent sound period, more popular were comedies, musical comedies in particular. These films featured an ensemble of well-known actors, including Adolf Dymsza,

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Eugeniusz Bodo, Aleksander Żabczyński, and Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, and relied heavily on musical numbers, popular in Poland to this day, composed chiefly by Henryk Wars. Also popular were melodramas dealing with sensational, “forbidden” aspects of life. Additionally, any discussion of the prewar Polish film industry would not be complete without also mentioning another important domain—the thriving Yiddish cinema. Regrettably, during World War II, a great number of early Polish films were lost. As a consequence of this loss, any researcher who wants to accurately re-create the early stages of the development of Polish cinema to a large degree has to rely on remaining secondary sources, consisting mostly of the holdings of the National Film Archive in Warsaw.

Poland had no feature film production during the war, and viewing films in theaters administered by the Germans was (unsuccessfully) discouraged by the armed Polish underground. The new political reality after 1945, with the Communist system forcefully implemented by the Soviets, led to a loss of continuity and the negation of previous cinematic achievements. The film industry of People’s Poland was nationalized in 1945. The national board of Polish film, Film Polski, headed initially by filmmaker Aleksander Ford, became the sole organization producing, distributing, and exhibiting films in Poland. The founding of the Łódź Film School in 1948 contributed later to the most vibrant era in the history of Polish cinema, known as the Polish School.

Young graduates of the Łódź Film School, among them Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Kutz, Janusz Morgenstern, and Andrzej Munk, challenged the aesthetics of the socialist realist (Stalinist) period. Their films dealt with the war, the occupation, and the unrepresented fate of the Home Army (Armia Krakowa, AK) and played an important role in the political thaw after October 1956. Several films made during this period became internationally known, including Andrzej Wajda’s war trilogy, A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958); Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (1962); and Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963).

In the 1960s, during the so-called period of small stabilization, Polish filmmakers produced several epic adaptations of the national literary canon. Films such as Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s The Pharaoh (1966) and Wojciech Has’s The Doll (1968) proved to be critical as well as boxoffice successes. That trend continued in the 1970s with adaptations

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such as Jerzy Hoffman’s The Deluge (1974), Jerzy Antczak’s Nights and Days (1975), and Wajda’s The Promised Land (1975). Although adaptations as well as films about World War II featured prominently during that period, Polish critics coined the term “Third Polish Cinema” to label films made by a new generation of filmmakers like Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, and Janusz Majewski. They introduced new characters with personal rather than political problems, moral dilemmas rather than disputes about history.

The turbulent second part of the 1970s brought the Cinema of Distrust (aka Cinema of Moral Concern): films portraying the corrupted side of Communism. Zanussi’s Camouflage (1977) and Wajda’s Man of Marble (1977) had the biggest impact on younger filmmakers who depicted on a metaphorical level the mechanisms of manipulation and indoctrination. However not all important films made during that period were of a political nature. Polish critics coined the term “creative cinema” to discuss films by Filip Bajon, Piotr Szulkin, and other directors who were more interested in cultural issues and formal concerns. The implementation of martial law in December 1981 ended this period characterized by creative energy. The Communists banned several important films and made it impossible for a number of filmmakers to continue their careers in Poland. The oppressive, highly politicized atmosphere of the 1980s no longer suited sincere political films but instead, intimate psychological dramas, safe literary adaptations, and genre cinema.

The year 1989 marked the end of the Communist era and the transition to democracy. The abolition of Communist censorship, the transformation of film units into independent studios, the advent of international coproductions, and the gradual Americanization of the local market greatly changed the cinema industry in Poland.

INDUSTRY The structure of the Polish film industry was usually influenced by political circumstances. Before 1939, with few exceptions such as the film studio Sfinks, films were produced by economically feeble Warsaw-based production companies. Mostly as a result of partition and poor economy after 123 years of nonexistence, the number of

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theaters per number of inhabitants situated Poland at the very low end of the scale in Europe.

The new system of film production introduced in 1955, based on semi-independent film units, greatly contributed to the renaissance of Polish cinema in the second part of the 1950s and lasted until the end of Communism in Poland. Each film unit was composed of film directors, scriptwriters, and producers (along with their collaborators and assistants) and was supervised by an artistic director, with the help of a literary director and a production manager. Immediately after World War II, the appearance of every Polish film constituted a cultural event.

Local films had an average audience of about 4.7 million viewers. In the second part of the 1950s, Polish films regained their popularity, and although attendance was never as high as immediately after the war, they drew more than 3 million viewers per film. Total annual cinema attendance was the highest immediately after the 1956 Polish October, with 231 million viewers. Later, despite the number of successful Polish films, the diversity of imported films, and the increased number of cinema theaters, there was a slow decline of cinema attendance.

The year 1989 was also a turning point for the Polish film industry.

The nationalized and centralized film industry, entirely dependent on government funding, was transformed into a free market economy subsidized by the state. Film units, the core of the local film business since 1955, were replaced by independent studios. The move toward a market economy in Poland coincided with the universalization of coproductions in Europe and the incorporation of American popular cinema into that market. Coproductions, multinational enterprises, competition with Hollywood, and a plurality of styles and genres have changed the film landscape in Poland.

Contemporary Polish cinema is a medium-size entity that has been able to produce more than twenty feature films yearly. The average cost of a mainstream Polish film remains at about one million dollars. (Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Quo Vadis [2001], with its budget of eighteen million dollars, is the most expensive Polish film ever made.) The low number of movie theaters in Poland and the very low average number of theater visits per inhabitant, coupled with the growing production costs, make it difficult for Polish filmmakers to compete with Hollywood films.

The percentage of the total box office earned by Polish films has been below 10 percent. One hundred thousand viewers for a single Polish

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film is considered high by Polish standards after 1989. For example, out of 140 Polish films released in theaters from 1991 to 2000, only 45 received such a comparatively modest result. During the same decade, 1,045 American films were released on Polish screens, compared with 224 Polish, 131 British, 106 French, 22 Australian, and a small number of other films.

In a country with a population slightly below thirty-nine million, it is understandable that virtually no local film can recoup its cost without foreign sales, despite the limited government subsidies via the Polish Film Institute, which was founded in 2005 to replace the State Cinema Committee established in 1987 and the Script, Production, and Distribution Agencies created in 1991. Increasingly, Polish studios and independent producers are looking for financing for their films abroad, and they have been participating in multinational coproductions, especially since 1992, when Poland joined the Eurimages Foundation.

POLONIA Considered in this dictionary are only those Polish filmmakers who either started their careers in Poland or significantly contributed to the development of the Polish film industry. In addition to creating its own national industry, however, Poland has been contributing to world cinema through its émigrés. Most of them are representatives of what in Poland is called “Polonia” (a term referring to Polish émigrés).

The majority of them are not included in this dictionary since their artistic biographies are part of other national cinemas. Therefore, this dictionary has no entries on Polish diasporic filmmakers, that is, directors, cinematographers, and actors working outside of Poland. For example, this book does not discuss film directors such as Paweł (Paul) Pawlikowski (b. 1957). He was born in Warsaw but was educated in England where he has made all his films, including the 2004 British Academy of Film and Television Arts winner My Summer of Love.

Also not included in this dictionary is a group of prominent Polish cinematographers working in the United States, such as Andrzej Bartkowiak (b. 1950), Adam Holender (b. 1937), Janusz Kamiński (b. 1959), and Andrzej Sekuła (b. 1954). Kamiński and Sekuła were born in Poland but were trained abroad, and they produced their works

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in Hollywood. Kamiński is known for his collaboration with Steven Spielberg on several films, for which he received numerous prizes, including two Academy Awards. Sekuła, who received his training in England, gained international recognition for his early work with Quentin Tarantino on films such as Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Bartkowiak and Holender both studied at the Łódź Film School but later migrated to the United States, where they made their films.

Bartkowiak achieved critical acclaim as the cinematographer of Terms of Endearment (1983) and Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and gained popularity for films he directed, such as Romeo Must Die (2000). Holender, who has been working in America since the late 1960s, became known for his work on films such as Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Panic in the Needle Park (1971). He also worked with Agnieszka Holland on To Kill a Priest (1988).

This book also does not have entries on those actors whose careers developed abroad, as is the case of Joanna Pacuła (b. 1957). After graduating from a Polish acting school and playing episodic roles in Polish films, Pacuła migrated to Hollywood, where she established herself in her debut film, Gorky Park (1982). Also absent from this dictionary is Polish-trained actress Gosia Dobrowolska (b. 1958), now an important figure in Australian national cinema, despite her appearances in two contemporary Polish films, A Week in the Life of a Man (1999) and Perfect Afternoon (2005).

Several filmmakers, for example Roman Polański and Jerzy Skolimowski, are considered as essentially Polish artists in this dictionary despite the fact that they left Poland during the early stages of their careers. Their films made in Poland are discussed in this book in more detail, whereas their international careers are covered only briefly.

The Dictionary

–A– ADAMEK, WITOLD (1945–). Cinematographer, film director, and film producer. After graduating in 1969 from the Łódź Film School, Adamek initially worked as a camera operator and then as a cinematographer on several classic Polish films, including Janusz Zaorski’s The Mother of Kings (1982/1987), Wiesław Saniewski’s Custody (1985), and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s A Short Film about Love (1988). He often collaborated with director Radosław Piwowarski, for example on Yesterday (1985), Train to Hollywood (1987), and The Sequence of Feelings (1993), and with Juliusz Machulski, for whom he photographed Squadron (1992) and Girl Guide (1995).

In recent years, Adamek also scripted, photographed, and directed several films, including bitter contemporary dramas such as Monday (Poniedziałek, 1998) and Tuesday (Wtorek, 2001) and the melodrama with Andrzej Chyra and Magdalena Cielecka, Loneliness Online (Samotność w sieci, 2006). He also acted as a producer of Jan Jakub Kolski’s Keep Away from the Window (2002).

ADAPTATIONS. Polish cinema has been known for its close bonds with national literature. At the beginning of the twentieth century, literature provided an abundance of patriotic and social themes not only for the stateless Polish nation, but also for the emerging national cinema. It also gave Polish cinema some respectability among audiences and helped to grant cinema the stature of art. Literary works by, among others, Stefan Żeromski, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Adam Mickiewicz, and the two recipients of the Nobel Prize—Władysław Reymont and Henryk Sienkiewicz—had been scripted by prominent contemporary writers and adapted for the screen. Filmmakers were 1

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ADAPTATIONS

eager to popularize the national literary canon and looked for stagetested scripts that, apart from signs of high art, contained melodramatic and sensational plots. Both locally produced films and foreign films based on Polish literary classic works proved to be box-office successes in the Polish territories. The most prestigious productions after 1918 included The Promised Land (1927), codirected by Aleksander Hertz and Zbigniew Gniazdowski, and Pan Tadeusz (1928), directed by Ryszard Ordyński. The latter film, adapted from Mickiewicz’s book-length poem, became the focal point of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of Polish independence.

The most popular Polish films made after 1945 were also based on respected literary sources. For example, the year 1960 marks the production of the first postwar historical epic—and the most popular Polish film ever—another adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz, The Teutonic Knights directed by Aleksander Ford. According to figures from 2000, The Teutonic Knights remains the most popular film screened in Poland, with 33.3 million viewers, ahead of two other of Sienkiewicz’s adaptations—the children’s film In Desert and Wilderness (1973, Władysław Ślesicki), with 30.9 million viewers, and another historical epic, The Deluge (1974, Jerzy Hoffman), with 27.6 million viewers. Among the twenty most popular films shown in Poland from 1945 to 2000, thirteen are Polish films, including eight adaptations, four of which are adaptations of Sienkiewicz’s novels.

Films based on Sienkiewicz’s historical epics, originally written to “console the hearts” of Poles, reinforced the images of the heroic Polish past. Vast panoramas, epic scopes, historical adventure stories utilizing Polish history, and, above all, Sienkiewicz’s name proved to be enough to attract millions of viewers. These films were eagerly awaited by Polish audiences for whom Sienkiewicz and the characters populating his historical novels were, and still are, household names.

Film adaptations of the national literary canon had the most successful ticket sales in Polish cinema during the mid-1960s. They were also well received by Polish critics. The majority of adaptations stirred heated national debates, usually dealing with historical and political issues surrounding the films, rather than the films themselves. Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes (1965), an adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel, and Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s epic production The Pharaoh (1966), based on Bolesław Prus’s novel, serve as good examples here. These and other

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• 3

films from the 1960s were frequently received as historically distant parables of contemporary Poland. In the mid-1960s, some Polish filmmakers became known for their innovative treatment of literary classics. For example, The Saragossa Manuscript (1965, Wojciech J. Has), adapted from the novel published in 1813 by a writer of the European Enlightenment, Count Jan Potocki, offers a complex, labyrinth-like narrative structure that is open to interpretation. The viewer follows Captain Alfons von Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski) and his improbable voyages across eighteenth-century Spain. The dreamlike dimension of this travel and the motif of a journey into one’s past also characterize some of Has’s later films, including Hospital under the Hourglass (1973), an adaptation of Bruno Schulz’s prose, which deals with the theme of childhood recollections in the spirit of Franz Kafka. Another film, Jerzy Antczak’s Nights and Days (1975), an adaptation of Maria Dąbrowska’s epic novel, belongs to the group of most popular Polish films.

Several established Polish directors, such as Andrzej Wajda, relied on adaptations of the Polish national literary canon. At the beginning of the 1970s, Wajda produced a number of important adaptations revolving around the characters’ psychology rather than the historical and political contexts. They include Landscape after Battle (1970), based on Tadeusz Borowski’s short stories; Birchwood (1970), an adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s short story; The Wedding (1973), an adaptation of the canonical Polish drama by Stanisław Wyspiański; The Promised Land (1975), based on Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s novel about the birth of Polish capitalism in Łódź; and The Shadow Line (1976), a lesser-known adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s story. In the 1970s, adaptations of the Polish literary canon, including works by Wajda, were also the most popular Polish films screened abroad.

In the oppressive 1980s, adaptations of national literature also belonged to the most successful films. For example, the year 1986 brought several notable adaptations, including Foreigner by Ryszard Ber, based on Maria Kuncewiczowa’s novel; Chronicle of Amorous Accidents by Andrzej Wajda, based on Tadeusz Konwicki’s novel; Bodensee by Janusz Zaorski, based on Stanisław Dygat’s novel; Axiliad, Witold Leszczyński’s film based on Edward Stachura’s novel; as well as The Girls from Nowolipki and its continuation, Crab Apple

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ADVENTURE AT MARIENSTADT, AN

Tree, both adaptations of Pola Gojawiczyńska’s novel by director Barbara Sass. The popular novel by Gojawiczyńska was already successfully adapted before the war by Józef Lejtes in 1937. The most popular film screened in 1987 in Poland, with more than six million viewers, was another adaptation, On the Niemen River, directed by Zbigniew Kuźmiński and based on Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novel.

After overcoming the rough transitional period at the beginning of the 1990s, a group of well-established Polish filmmakers succeeded in winning back their audiences toward the end of the decade with lavish adaptations of the Polish national literary canon. Although they do not constitute the majority of films produced in Poland (roughly a quarter of the annual production), the adaptations are the most prominent in terms of their popularity and prestige. The list of nine Polish films that attracted more than one million viewers from 1989 to 2004 includes seven adaptations. Thanks to Jerzy Hoffman’s With Fire and Sword and Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz, which together had more than thirteen million viewers in 1999, Polish cinema shared an unprecedented 60 percent of the local market. Due to this record number, several filmmakers and producers saw adaptations of classic Polish literature as the only way to fill the movie theaters. Thus, the beginning of the twenty-first century brought new adaptations of Henryk Sienkiewicz—Quo Vadis (2001) by Kawalerowicz and In Desert and Wilderness (2001) by Gavin Hood. Other adaptations followed, among them the adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel Early Spring, directed by Filip Bajon, Aleksander Fredro’s classic play Revenge (2002), adapted by Wajda, and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s popular pseudohistorical novel The Old Tale, adapted by Hoffman.

According to figures from 2001, Polish adaptations dominated the box office: Quo Vadis (4.3 million viewers), In Desert and Wilderness (2.2 million viewers), and Early Spring (1.7 million viewers).

They left behind a prominent group of (mostly) American films such as Shrek, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cast Away, and Pearl Harbor. With a budget of eighteen million dollars, Quo Vadis is clearly the most expensive Polish film ever made.

ADVENTURE AT MARIENSTADT, AN (PRZYGODA NA MARIENSZTACIE, 1954). The first Polish film in color, directed by Leonard Buczkowski during the socialist realist period. Buczkowski’s

ANIMATION

• 5

comedy proved to be one of the most popular films screened in Poland. Set in the destroyed postwar Warsaw, the film tells the story of Hanka Ruczajówna (Lidia Korsakówna), who moves to Warsaw from a small village, becomes a bricklayer in a females-only brigade, and falls in love with one of the handsome Stakhanovites, Jan Szarliński (Tadeusz Szmidt). Buczkowski’s film depicts “the official optimism” of the Communist Party authorities. The film’s narrative structure has all the components of a typical socialist realist drama: the Stalinist work competition portrayed with a melodramatic aspect, the postwar reconstruction of Warsaw, the social advancement of the working class, and new women who are not afraid of leaving their traditional roles to compete with men. Witty dialogue by Ludwik Starski and popular songs by Tadeusz Sygietyński helped the film’s enormous popularity. See also STALINISM—REPRESENTATION. ANDRZEJ WAJDA MASTER SCHOOL OF FILM DIRECTING (MISTRZOWSKA SZKOŁA REŻYSERII FILMOWEJ ANDRZEJA WAJDY). Private film school in Warsaw founded in November 2001 by Andrzej Wajda, Wojciech Marczewski, and the Documentary and Feature Film Studio in Warsaw, under the honorary patronage of the European Film Academy. Among the school lecturers are Wajda, Marczewski, Edward Żebrowski, Marcel Łoziński, Jacek Bławut, Agnieszka Holland, Stanisław Różewicz, and Krzysztof Zanussi. The instruction is based on project development and practical issues.

ANIMATION. Despite Karol Irzykowski’s pronouncements about the importance of cartoons (where artists have full control over the entire creative process), his ideas had only limited impact on the filmmaking practice. The name of the pioneer of puppet cinema, Władysław Starewicz (1882–1965), has to be mentioned in this context, although he never made a film in Poland. Born in a Polish family in Moscow, he received worldwide acclaim for his stopmotion animated films with insects and dolls such as The Beautiful Lukanida (1910), The Battle of the Stag Beetles (1910), The Ant and the Grasshopper (1911), and numerous others made at Alexander Khanzhonkov’s studio. After 1919 he continued his career in Paris. Apart from Starewicz, other important prewar animators

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ANIMATION

include Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, who experimented with photomontages.

Animated films gained prominence is postwar Poland. In 1947 the oldest Polish short film studio, SE-MA-FOR, was founded in Warsaw and produced animated films mostly for children. Zenon Wasilewski’s film Under the Reign of King Krakus (Za króla Krakusa, 1947) is usually cited as the first postwar animation. Several organizational changes helped to invigorate animated cinema. The Animated Film Studio (Studio Filmów Rysunkowych) in BielskoBiała was established in 1956, followed in 1966 by the Short Film Studio (Studio Miniatur Filmowych) in Kraków. Since 1961 the Kraków Film Festival provided the venue for animated films.

Relatively free from commercial restrictions, Polish filmmakers were able to produce some truly unique works. In the 1960s, several artistic personalities, among them Piotr Kamler (who continued his career in France), Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica, Daniel Szczechura, and Witold Giersz (b. 1927), received awards at international film festivals, and the term “Polish School of Animation” was commonly used by critics to define the golden age of Polish animation. The animators were mostly trained at the Łódź Film School and at the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademia Sztuk Pięknych) in Warsaw.

The techniques employed by Polish animators as well as the stories they told varied significantly. Some, like Borowczyk and Lenica, relied on cut-out technique to produce the absurdist spirit in animation. The same absurdist tales may be found in animated films by Stefan Schabenbeck (b. 1940), such as Everything Is a Number (Wszystko jest liczbą, 1966) and Stairs (Schody, 1968). Political comments permeate the majority of films made behind the Iron Curtain but are particularly visible in Mirosław Kijowicz’s (1929–1999) politically subversive films, which also offered philosophical reflection. After making The Banner (Sztandar, 1965), Cages (Klatki, 1966), Road (Droga, 1971), and Mill (Młyn, 1971), among others, he became the leading exponent of what Polish critics labeled the philosophical brand of Polish animation. Similar allusions to the absurdities of the Communist reality, coupled with sarcastic humor, can be seen in films by Szczechura, such as A Chair (1963) and Hobby (1968). Some filmmakers, for example Giersz, relied on painterly associations in films such as Little Western (Mały western, 1960), Red and White (Czerwone i czarne, 1963), and Horse (Koń, 1967).

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The 1970s brought several interesting films produced in Kraków by the Animated Film Studio and directed by the new wave of animation directors, including Ryszard Czekała (b. 1941), Julian Józef Antonisz (1941–1987), Jerzy Kucia (b. 1942), and Krzysztof Kiwerski (b. 1948). Czekała, later also the maker of narrative films, produced several dreamlike shorts such as The Bird (Ptak, 1968), The Son (Syn, 1970), and The Call (Apel, 1970). Another director, Kucia, became known for his ascetic, detailed observations of reality deprived of typical action. Films such as The Return (Powrót, 1972), Reflections (Refleksy, 1979), and The Parade (Parada, 1986) validate the label “the Bresson of Polish animation” sometimes applied to Kucia in Poland. Another filmmaker associated with the Kraków studio, Antonisz, dealt with noncamera animation—works directly created on celluloid film. His absurdist humor is best seen in films such as Sun: A Non-camera Film (Słońce—Film bez kamery, 1977), Polish Non-camera Newsreels (Polskie kroniki non-camerowe, 1981–1986), and Light at the End of the Tunnel (Światło w tunelu, 1985). In the 1970s, several important films were also made at the SE-MA-FOR studio by, among others, Zbigniew Rybczyński. His later film Tango (1980) received numerous festival awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1983. In addition, a number of important films were produced at the studio in Bielsko-Biała by filmmakers such as Andrzej Czeczot (b. 1933) and Marian Cholerek (b. 1946).

Contemporary Polish animated filmmakers draw upon the visual language of their predecessors to produce sophisticated and challenging animation. One of the leading representatives of modern animation, Piotr Dumała, gained international fame for his unique stories inspired by Franz Kafka and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, such as Gentle Spirit (1985), Franz Kafka (1991), and Crime and Punishment (2000). A member of the youngest generation, Tomek Bagiński (b. 1976) was nominated for an Oscar in 2002 for his computergenerated fantasy Cathedral (Katedra) and received acclaim for his Fallen Art (Sztuka spadania, 2004). In addition, older directors are still active. For example, Kucia received several prestigious awards for his film made in 2000, Tuning the Instruments (Strojenie instrumentów), and another filmmaker, Czeczot, presented his full-length animated film Eden (2002) at the Festival of Polish Films.

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ANTCZAK, JERZY

ANTCZAK, JERZY (1929–). Film director and scriptwriter Jerzy Antczak is chiefly known for his faithful adaptation of Maria Dąbrowska’s revered family saga Nights and Days (Noce i dnie, 1975), one of Poland’s box-office successes. This epic, melodramatic account of love between emotional and ambitious Barbara (Jadwiga Barańska) and down-to-earth Bogumił (Jerzy Bińczycki) covers almost forty years, beginning in 1874. Antczak also produced an equally successful television series of Nights and Days (thirteen episodes), which premiered on Polish television in 1977. Antczak started his career in 1952 as a theatrical actor and director. He became particularly known for his television work, where he has produced around 130 performances since 1959. In 1968 he directed an adaptation of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s historical novel Countess Cosel (Hrabina Cosel, 1968, also a television series) followed by Nuremberg Epilogue (Epilog Norymberski, 1970), based on his 1969 celebrated television play.

In 1980 Antczak migrated to the United States with his wife, Jadwiga Barańska. Since then, he has directed two films in Poland: Lady of the Camellias (Dama kameliowa, 1994) and Chopin—Desire for Love (Chopin, pragnienie miłości, 2002).

ASHES AND DIAMONDS (POPIÓŁ I DIAMENT, 1958). Andrzej Wajda’s classic film based on Jerzy Andrzejewski’s novel, generally regarded as the climax of the Polish School. When this film was made, it was attacked by the Communist establishment and by Aleksander Ford, who contested its alleged “counterrevolutionary nature.” The film’s action takes place on 8 May 1945 in a small town where the official preparations to celebrate the end of the war are being made by the Communist authorities. The story concerns a Home Army (AK) fighter, Maciek Chełmicki (Zbigniew Cybulski), who carries out his superiors’ orders and assassinates the new district secretary of the Communist Party, Szczuka (Wacław Zastrzeżyński).

According to his trademark formula (lyric protagonists in dramatic situations), Wajda portrays the anti-Communist Maciek as a tragic romantic hero torn between duty to the national cause and the yearning for a normal life, a prisoner of a fate that he is powerless to escape.

The young woman he meets and falls in love with, Krystyna (Ewa Krzyżewska), offers him a chance to lead a normal life—an illusory prospect since the postwar Polish reality did not welcome people

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with Maciek’s past. Apart from its romantic celebration of doomed heroes, Ashes and Diamonds is recognized for its flamboyant style (cinematography by Jerzy Wójcik), references to Polish national symbolism, and the use of religious imagery. With Kanal (Kanał, 1957) and A Generation (Pokolenie, 1954), it forms Wajda’s “war trilogy.” See also ADAPTATION.

–B–

BAD LUCK (AKA COCKEYED LUCK, ZEZOWATE SZCZĘŚCIE, 1960). One of the landmarks of the Polish School, Andrzej Munk’s merciless satire of opportunism and bureaucracy, scripted by Jerzy Stefan Stawiński. Set between the 1930s and the 1950s, the film introduces a perspective on Polish history that is atypical for Polish cinema. Its protagonist, Jan Piszczyk (Bogumił Kobiela), is a Polish everyman who desperately wants to play an important role in the course of events, yet, without luck on his side, he becomes another victim of history. Unlike the majority of Polish screen characters, known for their romantic spirit, Piszczyk is an antihero—a moronic opportunist and an unreliable narrator who relates the sad story of his life. In six flashbacks he presents himself as the eternal plaything of history. The mixture of generic conventions (from burlesque to political satire) helps Munk to portray Piszczyk as the victim of an oppressive childhood and political circumstances: totalitarian systems (Communism and Fascism) and the war. Munk’s tale about the failure of political mimicry may be perceived as a very Central European story and had an impact on other films, such as Hungarian Péter Bacsó’s The Witness (A tanú, produced in 1969, released in 1978), set during the Stalinist years. Bad Luck was continued by Andrzej Kotkowski in his Citizen P. (Obywatel Piszczyk, 1989), starring Jerzy Stuhr, also scripted by Stawiński.

BAJON, FILIP (1947–). Filip Bajon is among the most interesting directors who emerged in the mid-1970s. Acting as a scriptwriter for all his films, he is also an accomplished fiction writer—he has published several novels and collections of short stories. He also headed the film 9

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studio Dom from 1993 to its disbanding in 2002, taught at the Łódź Film School (1981–1990), and, since 1997, taught at the Katowice Film and Television School. After a series of television works, such as The Return (Powrót, 1977) and World Record (Rekord świata, 1977/1980), Bajon directed his first theatrical film, Aria for an Athlete (Aria dla atlety, 1979), about a freestyle wrestling champion (Krzysztof Majchrzak), his rise to fame from a humble beginning in a provincial circus, and his love of the opera. Polish critics coined the term “creative cinema” (kino kreacyjne) to define films such as Aria for an Athlete and filmmakers who focused on cultural issues and formal concerns, unlike the politically minded representatives of the Cinema of Distrust. Working closely with cinematographer Jerzy Zieliński, Bajon directed another sophisticated and aesthetically refined film, Inspection at the Scene of the Crime, 1901 (Wizja lokalna 1901, 1981), which reconstructs a school strike that happened in 1901 in the small town of Września, then part of Germany. Stylish ventures into the past became Bajon’s trademark. For example, his 1987 film, The Magnate (Magnat), covered the first half of the twentieth century and told the story of the demise of the aristocratic German family von Teuss in Upper Silesia. In 2001 Bajon directed Early Spring (Przedwiośnie, 2001, also a television series in 2003), an epic adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s celebrated novel.

Bajon’s oeuvre is not limited to refined historical reconstructions.

For example, in 1981 he directed the award-winning television film Shilly-Shally (Wahadełko, released in 1984) about the impact of Stalinist times. The same period in Polish history is depicted in Street Boys (Poznań 56, 1996), Bajon’s semiautobiographical film that narrates the story of the violent workers’ protest in Poznań in June 1956 from the perspective of two boys. Political references to the late Edward Gierek era are present in a bitter satire The Ball at the Koluszki Station (Bal na dworcu w Koluszkach, 1990). In 1993 Bajon directed the comedy It’s Better to Be Beautiful and Rich (Lepiej być piękną i bogatą), a modern version of the Cinderella story with a distinctly Polish flavor.

Other films: Green Earth (Zielona ziemia, TV, 1978), Daimler-Benz Limousine (Limuzyna Daimler Benz, 1981), Engagement (TV, 1985), White Card (Biała wizytówka, TV series based on The Magnate, 1989), Pension Sonnenschein (Germany, TV, 1990), Sauna (TV, 1992).

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• 11

BAKA, MIROSŁAW (1963–). Actor Mirosław Baka became internationally known for his role as a young drifter in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s celebrated television film Decalogue 5 and its theatrical version, A Short Film about Killing (1988). This was Baka’s third screen appearance and his first major role (he graduated from acting school in 1989). At the beginning of the 1990s, he played various roles in films directed by Jacek Skalski and Andrzej Barański (By the River Nowhere, 1991) and gained critical praise for his role as a postwar regional Communist Party secretary in Andrzej Wajda’s The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (1992). Later he excelled in Wajda’s television film Franciszek Kłos’ Death Sentence (2000), playing another (after A Short Film about Killing) antihero—a Polish policeman during World War II who collaborates with the Germans and subsequently is sentenced to death by the underground. Baka maintained popularity in Poland playing “tough guys” in Władysław Pasikowski’s films The War Demons According to Goya (1998) and Reich (2001), where he was paired with Bogusław Linda. For his role as a stockbroker in Amok (1998), directed by Natalia Koryncka-Gruz, he was nominated for the Polish Film Award “Eagle.” Baka also acted in films made in Hungary, Denmark, and Germany: for example, in Emily Atef’s film Molly’s Way (2005). Since 1988 he has been associated with the Seashore Theater in Gdańsk (Teatr Wybrzeże).

BARAŃSKI, ANDRZEJ (1941–). Since his directorial debut in 1975, Barański has become known for his realistic portrayal of the underprivileged, deromanticized, hardworking characters who approach life as a task to accomplish and survive day by day. Barański’s films expose the banality of everyday life and ignore politics. For example, The Haunted (Niech cię odleci mara, 1982) portrays a provincial town somewhere in central Poland during the Stalinist period and the film’s personal, almost nostalgic tone stands in sharp contrast to the explicitly political works produced at that time. Another film, arguably Barański’s most important work, A Provincial Woman (Kobieta z prowincji, 1985), introduces a sixty-year-old woman in a small town. The film registers her modest life devoid of politics and stresses the simplicity of her existence. An interest in “simple people” and the warmth emanating from characters like the one in A Provincial Woman became Barański’s trademark. He made several

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notable films at the beginning of the 1990s, including The Peddler (Kramarzz , 1990), By the River Nowhere (Nad rzeką, której nie ma, 1991), A Bachelor’s Life Abroad (Kawalerskie z˙ ycie na obczyz´ nie, 1992), and Two Moons (Dwa księz˙ yce, 1993). The uniqueness of his poetics is seen at its best in The Peddler, a film about an itinerant salesman, which painstakingly re-creates the material aspect of the Polish Communist past. Barański is also the author of more than thirty short documentary films, several of them honored at national and international film festivals.

Other films: At Home (W domu, TV, 1976), Free Moments (Wolne chwile, 1979), Taboo (Tabu, 1987), Horror in Merry Marshes (Horror w Wesołych Bagniskach, 1995), The Day of the Big Fish (Dzień wielkiej ryby, 1996), Let the Music Play (Niech gra muzyka, TV, 2002), All the Saints (Wszyscy święci, TV, 2002), Several People, Little Time (Parę osób, mały czas, 2005).

BAREJA, STANISŁAW (1929–1987). Director-scriptwriter, known principally for his popular cult comedies. He began his career in the mid-1950s, working as assistant and second director. In 1961 he made his first film, the comedy The Husband (Mąz˙ swojej z˙ ony), followed by his only venture into another genre, the well-received crime film Touch of the Night (Dotknięcie nocy, 1961), the first Polish postwar crime film. In the 1960s, Bareja produced several unpretentious comedies such as The Wife for an Australian (Żona dla Australijczyka, 1964), Marriage of Convenience (Małz˙ eństwo z rozsądku, 1966), and An Adventure with a Song (Przygoda z piosenką, 1968). Beginning with Wanted (Poszukiwany, poszukiwana, 1972), he started to infuse his films with bitter observations of everyday political reality. His best films, political satires such as What Will You Do with Me when You Catch Me (Co mi zrobisz jak mnie złapiesz, 1978) and Teddy Bear (Miś, 1981), reveal more about that period than the whole roster of politically oriented Polish cinema. Both films portrayed situations that were surrealist in spirit, people whose stupidity was of epic proportions, and an everyday existence that was kitschy, ridiculous, and painful. The same portrayal can be found in Bareja’s television series from the 1980s—Alternative Street, No. 4 (Alternatywy 4, 1983, premiere in 1986/1987) and Replacements (Zmiennicy, 1986). His earlier television film, The Ex-

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traordinarily Quiet Man (Niespotykanie spokojny człowiek, 1975), has been voted the best television film in a plebiscite organized by weekly Polityka. A documentary film by Agnieszka Arnold, Bareism (Bareizm, 1997), deals with the Bareja’s career and his exceptional popularity among young viewers in particular.

Other films: Captain Sowa Investigates (Kapitan Sowa na tropie, TV series, 1965), There Is No Rose without Fire (Nie ma róz˙ y bez ognia, 1974), The Dark-Haired Man during the Evening (Brunet wieczorową porą, 1976).

BARRIER, THE (BARIERA, 1966). An emblematic film of the Third Polish Cinema, scripted and directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. The Barrier is the last and most elaborate part of Skolimowski’s generational trilogy with Identification Marks: None (Rysopis, 1965) and Walkover (Walkower, 1965). Jan Nowicki stars in The Barrier as the director’s alter ego, a nameless outsider ready to test his ideas about life. Carrying his father’s saber, he wanders through an artificial space that is frequently only a white, dreamlike, and surrealist landscape.

The poetic stylization and ornate symbolism in The Barrier refer to Polish culture, recent history, and to the director’s own biographical legend. The very title of the film introduces the theme of a generational conflict between the generation of fathers, locked in their past, and the new generation, which was too young to be active during World War II. Skolimowski portrays the protagonist’s alienation from the older generation as well as the grotesque aspect of the war veterans’ behavior. The music, composed by Krzysztof Komeda, provides an ironic, sometimes tragic comment on the action. Skolimowski’s film won the top award at the film festival in Bergamo.

BATORY, JAN (1921–1981). Versatile film director and scriptwriter Batory started his career with a historical drama about the seventeenth-century peasant rebellion, Mountains in Flames (Podhale w ogniu, 1955). During the Polish School period, he made a subtle psychological drama about a marital breakup seen from a child’s perspective, President’s Visit (Odwiedziny prezydenta, 1961).

His children’s film The Two Who Stole the Moon (O dwóch takich, co ukradli księz˙ yc), made in 1962 with twin brothers Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a town’s troublemakers, enjoys popularity in con-

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temporary Poland due to the twins’ thriving political careers. Batory also directed in the genres of crime film, The Last Ride (Ostatni kurs, 1963); comedy, A Cure for Love (Lekarstwo na miłość, 1966); and suspense drama starring Stanisław Mikulski, The Last Witness (Ostatni świadek, 1970). His melodrama Con amore (1976) enjoyed both critical and popular success in Poland and abroad. In 1981 Batory directed his last film, a crime comedy entitled The Smell of Dog’s Fur (Zapach psiej sierści, 1981), featuring Roman Wilhelmi.

Other films: Meeting with a Spy (Spotkanie ze szpiegiem, 1964), Dancing Party in Hitler’s Headquarters (Dancing w kwaterze Hitlera, 1968/1971), The Lake of Mysteries (Jezioro osobliwości, 1973), Karino (1976, also TV series in 1974), Stolen Collection (Skradziona kolekcja, 1979).

BENITA, INA (JANINA FEROW-BUŁHAK, 1912–1944). The blond femme fatale of prewar Polish cinema who gained popularity appearing in two films: The Vagabond (1933), directed by Jan Nowina-Przybylski, and Dark Eyes (Hanka, aka Oczy czarne, 1934), directed by her husband, Jerzy Dal-Atan. Benita is, however, better known for her films made in the late 1930s, such as Mother’s Heart (1938, Michał Waszyński), Dr. Murek (1939, Juliusz Gardan), and What We Don’t Talk About (1939, Mieczysław Krawicz). Her best screen performance is arguably the role as a river barge captain’s daughter in The People of the Vistula (1938), directed by Aleksander Ford and Jerzy Zarzycki. The war interrupted her burgeoning career.

She died during the Warsaw Uprising in the city’s underground canals while trying to escape the fighting with her baby son.

BIEGAŃSKI, WIKTOR (1892–1974). Actor, writer, director, and producer and the founder of the film cooperative Kinostudia in 1921 and the Warsaw Film Institute (Instytut Filmowy) in 1924, which produced a number of prominent prewar Polish stars such as Nora Ney, Adam Brodzisz, and Maria Bogda. Biegański was also responsible for launching the career of his assistants, future leading Polish directors including Michał Waszyński and Leonard Buczkowski.

He started his career in 1913 with The Drama of St. Mary’s Church Tower (Dramat wieży Mariackiej) and The Adventures of Mr. Antoni (Przygody pana Antoniego), both films never released. Biegański is

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primarily known for a series of melodramas that usually deal with the themes of betrayed love, rape, and, eventually, the revenge of the deceived. He is also known for the innovative use of locations that perform an important dramatic role in some of his films, for example, in his works set in the Tatra Mountains, such as The Abyss of Repentance (Otchłań pokuty, 1922) and The Idol (Boz˙ yszcze, 1923).

In 1925 he produced his most popular film, The Vampires of Warsaw (Wampiry Warszawy). Unlike other filmmakers, Biegański tried to pursue personal, independent projects. His films were well received by the critics but ignored by audiences and attacked by the government for their lack of patriotic and nationalistic themes. His later films, made before the advent of sound, for instance A Woman Desiring Sin (Kobieta, która grzechu pragnie, 1929), were less popular with the critics. From 1931 to 1935, Biegański appeared in a number of films directed by Ryszard Ordyński, Józef Lejtes, and Michał Waszyński. After the war, he acted in several Polish theaters, and he appeared in three films directed by Leonard Buczkowski.

Other films (as director): Mr. Twardowski (Pan Twardowski, 1921), Jealousy (Zazdrość, 1922), The Little Eagle (Orlę, 1926), The Polish Marathon (Maraton polski, 1927).

BLACK REALISM (CZARNY REALISM). The term applied to a group of approximately twenty documentary films made from 1955 to 1959, beginning with Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski’s Attention, Hooligans! (Uwaga, chuligani! 1955). In contrast to the socialist realist mode of representation, these documentary films portrayed the negative aspects of life, such as hooliganism, prostitution, and alcoholism, which were never mentioned in the previous era. Particularly well known are documentaries by Kazimierz Karabasz and Władysław Ślesicki, such as Where the Devil Says Good Night (Gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc, 1957) and People from Nowhere (Ludzie z pustego obszaru, 1957). The title of the latter became a description of the criminal segment of life. Sometimes the term “Black Realism” is also used to describe a group of realistic, yet stylistically different, films belonging to the Polish School phenomenon, which were characterized by a dark (“noir”) presentation of reality. These include Lost Feelings (Zagubione uczucia, 1957, Jerzy Zarzycki), Noose (1958, Wojciech J. Has), Damned Roads

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(1959, Czesław Petelski), and Sleepwalkers (Lunatycy, 1960, Bohdan Poręba), among others.

BLACK SERIES (CZARNA SERIA). See BLACK REALISM. BODO, EUGENIUSZ (BOGDAN JUNOD, 1899–1943). The versatile Bodo, voted “the king of Polish screens” in 1932, is considered by critics to be one of the most important filmmakers of the pre-1939 period and a symbol of commercial Polish cinema in the 1930s. This gifted actor, director, scriptwriter, producer, and singer of Swiss origin started his career in popular Warsaw theaters in 1919. Due to his ability to sing and dance, Bodo’s career flourished after the advent of sound in the 1930s. Since his debut role in 1925, he appeared in more than twenty-nine films, including patriotic pictures, melodramas, sensational dramas, musical comedies, and comedies. Although he starred in classic patriotic pictures, such as To Siberia (1930, Henryk Szaro) and The Heroes of Siberia (1936, Michał Waszyński), and dramas, for example I Lied (1937, Mieczysław Krawicz) and The Ghosts (Strachy, 1938, Eugeniusz Cękalski and Karol Szołowski), he is chiefly remembered for his roles in popular films, mostly musical comedies, such as Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934, Juliusz Gardan), His Excellency, the Chauffeur (1935, Waszyński), and Upstairs (1937, Leon Trystan). He sang several prewar Polish hits, including evergreens such as “If I Find Such a Wife” (“Jeśli znajdę taką żonę”) from Is Lucyna a Girl? and “I’m Meeting Her at 9 PM” (“Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą”) from Upstairs.

Bodo also served as a scriptwriter of several films, including The Black Pearl (1934, Waszyński), The Heroes of Siberia, and Upstairs, and he directed two films, The Queen of the Suburb (Królowa przedmieścia, 1938) and For Sins Uncommitted (Za winy niepopełnione, 1938). In 1931, together with Waszyński and Adam Brodzisz, Bodo cofounded the studio B-W-B, for which he produced seven films, directed by Waszyński and Trystan. In 1941 Bodo was arrested by the Soviet secret police in Lvov and killed in 1943 in a Soviet concentration camp. The tragic circumstances of his death are the subject of the television documentary film Eugeniusz Bodo: For Sins Uncommitted (Eugeniusz Bodo: Za winy niepopełnione, 1997), directed by Stanisław Janicki.

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BOGDA, MARIA (JANINA KOPACZEK, 1909–1981). Popular prewar actress who appeared in seventeen films from 1929 to 1939, mostly playing the roles of beautiful, innocent, often religious characters. She served as the embodiment of stereotypical virtues of an ideal young Polish woman: beautiful, faithful, devoted to her husband/fiancé, as well as the country/religion. Several times Bogda appeared on the screen paired with actor Adam Brodzisz, her husband since 1930. These films, including Under Your Protection (1933, Edward Puchalski and Józef Lejtes), The Young Forest (1935, Lejtes), and The Baltic Rhapsody (1935, Leonard Buczkowski), featured her most interesting roles. She tried to move beyond her conventional screen persona by appearing in 1935 in two well-received comedies with Adolf Dymsza, ABC of Love and Antek, the Police Chief, both directed by Michał Waszyński. After 1945, like several other prewar stars, she had no offers from the nationalized film industry of People’s Poland. In 1961 she settled with her husband in the United States.

BOLESŁAWSKI, RYSZARD (RYSZARD SRZEDNICKI, 1889– 1937). (In the United States he was known as Richard Boleslawski/ Boleslawsky/Boleslavsky.) Director, scriptwriter, and actor trained at the famous Moscow Art Theater. Bolesławski established himself in Poland with propagandist, patriotic pictures dealing with the 1920 Polish-Soviet war, such as The Heroism of a Polish Boy Scout (Bohaterstwo polskiego skauta, 1920) and Miracle on the Vistula (Cud nad Wisłą, 1921). Bolesławski moved to the United States in 1922.

A year later he created the American Laboratory Theatre in New York to promote Stanislavski’s method acting. In 1933 he published a popular textbook, Acting: The First Six Lessons. After the advent of sound, Bolesławski accepted a Hollywood offer to direct films. He became successful with films made for MGM and Fox, such as Rasputin and the Empress (1933), The Painted Veil (1934), and The Garden of Allah (1936), and he worked with some of the biggest Hollywood stars, including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Barrymore, and Charles Laughton.

BOROWCZYK, WALERIAN (1923–2006). One of the most prominent Polish makers of short animated films, also known for his liveaction films made in France and Poland. After graduating from the

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Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1951, Borowczyk began making theater and film posters, lithography, and short animation. He established himself after 1956 when he produced several animated films with Jan Lenica. Together they made Once There Was (Był sobie raz, 1957), honored at the Venice and Mannheim film festivals, Love Requited (Nagrodzone uczucia, 1957), and perhaps their bestknown film, House (Dom, 1958), which won the Brussels World’s Fair Experimental Film Competition and launched their international careers. Their films were characterized by collage of geometrical forms; the absurdist House employed cut outs, pixilation, and object animation. After winning an award at Oberhausen for his animated short film School (Szkoła, 1958), Borowczyk moved to France, where he maintained his reputation as a leading animator. In 1959 he made Astronauts (Les astronautes, 1959) with Chris Marker before switching to live narrative films. He received critical acclaim for his first two films, Goto, Island of Love (Goto, l’ile d’amour, 1969) and Blanche (1972), often described as surrealist and erotic, but after making Immoral Tales (Contes immoraux, 1974), a compilation of four explicitly sexual stories, the critics started accusing him of producing exploitative “art porn.” Borowczyk returned to Poland in 1975 to direct one film, The Story of Sin (Dzieje grzechu, 1975), the adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel. This undervalued, stylish, erotic drama tells the story of the unhappy life of Ewa (Grażyna Długołęcka) and her descent into prostitution and crime. Borowczyk’s later career in France declined with exploitative films such as Emmanuelle V (1987). In the last ten years of his life, he devoted himself mostly to writing and painting.

Select other films made in France: The Beast (La bête, 1975), Behind Convent Walls (Interno di un convento, 1977), Lulu (1980), Queen of the Night (Ceremonie d’amour, 1988).

BOSSAK, JERZY (JERZY SZEBULSKI, 1910–1989). Documentary filmmaker Jerzy Bossak greatly shaped the post-1945 Polish cinema. He was one of the cofounders of the Czołówka Film Studio and served as professor at the Łódź Film School (1948–1968 and 1987–1989), the head of film unit Kamera (1957–1968), the artistic director of the Documentary Film Studio, the first managing editor of Polish Newsreel (1944–1948), and the first editor of Film, a

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weekly periodical. Apart from propagandist films, mostly documenting the implementation of the Communist system on Polish soil, Bossak produced a number of classic documentary works, mainly dealing with World War II and the postwar reconstruction. Among them are Holocaust classics, such as Majdanek: The Cemetery of Europe (Majdanek, cmentarzysko Europy (1944, with Aleksander Ford) and Requiem for 500,000 (Requiem dla 500 000, 1963, with Wacław Kaźmierczak); war documentaries, for example, The Battle of Kolberg (Bitwa o Kołobrzeg, 1945); and documentaries about the reconstruction, such as The Return to the Old Town (Powrót na Stare Miasto, 1954). His documentary film The Flood (Powódź, 1947, codirected with Wacław Kaźmierczak) received the main award at the Cannes Film Festival.

BRODZISZ, ADAM (1906–1986). Actor-producer popular in the 1930s who graduated from Wiktor Biegański’s Warsaw Film Institute in 1927 and received his first acting opportunity in 1929 after winning “the contest of the photogenic” organized by the Warsaw Evening newspaper. Since his 1929 debut in Józef Lejtes’s film From Day to Day, Brodzisz appeared in several films made by the some of the best directors, including Ryszard Ordyński, Leonard Buczkowski, Michał Waszyński, and Lejtes, specializing in good-natured, goodlooking, and often patriotically minded lovers. After his breakthrough film made in 1933, Under Your Protection (Lejtes and Edward Puchalski), he maintained his newly achieved fame with patriotic pictures such as The Young Forest (1934, Lejtes), The Baltic Rhapsody (1935, Buczkowski), and The Heroes of Siberia (1936, Waszyński). In 1931, together with Waszyński and Eugeniusz Bodo, Brodzisz cofounded the film studio B-W-B. After 1945 he was unable to get employment in the state-owned film industry. In 1961 he immigrated to the United States with his wife, actress Maria Bogda.

BROMSKI, JACEK (1946–). Director, screenwriter, producer, and current chairman of the Polish Filmmakers Association. Since his debut in 1984 with a television film, The Funeral Party (Ceremonia pogrzebowa), Bromski made several films in a variety of genres. For example, he directed a political film about the Stalinist period, Polish Cuisine (Kuchnia polska, 1991, also a television series); a contemporary action

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picture, Kill Me, Cop (Zabij mnie glino, 1987); a film about the wave of anti-Semitism in 1968 in Poland, 1968: Happy New Year (1968: Szczęśliwego nowego roku, 1993); and a melodrama, The Lovers of the Year of the Tiger (Kochankowie roku tygrysa, 2005), the first PolishChinese coproduction. Bromski, however, is best known for comedies.

Several of them, for example the political satire The Career of Nikoś Dyzma (Kariera Nikosia Dyzmy, 2002), starring Cezary Pazura, were popular among audiences. Others, such as Snug as a Bug in a Rug (U pana boga za piecem, 1998) and It’s Me, the Thief (To ja złodziej, 2000), also received critical acclaim. In addition, Bromski is the producer of several popular films directed by Juliusz Machulski (Kiler, 1997), Krzysztof Krauze (Debt, 1999), and Jerzy Stuhr (Love Stories, 1997), among others, all of them made by the film studio Zebra, which he cofounded and where he is currently a literary director.

Other films: The Art of Love (Sztuka kochania, 1989), Seen but Not Heard (Dzieci i ryby, 1996).

BUCZKOWSKI, LEONARD (1900–1967). One of Poland’s most accomplished filmmakers during the early postwar period, Buczkowski began his career as an assistant of Wiktor Biegański. In 1928 he directed his first film, Daredevils (Szaleńcy, rereleased in 1934 in the sound version), the patriotic picture about Józef Piłsudski’s Legionnaires, which was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1929. Before 1939 Buczkowski directed eight films, including The Baltic Rhapsody (Rapsodia Bałtyku, 1935), Florian (1938), and Professor Wilczur’s Last Will (Testament Profesora Wilczura, 1939, released by the Germans in 1942). Buczkowski became the only established prewar film director to be able to make films in Communist Poland, and he produced some of the most popular films during the postwar period. In 1947 he directed Forbidden Songs (Zakazane piosenki), generally regarded as the first postwar Polish film and one of the most popular Polish films ever, with fifteen million viewers. The film narrates an anthology of songs popular in Warsaw during the occupation. In his next film, the unpretentious comedy Treasure (Skarb, 1949), Buczkowski employed the prewar star Adolf Dymsza and two young leading actors who started their careers in Forbidden Songs, Danuta Szaflarska and Jerzy Duszyński. The film featureed topical Warsaw humor and the poetics

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of prewar Polish comedies, coupled with current problems such as the lack of housing. The director was credited as “Marian Leonard” as a punishment for making a number of short films for German companies during the war. Buczkowski’s next popular comedy, An Adventure at Marienstadt (Przygoda na Mariensztacie, 1954), the first Polish film in color, serves as the best example of socialist realist comedy. Although active until his death, Buczkowski never repeated the commercial success of his earlier films in his next seven productions, including the war dramas The Submarine Eagle (Orzeł, 1959) and Time Past (Czas przeszły, 1961) and two contemporary films referring to the war events, The Case of Pilot Maresz (Sprawa pilota Maresza, 1955) and An Interrupted Flight (Przerwany lot, 1964).

Other films: Squadron of the Stars (Gwiaz´ dzista eskadra, 1930), The Shaft L-23 (Szyb 23, 1932), The Haunted Manor (Straszny dwór, 1936), White Slave (Biały murzyn, 1938), First Start (Pierwszy start, 1951), Rainy July (Deszczowy lipiec, 1958), Teenager (Smarkula, 1963), Maria and Napoleon (Marysia i Napoleon, 1966).

BUGAJSKI, RYSZARD (1943–). Director-writer, best known for his legendary 1982 film Interrogation (Przesłuchanie, released in 1989), describing the horror and brutality of the Stalinist system in Poland.

The film narrates the story of the imprisonment and torture of an innocent young woman, played by Krystyna Janda, who is wrongly charged by the Stalinist secret police. This, arguably the most famous Polish film of the 1980s, was seen by viewers in Poland on illegal video copies. After the introduction of martial law in December 1981, Bugajski, unable to produce films in his own country, was forced to emigrate. In the mid-1980s he settled in Canada, where he later directed Clearcut (1991) and worked on some television films.

Returning to Poland in the mid-1990s, Bugajski produced Players (Gracze, 1996), a political drama set during the first presidential elections after the fall of Communism. He also directed several television productions, plays, and television films, such as the crime miniseries Yes or Not (Tak czy nie, 2003).

Other films: A Woman and a Woman (Kobieta i kobieta, 1979, codirected with Janusz Dymek), Class (Zajęcia dydaktyczne, TV, 1980), Like Father Like Son (W kogo ja się wrodziłem, TV, 2001).

See also STALINISM—REPRESENTATION.

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CAMERA BUFF (AMATOR, 1979). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s first internationally acclaimed film, honored at the Moscow, Chicago, and Berlin film festivals and winner of the 1979 Festival of Polish Films.

The film was exceptionally well received in Poland and praised for its reflections on the nature of filmmaking and on the social and moral responsibilities of being an artist. The deceptively simple story of Camera Buff introduces Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr), an ordinary thirty-yearold man working in a small-town factory as a purchasing agent. When his wife becomes pregnant, he buys an 8 mm movie camera to record the growth of their child. He begins his passionate affair with film by making a home movie that documents the birth and first months of his baby daughter. Later, however, he becomes the visual chronicler of official factory functions as well as an observer of everyday events in his town. The camera enables him to see more, to go beyond the facade of things, and to grow as a person and as a political being. Kieślowski produced a self-reflexive film: a meditation on filmmaking—its pleasures and dangers—and an essay about being faithful to oneself and personal sacrifice. Saturated with subtle humor, Camera Buff examines the impact of film on a life, the process of self-discovery through the arts, and the pressure of political censorship. Kieślowski’s film remains one of the best-known examples of the Cinema of Distrust movement.

CAMERIMAGE—INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY. This prestigious, unconventional film festival celebrates cinematography and cinematographers and awards films for their visual and photographic values. The films in competition are judged by the international jury (usually consisting of cinematographers, directors, and film critics) that grants its main prize, the Golden Frog (Złota Żaba), to the best film. In addition, students’ films compete for the Golden Tadpole award (Złota Kijanka).

Camerimage also grants the Lifetime Achievement award and holds seminars and workshops mostly targeting film school students.

Organized for the first time in 1993 in Toruń by its founder-director Marek Żydowicz, the festival was moved to Łódź in 2000. The winners of the grand prize include major cinematographers such as

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Stuart Dryburgh, Dick Pope (twice), Piotr Sobociński, and Krzysztof Ptak. The Lifetime Achiement award has gone to Sven Nykvist (1993), Vittorio Storaro and Witold Sobociński (1994), Conrad Hall (1995), Haskell Wexler (1996), Vilmos Zsigmond (1997), Lászlo Kovács (1998), Giuseppe Rotunno (1999), Billy Williams (2000), Owen Roizman (2001), Freddie Francis (2002), William Fraker (2003), David Watkin (2004), Tonino Delli Colli (2005), and Robby Müller (2006).

CAMOUFLAGE (BARWY OCHRONNE, 1977). Krzysztof Zanussi deals with the themes of manipulation, corruption, and the conformity of Polish intelligentsia in this seminal film from the Cinema of Distrust period, a winner of the Festival of Polish Films. Set at a linguistics summer camp, the film is built around a psychological struggle between two academics: the pragmatic and cynical middleaged professor Jakub Szelestowski (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) and the younger and idealistic teaching assistant Jarosław Kruszyński (Piotr Garlicki). Like other films by Zanussi, Camouflage examines the confrontation between two moral stands. The cynical, almost devilish professor tests the young assistant and tries to deprive him of illusions about life. Their conversations, often taking place in the tranquil milieu of the summer camp, form the main part of the film.

In Camouflage, both the students and their teachers are portrayed as pitiful characters who deserve their fate—conformists subjected to manipulation who change their colors rather than fight and hide rather than attack. The theme of social and political mimicry is introduced by the very title of the film and by referencing creatures that resort to camouflage to hide and stalk. Unlike Zanussi’s previous philosophical examinations of moral issues, Camouflage is more of a political and social satire. For the majority of Polish viewers in 1977, the film served as a clear metaphor for Polish society and an allegory for the corruptive nature of the Communist system.

CENSORSHIP. During the period of partition, films in the Polish territories were censored according to the laws of the occupying powers.

After regaining independence in 1918, the government was in favor of an open market regulated by tariffs and censorship. The decree of 7 February 1919 placed cinema under the control of the state and in-

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troduced preventive censorship. The Central Film Office (Centralny Urząd Filmowy) controlled films screened in Poland, especially during the 1918–1921 war against Soviet Russia. The opening of a new theater required a permit, and screenings had to be approved by the censor. The Instruction for Cinema Censors issued in May 1920 specified the banning of images that were offensive to religious and national sensibilities, violent, and of “corrupting nature.”

The Polish government frequently intervened by issuing regulations that established lower taxes and preferential treatment for locally produced films. For example, the government showed interest in promoting patriotically minded (mostly anti-Russian) pictures by reducing taxes on them, which may partly explain the popularity and rate of recurrence of such pictures in prewar Poland. During the interwar period, the Catholic Church sporadically objected to films, which purportedly either offended the faith or public morals. Since Poland was a country traditionally suspicious of ideas coming from its Communist neighbor, it is not surprising to note that Soviet films had only 0.4 percent of the Polish market in 1925. Attempting to stop the growing import of American films in the 1920s, the authorities tried to impose a ten-toone contingent plan (ten imported films for one Polish production), which did not materialize due to the pressure from Hollywood.

During World War II, the Germans maintained theaters in Poland for profit, as well as for propaganda reasons. The cinemas were divided into three groups: for Germans only, cinemas with separate screenings for Poles and Germans, and for Poles only. The Polish underground ineffectively tried to discourage people from visiting theaters by boycotting them, using stink bombs, and punishing filmmakers and actors who collaborated with the Germans.

The economic censorship of the interwar period was replaced after 1945 by political censorship. The fully subsidized and centralized Polish film industry, nationalized on 13 November 1945, was controlled through state censorship. Initially headed by Aleksander Ford, Film Polski (“Polish Film,” the National Board of Polish Film) was established as the sole body producing, distributing, and exhibiting films in Poland. It operated within the Ministry of Information and Propaganda. The ambitions of Film Polski were high, but due to heavy political censorship, very few feature films were made within the first ten years after the war. Many scripts were subjected to severe

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criticism and endless rewrites especially during the period of socialist realist cinema; others were produced and immediately shelved.

In 1952 the Central Office of Cinematography (Centralny Urząd Kinematografii) was founded, but the real decisions concerning the release of Polish films were made at a higher level, by the members of the Communist Politburo (Biuro Polityczne, PZPR).

During the Polish School period, several films challenged the official policy concerning the arts. The dose of realism, enormous

by Polish standards in the mid-1950s, was often unbearable for the censors, who reacted in several cases; they were harsher toward contemporary realistic films than films dealing with recent history. The filmmakers’ demands for greater independence for the film units and softer censorship were incompatible with the attempts of the Communist Party (PZPR) to regain total control over the filmmaking process, which had been characteristic of the pre-1956 period. Toward the end of the 1950s, the Communist authorities were openly disappointed with the messages and themes permeating Polish films, the lack of compliance with the party line, and the alleged “Westernization” of Polish filmmakers. As a result, the autonomy of film units was gradually limited, and stricter control of films was administratively implemented. Although the Main Office for Control of the Press, Publications, and Public Performances (Główny Urząd Kontroli Prasy Publikacji i Widowisk, GUKPPiW) was responsible for media censorship in general, censorship was frequently much harsher at the film units level. The Committee for Evaluation of Scripts (Komisja Ocen Scenariuszy) was the first major obstacle in the process of approving a film project. The restrictive policy of the Communist Party can be observed toward some of the representative films of the Polish School. The most frequent way to punish the makers of “unwanted films” was the limited distribution of their works, as was the case with Kazimierz Kutz’s Nobody Is Calling (1960). Another form of punishment was delaying the premiere of some films and in extreme instances even banning them, as was the case with Eighth Day of the Week (1958/1983) directed by Aleksander Ford. The third practice, which reflects the suspicion as well as the aversion of the Communist leaders toward some of the films, was the reluctance to send them to international film festivals, as was the case with Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958).

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The following period of “small stabilization” was characterized by stricter censorship. Polish filmmakers were unable to voice their real concerns regarding politics, social issues, and recent national history. Rather, they retreated to safer adaptations of the national literary canon and popular cinema. After the events of 1968, the Communist authorities tightened censorship, criticized alleged “commercialism” of Polish cinema, and called for films reflecting the true spirit of socialism. They also reorganized the existing film units to introduce a more centralized organization of the film industry.

Polish artistic life in the late 1970s was characterized by the presence of the official and the unofficial culture. The former was approved and censored by the state, and the latter existed in opposition to the Communist regime. The lines between the two spheres of culture were often blurred. The absence of life “as it is” on Polish screens prompted audiences to practice allegorical, Aesopian reading. The audiences often looked for references, frequently nonexistent ones, to Polish reality. When the corrupted side of Communism was explored in the late 1970s by the Cinema of Distrust, the system was not attacked directly; the films targeted its institutions and functionaries and focused on corruption and social maladies. The mechanisms of manipulation and indoctrination were often examined on a metaphorical level—symbolic pictures, unlike dialogue, were difficult to censor. Polish cinema became known for its double talk and subversive visual images.

During a brief Solidarity period, several filmmakers successfully challenged the restrictions of Communist censorship. However, the introduction of martial law in December 1981 seriously affected local cinema. Several political films were immediately banned by the authorities, among them Wajda’s critically acclaimed Man of Iron (1981), Agnieszka Holland’s A Woman Alone (1981/1988), and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blind Chance (1981/1987). Another film, Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation, which was finished in 1982, circulated in Poland on illegal video copies until its release in 1989. Apart from the Communist ban on political films, the restrictive policy of the state also resulted in the suspension of the Polish Filmmakers Association and the removal of Wajda and his close collaborators from the film studio X. The political situation after

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1981 intensified divisions between the pro-Communist filmmakers and those who opposed the system.

The cinema industry in Poland was changed after the new legislation in 1987 that abolished the state monopoly in the sphere of film production, distribution, and the purchase of foreign films. The change of the political formation in 1989 and, above all, the abolition of censorship in 1990 enabled the transformation of film units into independent film studios. The process of democratization began with the release of a number of films shelved by the previous regime and the preoccupation with history, especially with its long-suppressed aspects such as the Stalinist past. In democratic Poland, state-run political censorship has been replaced by the economic censorship of the producer, which in many aspects has proved to be even harsher for some filmmakers.

CHĘCIŃSKI, SYLWESTER (1930–). Director of popular feature films. After working as an assistant director for Stanisław Lenartowicz and Andrzej Wajda, Chęciński directed The Story of the Golden Boot (Historia z˙ ółtej ciz˙ emki, 1961), a children’s film that became internationally honored. Although Chęciński worked in different genres, his greatest successes came in comedy. His filmic trilogy—All among Ourselves (aka Our Folks, Sami swoi, 1967), Big Deal (Nie ma mocnych, 1974), and Love It or Leave It (Kochaj albo rzuć, 1977)—is now considered classic and proved to be an enormous box-office success. The three films, scripted by Andrzej Mularczyk, are structured around a feud between two families who, due to postwar politics and changing borders, were transplanted from their eastern village to the Polish western “Regained Lands.”

In 1992 Chęciński released another successful comedy, Controlled Conversations (Rozmowy kontrolowane), scripted by Stanisław Tym (who also acted the main role). The film, set shortly before and after the implementation of martial law in Poland in 1981, mocks Polish-style heroism and worn-out romantic gestures in the tradition of Andrzej Munk’s antiheroic Eroica (1958). Chęciński’s films also include a crime film starring Ryszard Filipski, Only the Dead Will Answer (Tylko umarły odpowie, 1969); a popular television series with Wiesław Gołas, The Road (Droga, 1973); and a family drama, Roman and Magda (Roman i Magda, 1978). In 1983

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he released the popular crime drama The Big Rook (Wielki szu, 1983), starring Jan Nowicki.

Other films: Agnieszka 46 (1964), Catastrophe (Katastrofa, 1965), The Legend (Legenda, 1970), Because I Went Crazy for Her (Bo oszalałem dla niej, TV, 1980), The Uhlans Have Arrived (Przybyli ułani, TV, 2005).

CHMIELEWSKI, TADEUSZ (1927–). Scriptwriter-director whose name became synonymous with comedy, although he also worked in other genres. His first film, Ewa Wants to Sleep (Ewa chce spać, 1958), featuring Barbara Kwiatkowska and Stanisław Mikulski, became one of the most successful Polish comedies. The film relied on absurdist, situational humor and lyricism in the spirit of René Clair.

Although saturated with thinly veiled references to Polish reality, this film belonged to a group of the first postwar Polish pictures that were produced for pure entertainment. Chmielewski’s later films included popular war comedies such as Where Is the General? (Gdzie jest generał? 1964), starring Jerzy Turek and Elżbieta Czyżewska, and How I Started World War II (Jak rozpętałem II wojnę światową, three parts, 1970), with Marian Kociniak. Equally enjoyed by audiences were contemporary comedies, such as I Hate Mondays (Nie lubię poniedziałku, 1971) and It’s the Spring, Sergeant (Wiosna panie sierz˙ ancie, 1974). Chmielewski also directed a moody thriller set in the 1920s, Silent Night (aka In the Still of the Night, Wśród nocnej ciszy, 1978), and an adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel about an anti-Russian uprising in 1963, Faithful River (Wierna rzeka, 1983). He is one of the founders and head of film studio Oko in Warsaw, which was established in 1984.

Other films: Jack of Spades (Walet pikowy, 1960), Two Gentlemen “N” (Dwaj panowie “N,” 1961), There Is No Free Lunch (Pieczone gołąbki, 1966).

CHYRA, ANDRZEJ (1964–). Successful contemporary actor and theater director. Chyra debuted in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 4 (uncredited), but his breakthrough came with the role of the thug Gerard Nowak in Krzysztof Krauze’s Debt (1999), for which he received the Best Actor award at the Festival of Polish Films. He was also awarded for his lead role in Feliks Falk’s The Debt Col-

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lector (2005). In addition, in recent years Chyra starred in Konrad Niewolski’s Symmetry (Symetria, 2003), and, paired with actress Magdalena Cielecka, he appeared in Loneliness Online (2006), directed by Witold Adamek, and Palimpsest (2006), directed by Konrad Niewolski.

CIELECKA, MAGDALENA (1972–). One of the most popular and accomplished actresses of her generation. Cielecka’s awardwinning debut performance as an imprisoned nun in Barbara Sass’s Temptation (1995) was followed by several lead roles that showed her range and talent. She appeared in contemporary dramas such as Amok (1998, Natalia Koryncka-Gruz) and The Egoists (Egoiści, 2000, Mariusz Treliński), biopics such as Like a Drug (1999, Barbara Sass), the romantic comedy In Love (Zakochani, 2000, Piotr Wereśniak), and the reworking of Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (1962), The Third (Trzeci, 2004, Jan Hryniak). In 2006, paired with Andrzej Chyra, she starred in Witold Adamek’s Loneliness Online and Konrad Niewolski’s Palimpsest.

CINEMA OF DISTRUST (AKA CINEMA OF MORAL CONCERN, CINEMA OF MORAL ANXIETY). The term kino moralnego niepokoju (literally: “cinema of moral anxiety”) was coined by the filmmaker Janusz Kijowski, and Andrzej Wajda first used it in a public speech delivered at the 1979 Festival of Polish Films.

It refers to realistic films that examine contemporary issues and were made primarily between 1976 and 1981 by established masters such as Krzysztof Zanussi and Wajda and young filmmakers such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, Feliks Falk, Piotr Andrejew, Agnieszka Holland, Janusz Kijowski, and Janusz Zaorski. Principal films include Camouflage (1977) by Zanussi, Top Dog (1978) and Chance (1980) by Falk, Index (1977, released in 1981) and Kung-fu (1980)

by Kijowski, Provincial Actors (1979) by Holland, Camera Buff (1979) by Kieślowski, and Rough Treatment (aka Without Anesthesia, 1978) and The Orchestra Conductor (1980) by Wajda.

This series of contemporary realistic films centered on the conflict between the state and the individual and examined the massive gap between the “progressive” postulates and their implementation. Due to state censorship, the system was not attacked directly. The films

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targeted its institutions and functionaries and focused on corruption and social maladies. The mechanisms of manipulation and indoctrination were examined on a metaphorical level. The summer camp in Camouflage, the school in Chance, the world of show business in Top Dog, and the media in Rough Treatment served as a microcosm of Polish society. These films also portrayed the emergence of the arrogant Communist elites and hypocrisy, conformity, and other social and political effects of the Communist system. They provided thinly veiled allusions to the political and social present. Zanussi’s Camouflage and Wajda’s Man of Marble—two internationally known films that were made in 1976 and released at the beginning of 1977—had the biggest impact on the Cinema of Distrust filmmakers. Wajda’s search for a sincere picture of the Stalinist era also served as a portrait of the totalitarian mentality and manipulation in the 1970s, while Zanussi’s film served as a clear metaphor for Polish society and an allegory for the corruptive nature of the Communist system.

The Cinema of Distrust filmmakers depicted stories of the generation who experienced the March Events of 1968 as students. For example, Kijowski’s Index introduces a student who is expelled from a university for defending a fellow student who participated in the March Events and was ousted from the university. The protagonist is portrayed as struggling to maintain his moral views during the period of Communist conformity. The representatives of the Cinema of Distrust frequently emphasized the utilitarian role of their films.

In many cases, however, this functional attitude resulted in films that lack psychological or sociological depth. The clear divisions between the positive and the negative characters, inherited from socialist realism, frequently produced types rather than real-life characters. As in the world of socialist realist films, there was no love and no time for love in the reality presented in the Cinema of Distrust. In this world of predominantly male characters, slowly entering middle age and usually portrayed without sympathy, the female supporting characters were unwilling to understand the psychological torment of the protagonist.

In the second part of the 1970s and during the Solidarity period (1980–1981), several narrative and documentary films attempted to uncover the unrepresented reality and to examine social issues. For example, in his two films released in 1980, Contract and Constans,

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Zanussi deals with the issues of corruption, moral compromise, and moral choices. Two fine actors imprinted their mark on the Cinema of Distrust—Jerzy Stuhr and Zbigniew Zapasiewicz. A number of films produced during that period, dealing with everyday hardships, social pathologies, and the world of cynicism and incompetence, were shelved by the authorities, not to be released until the Solidarity period.

CINEMA OF MORAL CONCERN (AKA CINEMA OF MORAL ANXIETY). See CINEMA OF DISTRUST. CLEAR THROUGH. See THROUGH AND THROUGH. COMEDY. Polish cinema is not internationally known for comedies.

The atmosphere of internationally known Polish films is usually serious, in keeping with the topics presented in these films: politics, social issues, and Polish history. However, Polish comedies have always been very popular among local audiences, and they are among the most popular Polish films. Very few of the feature films produced in Poland during the first twenty years of cinema can be classified as comedies, but the mid-1930s belonged to comedy. Polish popular cinema began to be controlled by people associated with Warsaw musical theaters and cabarets such as Qui pro Quo and the Old Band (Stara Banda). From that milieu came popular actors such as Adolf Dymsza and Eugeniusz Bodo; composers, including Henryk Wars; and directors, for example, Konrad Tom. By and large, Polish comedies employed the structure of musical theater, farce, and Viennese operetta, or they imitated German comedies. A typical unsophisticated narrative centered on two attractive lovers who, with the help of secondary characters (mostly played by comic actors), overcame difficulties and were united in the finale. Other types of narratives utilized the Cinderella story and cases of mistaken identity.

The poor were disguised as the rich in His Excellency, the Shop Assistant (1933), and the rich were veiled as the poor in His Excellency, the Chauffeur (1935), both directed by Michał Waszyński and both starring Ina Benita and Bodo. The case of mistaken identity was also prominent in comedies about women masquerading as men, for example, Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934), directed by Juliusz Gardan, with Jadwiga Smosarska and Bodo in the leading roles.

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For many Polish viewers, Adolf Dymsza became the symbol of prewar Polish comedy. His Dodek, a streetwise Warsaw character, was the continuation of a characterization featured in Dymsza’s earlier cabaret performances. Dymsza’s best-known films, Antek, the Police Chief (1935), frequently voted the best prewar Polish comedy, and Dodek at the Front (1936), both directed by Michał Waszyński, mocked stock situations and characters from Polish patriotic pictures.

The crowning achievement of prewar Polish musical comedy remains The Forgotten Melody (1938), directed by Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke, and remembered today in Poland for its musical pieces composed by Henryk Wars to the lyrics of Ludwik Starski. This wellexecuted comedy of errors featured an ensemble of popular actors, including Helena Grossówna, Aleksander Żabczyński, Antoni Fertner, Jadwiga Andrzejewska, Michał Znicz, and Stanisław Sielański.

Comedies also proved popular after World War II. Leonard Buczkowski’s unpretentious Treasure (1949) featured the topical Warsaw humor of prewar comedies coupled with postwar problems such as the lack of housing. In the highly politicized climate of postwar Poland, the audiences appreciated the fact that Treasure was deprived of explicit political references and portrayed conventional characters in stock situations played by actors who repeated their prewar typecasting (Adolf Dymsza and Ludwik Sempoliński). Another classic film, Ewa Wants to Sleep (1958) by Tadeusz Chmielewski, became the second successful Polish postwar comedy after Treasure. It offered absurdist humor and thinly veiled references to Polish reality. Similar references were present in Andrzej Munk’s satire Bad Luck (1960), about an ambitious but hapless Polish everyman. Toward the end of the Polish School period, comedies began to play a more important role in Polish cinema. Between 1961 and 1965, 24 films were listed as comedies out of the 119 produced. This genre gained immediate prominence on television, as well. For example, The Cabaret of Elderly Gentlemen (Kabaret starszych panów), an elegant, absurdist, and sophisticated series, featured some of the best Polish actors: Wiesław Michnikowski, Mieczysław Czechowicz, Kalina Jędrusik, Wiesław Gołas, and Irena Kwiatkowska, among others.

The majority of Polish comedies in the 1960s and at the beginning of the 1970s were highly didactic. Unable to laugh openly at political and social issues, these films portrayed a “wishful thinking” kind of

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reality. The film protagonists frequently travel to the West (a prospect unattainable for the majority of Poles), only to stress the Communist authorities’ desired message that “there is nothing like home.” Comedies ranged from situational, such as Hieronim Przybył’s The Women’s Republic (Rzeczpospolita babska, 1969) set during the postwar period and focusing on gender relations between male and female veterans who have settled on two neighboring farms, to satires, such as Andrzej Wajda’s Hunting Flies (1969).

The names of Tadeusz Chmielewski, Stanisław Bareja, and Sylwester Chęciński became synonymous with comedy, although these filmmakers were also working in other genres. Chmielewski continued his career with How I Started World War II (three parts, 1970) and I Hate Mondays (1971). Chęciński became very successful with his trilogy All among Ourselves (aka Our Folks, 1967), Big Deal (1974), and Love It or Leave It (1977), starring Wacław Kowalski and Władysław Hańcza as the heads of two quarreling families who fight, yet cannot live without each other. Bareja’s bitter satires about the absurdity of Polish life under Communist rule brought him belated acclaim in post-1989 Poland. His What Will You Do with Me when You Catch Me (1978) and Teddy Bear (1981), with their portrayal of a surreal, kitschy, and ridiculous Communist reality, are now considered cult comedies by young viewers in particular.

Among the many attempts at comedy, perhaps only The Cruise (1970), Marek Piwowski’s bitter satire on the Communist rituals, achieved a similarly elevated status. Also very popular were comedies directed by two brothers: Andrzej Kondratiuk, the maker of How It Is Done (1973) and The Ascended (1973), both films featuring Jan Himilsbach and Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, and Janusz Kondratiuk, known for his television tragicomedies, made in the spirit of early Miloš Forman films, such as Marriageable Girls (1972).

The politically and economically difficult 1980s brought films

by Juliusz Machulski, such as retro gangster comedy Vabank (Va banque, 1982), science fiction farce Sex Mission (1984), and gangster pastiche Déjà Vu (1989). Machulski’s popularity continued after the return of democracy with a gangster comedy starring Cezary Pazura, Kiler (1997). Personal, bitter comedies by Marek Koterski, such as Nothing Funny (1995) and particularly Day of the Wacko (2003), became popular and critically acclaimed in recent years.

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Jacek Bromski’s Seen but Not Heard (1996) and Snug as a Bug in a Rug (1998) also belong to the most interesting new comedies. The list of contemporary comedies should also include Olaf Lubaszenko’s popular crime comedies, such as Boys Don’t Cry (2000) and The Morning of Coyote (2001).

CRUISE, THE (REJS, 1970). Cult comedy directed by Marek Piwowski, who also scripted the film with Janusz Głowacki. The film speaks with a distinctly Polish idiom virtually inaccessible to an outsider. It portrays a group of people on board the Dzerzhinsky during a leisurely tour on the river. Its situational humor and dialogues refer to the current political reality and laugh at the schizophrenic absurdities of Communist Poland. Piwowski’s film is a bitter satire on Communism with its references to newspeak, the Władysław Gomułka epoch, and the private and official truth. The quasi-documentary look of the film is due to improvised dialogues, episodic structure, and the presence of nonprofessional actors/types. The Cruise also features a number of character actors, including Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, Jan Himilsbach, and Stanisław Tym. Maklakiewicz, as Engineer Mamoń, delivers a frequently cited talk about the misery of Polish cinema: “In Polish film it is as follows: boredom . . . nothing happens . . . poor dialogues, very poor dialogues . . . in general, there is no action, nothing happens. One wonders why they do not copy foreign films.” ĆWIKLIŃSKA, MIECZYSŁAWA (MIECZYSŁAWA TRAPSZO, 1879–1972). Acclaimed actress and singer. Born in a family of actors, Ćwiklińska was associated with Warsaw theaters at the beginning of the twentieth century, specializing in comedy and farce.

Between 1911 and 1922, after studying voice in Paris, she appeared onstage in operettas in Warsaw, Dresden, and Berlin. Later she worked for Warsaw theaters, appearing in farces as well as in the classics. Following Ćwiklińska’s film debut at the age of fifty-four in Michał Waszyński’s His Excellency, the Shop Assistant (1933), starring Eugeniusz Bodo, Ina Benita, Konrad Tom, and Wiktor Biegański, she became one of the most sought after actresses.

Within six years, until the outbreak of World War II, she played in thirty-five films, becoming one of the symbols of popular prewar

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Polish cinema. Her filmography, chiefly consisting of comedies and melodramas, includes works made by the most prominent prewar directors: Waszyński (Antek, the Police Chief, 1935, and The Quack, 1937), Juliusz Gardan (The Leper, 1936, and Heather, 1938), Józef Lejtes (The Line, 1938), Henryk Szaro (Krystyna’s Lie, 1939), Mieczysław Krawicz (I’m the Boss Here, 1939), and Leonard Buczkowski (Professor Wilczur’s Last Will, 1939/1942). After the war, she appeared on the screen only once, playing a supporting role as Jadzia’s teacher in Aleksander Ford’s Border Street (1949). Until her death at the age of ninety-three, she was active onstage, receiving critical praise and the appreciation of her audiences.

CYBULSKI, ZBIGNIEW (1927–1967). Charismatic generational Polish actor who started his career playing a supporting role in Andrzej Wajda’s debut, A Generation (1955). Cybulski owes his star status to his role in the Polish School classic, Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958), in which he starred as the doomed Home Army (AK) fighter Maciek Chełmicki. Wearing blue jeans, dark glasses, and acting in a spontaneous, almost neurotic manner, Cybulski became an exemplary hero of the late 1950s, frequently compared by Polish critics to James Dean. Although he tried to free himself from the character of Maciek, his role in Ashes and Diamonds overshadowed his other films. In 1958 he also appeared in Kazimierz Kutz’s The Cross of Valor and Aleksander Ford’s Eighth Day of the Week, which premiered in 1983. In 1959 he played a strong supporting role in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Night Train.

In the 1960s, Cybulski appeared in a variety of genres, usually with good results. Certainly important are his roles in three films debunking Polish war mythology and Cybulski’s own screen persona: Wojciech J. Has’s How to be Loved (1963), where he played a self-centered, cowardly actor hiding during the occupation; Tadeusz Konwicki’s Somersault (1965), with him as Polish everyman Kowalski-Malinowski; and another film by Has, Cyphers (1966), which dealt with war reminiscences. Cybulski also starred in Has’s cult classic The Saragossa Manuscript (1965); a war comedy by Stanisław Lenartowicz, Giuseppe in Warsaw (1964); and popular crime films such as The Criminal and the Maiden (1963) by Janusz Nasfeter, where he was again paired with Ewa Krzyżewska, his love interest

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from Ashes and Diamonds, and The Murderer Leaves a Trail (1967)

by Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski. The latter became Cybulski’s last film.

He died tragically at the Wrocław train station while trying to board a moving train. Two years after his death Wajda released his most personal film, Everything for Sale, dealing with Cybulski’s legend—the enactment of his life and death with Cybulski’s friends who appeared under their own names. Also in 1969, Jan Laskowski produced a film devoted to Cybulski, Zbyszek, which incorporated fragments of his filmic roles and tried to uncover the sources of Cybulski’s myth.

CZOŁÓWKA FILM STUDIO (WYTWÓRNIA FILMOWA “CZOŁÓWKA”). The origins of the Czołówka studio date back to 1943, when the Military Film Unit “Czołówka” (Czołówka Filmowa Wojska Polskiego) was formed to document the struggles of Polish soldiers fighting alongside the Red Army. Since its beginnings, the unit was headed by Aleksander Ford who worked with Polish and Russian filmmakers, including some members of the prewar group START. It was the first film production center in Poland whose task was to produce documentary films and the Polish Newsreel. Czołówka is responsible for some classic documentary films, such as The Battle of Kolberg (1945), produced by Jerzy Bossak, and Majdanek: The Cemetery of Europe (1944), produced by Bossak and Ford. The film studio Czołówka was formally founded in 1958, and it operated under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense. The studio specialized in (often propagandist) educational and historical films and focused mostly on military themes. For example, one of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s documentary films, I Was a Soldier (1970), was made for this studio. In 2005 Czołówka incorporated the Irzykowski Film Studio.

CZYŻEWSKA, ELŻBIETA (1938–). Czyżewska belonged to the most popular Polish actresses of the 1960s. In 1965 she won a popular plebiscite done by the Warsaw daily the Evening Express (Express Wieczorny), and she was second in 1963 and 1964. Since 1967 she has been living in the United States, where she moved with her husband, David Halberstam, an American journalist expelled from Poland for criticizing the Communist leader Władysław Gomułka.

After graduating from the acting school in Warsaw (PWST) in 1960, Czyżewska played her first major role in Stanisław Bareja’s

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comedy The Husband (1961). Later she starred in several popular comedies, including Bareja’s The Wife for an Australian (1964) and Marriage of Convenience (1966) and Tadeusz Chmielewski’s Where Is the General? (1964). She won acclaim mostly playing contemporary young women who were unpretentious, slightly naive, and often resolute. Critics in Poland often stressed Czyżewska’s Slavic beauty, her youthful energy, and captivating smile. For example, in Where Is the General? she played Marusia, a steadfast Russian female soldier; in The Wife for an Australian she starred as Hanka, a singer of the Polish folk ensemble Mazowsze. Czyżewska also starred in films directed by Stanisław Lenartowicz (Giuseppe in Warsaw, 1964), Leonard Buczkowski (An Interrupted Flight, 1964), Kazimierz Kutz (Silence, 1963), and Tadeusz Konwicki (All Souls’ Day, 1961). In the latter, she played a beautiful and fragile female lieutenant, Listek, who dies an absurd death despite being protected by the whole partisan unit. In Janusz Nasfeter’s Unloved (1966), she portrayed a young Jewish woman, Noemi, whose love for a Polish student destroys her life. Czyżewska became internationally known for her appearances in Wojciech Has’s The Saragossa Manuscript (1965), Jerzy Skolimowski’s (her then husband’s) diploma film, Identification Marks: None (1965), and Andrzej Wajda’s self-reflexive Everything for Sale (1969). She did not have a successful transition from the Polish film industry to Hollywood.

Since immigrating to America, she has appeared in a few supporting and episodic roles in the films by Sidney Lumet (Running on Empty, 1988), Roger Donaldson (Cadillac Man, 1990), Costa-Gavras (Music Box, 1990), and Billy Hopkins (I Love You, I Love You Not, 1996).

Yurek Bogayewicz’s American film Anna (1987) is loosely based on Czyżewska’s experiences.

–D–

DECALOGUE (DEKALOG, 1988). A ten-part series of contemporary television films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski for the film studio Tor. Kieślowski’s series is loosely inspired by the Ten Commandments, which are not illustrated but referred to in ten anecdotes, each

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with two or three leading characters. Decalogue was produced with the involvement of Kieślowski’s regular collaborators: scriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, composer Zbigniew Preisner, and nine leading Polish cinematographers (Piotr Sobociński worked on parts 2 and 9), which resulted in slightly different visual styles in the various parts of Decalogue. The enigmatic, angel-like character (Artur Barciś) glues the series together and adds an almost metaphysical dimension. He appears in some decisive scenes of Decalogue, when the fates of the protagonists are determined.

Despite its apparent religious connotations, Decalogue is not only an exploration of religious or metaphysical issues, but also an acute analysis of the mental condition of Polish society before 1989. The ugliness and grayness of the dehumanized urban setting dominate the filmic landscape, together with close-ups of the people who endure these harsh conditions. The series introduces undistinguished characters, mostly intelligent professionals, dwarfed by an oppressive political system. The viewer watches them in situations that require immediate and vital decisions and is introduced to their moral dilemmas. The open structure of Decalogue invites the viewer to interpret the actions of Kieślowski’s protagonists, to follow their struggles with destiny in an abundance of chance encounters, symbols, allusions, ambiguity, deliberately slow pacing, laconic dialogue, and a number of recurring motifs.

Kieślowski also produced extended versions of two parts of Decalogue to be shown in cinema theaters. The feature versions of Decalogue 5, A Short Film about Killing (Krótki film o zabijaniu, 1988), and Decalogue 6, A Short Film about Love (Krótki film o miłości, 1988), were exceptionally well received in Europe.

DEJCZER, MACIEJ (1955–). Film director and scriptwriter, director of television plays and videoclips. Graduate of the University of Gdańsk (Polish Philology, 1977) and the Katowice Film and Television School (1984), Dejczer gained prominence with his first theatrically released film, 300 Miles to Heaven (300 mil do nieba, 1989), which won the European Film Award (the “Felix”) as the Young European Film of the Year and also received several other prizes. Scripted by Dejczer and Cezary Harasimowicz and based on real events, the film tells the story of two young brothers who escaped to Sweden during

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martial law. Dejczer started his career in 1984 assisting Krzysztof Kieślowski on his No End (1985) and then directing his first film, the television drama Trash Can Kids (Dzieci-śmieci, 1986). His 1997 Polish-German coproduction, Brute (Bandyta), did not match high expectations. Since 1999 Dejczer has worked mostly for television, being involved in directing several popular television series, such as the crime drama The Police Officer (Oficer, 2004–2005) starring Borys Szyc, its loose continuation Police Officers (Oficerowie, 2006), and the modern drama Magda M. (2005–2006).

DOCUMENTARY AND FEATURE FILM STUDIO (WYTWÓRNIA FILMÓW DOKUMENTALNYCH I FABULARNYCH, WFDiF). Founded in 1949 as Documentary Film Studio (Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych, WFD), this Warsaw-based studio was originally responsible only for the production of documentary films and the Polish Newsreel (Polska Kronika Filmowa, PKF). Since 1961 the studio also began to coproduce feature films at its new facilities at Chełmska Street in Warsaw. The studio’s production of feature films increased from four in the 1960s to twenty in the 1970s. In the 1980s, to reflect its new production profile, the studio changed its name to Documentary and Feature Film Studio. Since 1995 the studio has also been developing its film projects independently. During its long history, the studio produced several award-winning documentaries by, among others, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Tadeusz Makarczyński, Jan Łomnicki, and Krystyna Gryczełowska. In addition, a number of acclaimed Polish films have been produced there, directed by Andrzej Wajda (Man of Marble, 1977, and Man of Iron, 1981), Krzysztof Kieślowski (Decalogue, 1988), and Krzysztof Zanussi (Illumination, 1973, and Camouflage, 1977). The studio’s Film Archive Department has an excellent collection of films produced by WFDiF, including every edition of the Polish Newsreel, as well as several documentary films produced before 1939.

DOCUMENTARY FILM STUDIO (WYTWÓRNIA FILMÓW DOKUMENTALNYCH, WFD). See DOCUMENTARY AND FEATURE FILM STUDIO. DOCUMENTARY FILMS. Documentary films always played a vital role in Poland. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they

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performed important educational and nation-building functions for Polish audiences. In the absence of the Polish state, these films portrayed images of other Polish cities and covered important national events such as mass gatherings at the funerals of great Polish artists.

These films also recorded the celebration of important national moments in history, such as the 1910 Kraków commemorations of the 1410 victorious battle against the Order of the Teutonic Knights. In Polish film histories, usually Kazimierz Prószyński and Bolesław Matuszewski are credited as the makers of first Polish documentaries. After 1918 the government sponsored films dealing with current political issues and propagandist-patriotic works. At the beginning of the 1930s, documentary films were produced by the state-owned Polish Telegraphic Agency (Polska Agencja Telegraficzna, PAT) and several small private studios employing filmmakers such as Jan Skarbek-Malczewski,Wacław Kaźmierczak, Marian Fuks, and Wiktor Biegański. However, despite high hopes concerning the creation of the Association for the Production of Short Films (Związek Producentów Filmów Krótkometrażowych) in 1933, documentary films did not venture beyond propagandist depictions, picturesquely portrayed folklore, and political reports. The majority of these films were lost during World War II. The beginning of World War II was captured by several mostly Warsaw-based filmmakers including Roman Banach, Jerzy Gabryelski, and Jerzy Zarzycki. Later, films were made almost exclusively abroad, by filmmakers affiliated with Polish troops fighting alongside the Allies. In England, Eugeniusz Cękalski directed two major films, The White Eagle (1941), narrated by Leslie Howard, and Unfinished Journey, narrated by John Gielgud. Other filmmakers also documented the battles of Polish soldiers, for example Michał Waszyński in Monte Cassino (1944). The path of Polish soldiers fighting at the side of the Red Army was documented by the unit Czołówka. The majority of documentary materials shot in Poland during the war and, in particular, during the Warsaw Uprising, perished without trace.

Documentary films after 1945 have been made primarily at the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw, and also by the Czołówka Film Studio and the Educational Film Studio. The Polish Newsreel (Polska Kronika Filmowa) performed the role of a chief documentarist of Polish life. Early films dealt with the effects of war: human and material

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losses, devastation, rebuilding, and the hardship of life. Some of them gained prominence, for example, films by Tadeusz Makarczyński and Jerzy Bossak. After the forceful implementation of socialist realism in 1949 (see SOCIALIST REALIST CINEMA), documentary cinema was required to promote the Communist ideology.

During the Polish School period, a number of documentary films portrayed the negative aspects of everyday life, breaking the silence imposed by the poetics of socialist realism. The so-called black series of documentary films dealt with juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, and hooliganism (see BLACK REALISM). Among them were films made

by Kazimierz Karabasz, Władysław Ślesicki, and Jerzy Hoffman, such as Karabasz and Ślesicki’s Where the Devil Says Good Night (1957) and People from Nowhere (1957). However, the best-known examples of documentary cinema made at the beginning of the 1960s in Poland dealt with World War II. An Ordinary Day of Szmidt, the Gestapo Man (Powszedni dzień gestapowca Szmidta, 1963) by Jerzy Ziarnik and Requiem for 500,000 (1963) by Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak are included in the canon of Polish documentary film.

Starting in 1958, Polish movie theaters were obliged to screen short films (animated, documentary, or educational) before the main feature, a factor of great consequence for the makers of short films (this practice lasted until the 1980s). Documentary films also featured prominently on (and were produced by) Polish Television, for example Karabasz’s The Year of Franek W. (1967) or Marek Piwowski’s Hair (1971). The importance of documentary cinema in Poland is also evidenced by the annual Kraków Film Festival, inaugurated in 1961. Karabasz’s celebrated documentary Sunday Musicians (1960) became its first winner.

Films by Bossak and Karabasz influenced a number of future filmmakers, including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Titkow, Krzysztof Wojciechowski, and Tomasz Zygadło. In the 1970s, they became interested in documenting the reality neglected by other filmmakers. Together with Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Marcel Łoziński, and Piwowski, to name just a few, these new film directors appeared at the Documentary Filmmakers’ Forum in 1971. A peculiar brand of Polish documentary cinema, labeled by Polish critics “creative documentary” (dokument kreacyjny), was also developed by filmmakers such as Królikiewicz and Wojciech Wiszniewski, who started to

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incorporate techniques of fictional cinema into their documentary works. During the Cinema of Distrust period in the late 1970s, the filmmakers not only portrayed the “unrepresented reality” (negative aspects of life) but also documented the state of mind leading to the Solidarity movement. Some of the finest examples of documentaries made at that time include Zygadło’s Microphone for Everybody (1976), Piotr Szulkin’s Working Women (1978), Łoziński’s Microphone Test (1980), and Irena Kamieńska’s Female Workers (Robotnice, 1980). A full-length documentary describing the Gdańsk negotiations between striking workers and the Communist authorities, Workers 1980 (Robotnicy 80), directed by Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej Zajączkowski, remains perhaps the crowning achievement of this period.

The short-lived liberalization in 1981 enabled the screening of several documentary films that had been produced earlier but were shelved by the authorities. The political situation after the introduction of martial law in December 1981 proved difficult for the makers of uncompromising documentary cinema. During the early 1980s, several graduates of the new Katowice Film and Television School made their first films. After the transition to democracy in 1989, documentary films, earlier shown as supplements to the main program in cinema theaters, became the domain of television. This fact hugely increased the number of films produced but ended one quality Polish documentaries were known for, that is, metaphorical, poetic depictions of reality. The most prominent trend in contemporary films has to do with coming to terms with the Communist past and uncovering historical moments buried or distorted by the Communists. Łoziński’s Polish People’s Republic, 1945–1989 (1990) and The Katyń Forest (1991) serve as good examples here. Apart from films by Łoziński, any list of recent eminent Polish documentaries should include Andrzej Fidyk’s The Parade (Defilada, 1989), Jacek Bławut’s Developmentally Challenged (Nienormalni, 1990)—the only documentary made in the 1990s with a regular distribution in Poland—and Maciej Drygas’s Listen to My Cry (Usłyszcie mój krzyk, 1991). These filmmakers, together with Ewa Borzęcka, Paweł Łoziński (Marcel’s son), Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Andrzej Titkow, and several others, continue to shape contemporary Polish documentary film.

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DOMARADZKI, JERZY (1943–). Director and scriptwriter, graduate of the Warsaw University (1970) and the Łódź Film School (1974). Domaradzki started his career at the beginning of the 1970s working as a second director with Janusz Majewski, Janusz Morgenstern, and Andrzej Wajda, among others. In 1975 he contributed a novella called Romance (Romans) to a seven-part film, Pictures from Life (Obrazki z z˙ ycia), produced for the film unit X by some of the future creators of the Cinema of Distrust, including Agnieszka Holland, Feliks Falk, and Barbara Sass-Zdort.

In 1977, together with Holland and Paweł Kędzierski, Domaradzki directed another generational film, Screen Tests (Zdjęcia próbne).

In 1981 he made an important film dealing with the Stalinist period, The Big Run (Wielki bieg), released by the authorities as late as 1987. After making several popular films in Poland, including The Beast (Bestia, 1979), The Planet “Tailor” (Planeta krawiec, 1984), and the underestimated Cupid’s Bow (Łuk Erosa, 1988), Domaradzki continued his career in Australia. In that country he directed two critically acclaimed films: Struck by Lightning (1990) and Lilian’s Story (1996).

Other films: The Long Wedding Night (Długa noc poślubna, TV, 1976), The Laureate (Laureat, 1980), Three Mills (Trzy młyny, 1984), Legend of the White Horse (children’s film, Poland–United States, codirected with Janusz Morgenstern, 1987).

DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE, THE (LA DOUBLE VIE DE VÉRONIQUE; PODWÓJNE ŻYCIE WERONIKI, 1991). A Polish-French coproduction (and the first film made outside of Poland by Krzysztof Kieślowski) that developed the character of a young female singer who appeared in his earlier Decalogue 9 (1988).

Produced with the participation of Kieślowski’s regular contributors, including Krzysztof Piesiewicz (coscriptwriter), Sławomir Idziak (cinematography), and Zbigniew Preisner (music), The Double Life of Veronique revolves around two young women, Weronika in Poland and Véronique in France, both memorably played by Irène Jacob (winner of the Best Actress award at Cannes), who do not know each other but whose lives have a number of mysterious parallels. Polish Weronika lives for the art of singing. During a brilliant performance featuring Van den Budenmayer’s music (fictional

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composer), she collapses on the stage and is pronounced dead. The story of Weronika then dissolves into the story of Véronique who works as a primary school music teacher. She is unaware of Weronika’s existence, yet thanks to the mysterious link between the two women, she learns from Weronika’s experiences.

The theme of doubleness and doubling permeates the film’s narrative. Véronique’s (Weronika’s?) “double life” is intensified by the film’s cinematography, with its reliance on yellowish filters, which help to create warmth and a sense of otherworldliness, and fuzzy images and landscapes, which generate a dreamlike atmosphere.

Idziak’s photography relies on point-of-view shots, upside-down and mirror images, distorted images through windows and from behind massive doors with tiny glass ornaments, shots through a magnifying glass, and blurred images seen through a transparent toy ball. This slow-paced enigma, beautifully crafted and governed by a sense of mystery, appears to be almost the essence of “European art cinema” due to its personal character, sensuality, ambiguity, subjective camera, self-referentiality, and the fact that it is saturated with art film clichés.

DUMAŁA, PIOTR (1956–). Director and screenwriter of animated films, maker of television commercials and trailers, writer. The worthy continuator of Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, Dumała perfected his plaster-plate technique in several films produced since his debut, Little Black Riding Hood (Czarny kapturek, 1983). He studied sculpture and animation (under Daniel Szczechura) at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Warsaw (graduated 1982). Some of Dumała’s films were inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s prose, for example, Gentle Spirit (Łagodna, 1985) and Crime and Punishment (Zbrodnia i kara, 2000). Others, such as Walls (Ściany, 1987) and Franz Kafka (1991) portray a nightmarish, Kafkaesque world.

For his films Dumała won numerous awards, including prizes at the Kraków Film Festival and international film festivals at Mannheim, Ottawa, and Oberhausen.

Other films: Lycantrophy (Lykantropia, 1981), Flying Hairs (Latające włosy, 1984), Nervous Life of the Universe (Nerwowe ˙zycie kosmosu, 1986), Freedom of the Leg (Wolność nogi, 1988), Nervous Life (Nerwowe ˙zycie, 1993).

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DYBBUK, THE (DER DIBUK, 1937). One of the best-known examples of the flourishing Yiddish cinema in Poland before 1939 is the Yiddish classic The Dybbuk, directed by Michał Waszyński and photographed by Albert Wywerka. The film is an adaptation of a popular play by S. An-sky (Shloyme Zanvil Rappoport), published in 1922. Deeply rooted in Jewish folklore and mysticism, and heavily influenced by German expressionist theater, this film about unfulfilled love is frequently listed as one of the masterpieces of prewar European cinema. The Dybbuk portrays the world of nineteenth-century Eastern European Hasidim—the world of traditional superstitions—and couples it with a melodramatic aspect. It offers a metaphysical tragedy in the spirit of Romeo and Juliet. The restored version of The Dybbuk premiered in New York in September 1989.

DYMSZA, ADOLF (ADOLF BAGIŃSKI, 1900–1975). Comic actor who serves as a symbol of prewar Polish comedy. At the beginning of his career, Dymsza appeared in a number of supporting roles, usually cast as a working-class or streetwise character, a good-natured Warsaw sly dog named Dodek, who was the continuation of a character featured in Dymsza’s earlier cabaret performances. Dymsza’s later films were typical star vehicles, written specifically for him to accommodate his type of humor and screen persona. Sometimes he was paired with other well-known comic actors, such as Eugeniusz Bodo or Czech Vlasta Burian in a Polish-Czech coproduction The Twelve Chairs (1933), directed by Michał Waszyński and Martin Frič.

Dymsza achieved fame particularly with two comedies: Antek, the Police Chief (Antek policmajster, 1935) and Dodek at the Front (Dodek na froncie, 1936), both directed by Waszyński. Frequently voted the best prewar Polish comedy, Antek, the Police Chief is set around the year 1905 and deals with a Warsaw character, Antek Król (Dymsza), who is chased by the Russian tsarist police for a trivial crime. Situational humor, the mockery of the martyrological dimensions of earlier patriotic pictures, and the presence of known actors in supporting roles (Maria Bogda, Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, and Konrad Tom) made the film a success with audiences. Other films featuring Dymsza, such as ABC of Love (1935), Wacuś (1935) and Bolek and Lolek (1936), all directed by Waszyński, although box-office successes, were never as popular as Antek, the Police Chief. Their weak scripts,

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built around unsophisticated cabaret numbers, did not enable Dymsza to develop his screen personality. Dymsza continued his career after 1945, starring in popular films such as The Treasure (1948, Leonard Buczkowski), The Matter to Accomplish (1953, Jan Rybkowski and Jan Fethke), where he appeared in a total of eight parts, and Nikodem Dyzma (1956, Jan Rybkowski). In 1970 Jan Łomnicki directed Mr. Dodek, a tribute to Dymsza’s prewar comic achievements. This narrative film with Dymsza, set in contemporary Warsaw, incorporates scenes from ten of his twenty-six prewar films.

–E–

EDELMAN, PAWEŁ (1958–). A leading Polish cinematographer.

After graduating from the Cinematography Department of the Łódź Film School in 1988, Edelman has been working in Poland and abroad. Between 1988 and 1990, he worked as a camera operator on films by Filip Bajon and Wojciech Marczewski, among others. He achieved critical recognition working as a cinematographer on almost all the films directed by Władysław Pasikowski, starting with Kroll (1991), and including the post-Communist classic The Pigs (1992).

In the late 1990s, Edelman also began collaborating with director Jerzy Stuhr (Love Stories, 1997, and Big Animal, 2000), Leszek Wosiewicz (Family Events, 1997), and Janusz Zaorski (Happy New York, 1997). Edelman’s growing stature is evidenced by his work on Andrzej Wajda’s heritage films, Pan Tadeusz (1999) and Revenge (2002), and also by his recent work on Roman Polański’s multinational coproductions, such as The Pianist (2002) and Oliver Twist (2005). For The Pianist and Ray (2004, Taylor Hackford) Edelman received several prestigious international awards.

Select other films: Nastazja (1994, Andrzej Wajda), Father’s Law (1999, Marek Kondrat), Edges of the Lord (2001, Yurek Bogayewicz), All the King’s Men (2006, Steven Zaillian).

EDUCATIONAL FILM STUDIO (WYTWÓRNIA FILMÓW OŚWIATOWYCH, WFO). Production studio founded in 1949 in Łódź, which has made approximately five thousand educational and

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documentary films. Among them are classic Polish nature films (by Włodzimierz Puchalski, among others) and films about the arts (by Jarosław Brzozowski, Grzegorz Dubowski, Konstanty Gordon, and others). The studio is also renowned for the production of some classic short films made by directors such as Krzysztof Zanussi, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, and Piotr Szulkin.

WFO received numerous awards for its productions, beginning with the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 for Jarosław Brzozowski’s short film The Salt Mine Wieliczka (Wieliczka). In 1994 the studio was renamed as Educational Film and Educational Programs Studio (Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych i Edukacyjnych).

ENGLERT, JAN (1943–). Distinguished and well-liked film and theater actor, theater director, and teacher at the Warsaw State Acting School (PWST). Englert appeared in approximately eighty films and in numerous television series. His film debut, at the age of fourteen, took place in Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal (1957). Later, some of his best roles were in Jan Łomnicki’s films. He played underground fighters in his war dramas Contribution (1966) and The Action Near the Arsenal (1978), a troubled young man in the psychological film The Slide (1972), and a charming crook in The Big Giveway (1992) and in its continuation The Rat (1995), the latter also coscripted by Englert. Arguably, one of his best performances was in the role of a filmmaker in a popular Polish series The House (1980–2000), also directed by Łomnicki. Englert also did extremely well in films by Kazimierz Kutz, playing the insurgent and coal miner Erwin Maliniok in Salt of the Black Earth (1970) and The Pearl in the Crown (1972). In addition, Englert appeared in Janusz Morgenstern’s films, including one of the leading roles in popular television series Columbuses (1970) and supporting parts in Kill That Love (1972) and Smaller Sky (1980). The handsome, popular Englert usually was typecast as a passionate, sensitive, and good-natured man. He played such a lead character in Włodzimierz Haupe’s adaptation Dr. Judym (Doktor Judym, 1975) and in Jerzy Trojan’s psychological study Hidden in the Sun (Ukryty w słońcu, 1980). His other notable performances include roles in Filip Bajon’s The Magnate (1987), Janusz Zaorski’s Baritone (1985) and Soccer Poker (1989), and Juliusz Machulski’s Kiler (1997) and Kiler 2 (1999).

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EROICA (1958). One of the landmarks of the Polish School, Andrzej Munk’s tragic-grotesque film consisting of two novellas based on Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s script depicts an everyday face of Polish heroism stripped of romantic myths. Its first part, Scherzo alla polacca, introduces a wartime antihero, Dzidziuś Górkiewicz (Edward Dziewoński)—an opportunist, a black-market dealer, and an accidental hero of the Warsaw Uprising. Munk’s protagonist serves the uprising acting as a mediator between the Home Army (AK) command in Warsaw and the Hungarian army unit, which is stationed near his house at the outskirts of Warsaw. But his motivations are not those cultivated by the Polish romantic tradition. The second part, Ostinato lugubre, which narrates the story of Polish prisoners of war in a German camp, is a satire on heroism and the anachronistically understood “soldier’s honor.”

Munk also produced the third segment, Con bravura, in a different spirit since it utilizes the Polish romantic legend, which deals with the experiences of the wartime couriers crossing the Tatra Mountains. He decided to drop Con bravura from the final version of his film; it premiered in 1972 on Polish television. Eroica introduces characters facing the same problems as Andrzej Wajda’s insurgents, yet their actions are devoid of any romantic aura. The director clearly separated himself from the dominant national mythology to offer a bitter satire on Polish-style heroism. The “musical titles” of Eroica are obviously of parodic nature, but they also testify to Munk’s interest in music.

–F–

FALK, FELIKS (1941–). Writer-director, playwright, one of the leading figures of the Cinema of Distrust, and member of Andrzej Wajda’s studio X. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts (painting and graphics, 1966) and the Łódź Film School (1974), Falk established himself with Top Dog (Wodzirej, 1978), a film that uses the corrupted world of show business as a metaphor for Communist Poland. This film narrated the story of Lutek Danielak (Jerzy Stuhr), a ruthless dance leader in a provincial town and his climb to power in the world of Polish small-town entertainment. Another film, The Chance (Szansa, 1979), dealt with the conflict between two high

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school teachers who represented different moral stances. In 1981 Falk made There Was Jazz (Był jazz, released in 1984) about a jazz group, Melomani, performing the forbidden music during the Stalinist period. He continued with Idol (1985), a film loosely referring to writer Marek Hłasko’s life, and with the critically well-received The Hero of the Year (Bohater roku, 1987), the sequel to Top Dog, set at the beginning of the 1980s.

The first years after the end of Communism proved difficult for many filmmakers, including Falk. His two films The End of the Game (Koniec gry, 1991) and Far from Each Other (Daleko od siebie, 1995) were poorly received by critics, who pointed out clichés from the poetics of the Cinema of Distrust. Falk was, however, successful with audiences with A.W.O.L. (Samowolka, 1993), a film that portrayed a dark picture of a formerly taboo topic, the military, and focused on the conflict between new soldiers and the old guards who rule the garrison and drill the newcomers in order to avenge their own earlier humiliation. He won the 2005 Festival of Polish Films with The Debt Collector (Komornik), a satirical drama about forty-eight hours from the life of a ruthless debt collector, convincingly played

by Andrzej Chyra.

Other films: Accommodation (Nocleg, 1973), In the Middle of the Summer (W środku lata, 1975), Nearby (Obok, 1979), The Uninvited Guest (Nieproszony gość, 1986), Capital, or How to Become Rich in Poland (Kapitał, czyli jak zrobić pieniądze w Polsce, 1989), The Summer of Love (Lato miłości, 1994), Faces and Masks (Twarze i maski, 2000).

FERTNER, ANTONI (1874–1959). Popular actor before 1939. After appearing in 1908 in a short comedy, Antoś for the First Time in Warsaw (Antoś pierwszy raz w Warszawie, Joseph Meyer), Fertner became the first recognizable “star” of Polish cinema. On the screen he created a fun-loving, chubby character from the provinces, Antoś, an extension of his own popular theatrical and cabaret performances in Warsaw. During World War I, Fertner continued his career in Russia working for, among others, Alexander Khanzhonkov’s studio. He appeared in more than thirty Russian films, earning the nickname “the Russian Max Linder.” He reemerged in Polish cinema in the 1920s and became particularly popular playing mostly supporting roles

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in 1930s comedies, such as Michał Waszyński’s Antek, the Police Chief (1935) starring Adolf Dymsza. His presence was important in several classic musical comedies, such as Ada! Don’t Do That!

(1936, Konrad Tom) and Forgotten Melody (1938, Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke). After 1945 Fertner played in Kraków theaters. He never appeared in postwar films.

FESTIVAL OF POLISH FILMS (FESTIWAL POLSKICH FILMÓW FABULARNYCH). An annual festival presenting Polish feature films, an important part of the Polish film landscape. Organized for the first time in Gdańsk in 1974, the festival was moved to the neighboring town of Gdynia in 1996. The festival grants its main prize, the Golden Lion award (Złote Lwy), as well as other awards in several different categories (ranging from best direction to costumes).

The thirty Golden Lion awards from 1974 to 2005 were given to the following films (sometimes the jury did not confer the main award or awarded two main prizes): The Deluge (Jerzy Hoffmann) in 1974; Nights and Days (Jerzy Antczak) and The Promised Land (Andrzej Wajda) in 1975; Camouflage (Krzysztof Zanussi) in 1977; Passion (Stanisław Różewicz) and Rough Treatment (Wajda) in 1978; Camera Buff (Krzysztof Kieślowski) in 1979; The Beads of One Rosary (Kazimierz Kutz) in 1980; Fever (Agnieszka Holland) in 1981; Austeria (Jerzy Kawalerowicz) in 1984; The Woman in a Hat (Różewicz) in 1985; Axiliad (Witold Leszczyński) in 1986; The Mother of Kings (Janusz Zaorski) in 1987; A Short Film about Killing and A Short Film about Love (both films by Kieślowski) in 1988; Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (Wojciech Marczewski) in 1990; All That Really Matters (Robert Gliński) in 1992; The Sequence of Feelings (Radosław Piwowarski) and The Case of Pekosiński (Grzegorz Królikiewicz) in 1993; The Turned Back (Kutz) in 1994; Girl Guide (Juliusz Machulski) in 1995; Love Stories (Jerzy Stuhr) in 1997; The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy (Jan Jakub Kolski) in 1998; Debt (Krzysztof Krauze) in 1999; Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (Zanussi) in 2000; Hi, Tereska (Gliński) in 2001; The Day of the Wacko (Marek Koterski) in 2002; Warszawa (Dariusz Gajewski) in 2003; The Welts (Magdalena Piekorz) in 2004; The Debt Collector (Feliks Falk) in 2005; Savior Square (Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze) in 2006.

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FETHKE, JAN (1903–1980). A Polish-German scriptwriter and director born in Upper Silesia, Fethke worked for UFA (Universum Film AG) in the 1920s and published novels in Esperanto under the pseudonym Jean Forge. He coscripted Mother Krause’s Journey to Happiness (Mutter Krauses Fahrt ins Glück, 1929), a proletarian melodrama directed by Piel Jutzi. In the mid-1930s, he moved to Warsaw where he worked as a scriptwriter and, later, as a film director. He wrote scripts for several classic prewar films, including The Leper (Trędowata, 1936, Juliusz Gardan) and the classic musical comedy The Forgotten Melody (Zapomniana melodia, 1938), which he also codirected with Konrad Tom. During the war, Fethke worked as a director for German film studios. After 1945 he continued his career in Poland. He coscripted (credited as Jean Forge) Aleksander Ford’s classic Holocaust drama Border Street (1949).

Fethke also directed three films during the period of socialist realist cinema: The Crew (Załoga, 1951), A Matter to Be Settled (Sprawa do załatwienia, 1953, with Jan Rybkowski), and Irena, Go Home!

(Irena do domu! 1955). In 1961 he migrated to West Berlin where, among other things, (as Jan Fethge) he produced the script for The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (Tausend Augen des. Dr. Mabuse, 1960), directed by Fritz Lang.

FIGURA, KATARZYNA (1962–). Popular actress, voted the best Polish actress in 1987 and 1997 by Film readers. Although Figura has appeared in several films since 1976, her breakthrough was Radosław Piwowarski’s Train to Hollywood (1987), where she played a small-town bartender, Mariola “Merlin” Wafelek, dreaming of Hollywood fame. After this and several later films, such as Marek Koterski’s Porno (1989), she started to function as a Polish sex symbol. In the mid-1990s, she began to reveal her comic sensibility and to parody her earlier roles and her own screen persona. Films such as Jerzy Stuhr’s Love Stories (1997), Janusz Zaorski’s Happy New York (1997), and particularly Juliusz Machulski’s crime comedies Kiler (1997) and its sequel, Kiler 2 (1999), bolstered her popularity.

She also appeared in personal films directed by Andrzej Kondratiuk—The Spinning Wheel of Time (1995) and The Sundial (1997).

For her role in Koterski’s I Love You (1999), she received the Best Actress award at the Festival of Polish Films.

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Figura’s career has flourished in recent years. She appeared in Piotr Wereśniak’s In Love (Zakochani, 2000) and Station (Stacja, 2001). She also played in prestigious productions such as Andrzej Wajda’s Revenge (2002) and surprised her followers with a leading role as an unattractive small-town woman in a modest television film directed by Ryszard Brylski, White Sup (Żurek, 2004), for which she received the Polish Film Award “Eagle.” In addition, she received another acting award at the Festival of Polish Films for her role in Piotr Szulkin’s political satire Ubu (2003).

FILIPSKI, RYSZARD (1934–). Actor and film director. Filipski’s first screen appearance was in Jan Rybkowski’s The Hours of Hope (1955, not credited). With the exception of The End of the Night (Koniec nocy, 1957, Julian Dziedzina, Paweł Komorowski, and Walentyna Uszycka), he played episodic roles during the Polish School period, often not credited on the screen. In the second part of the 1960s, he appeared in main roles in the films directed by Henryk Kluba, Skinny and Others (1967) and The Sun Rises Once a Day (1967/1972). In 1968 he partnered with Bogumił Kobiela in Andrzej Wajda’s television film Roly Poly. In 1969 he starred in Wojciech Solarz’s drama The Pier (Molo, 1969) as a ship designer struggling through a midlife crisis.

Filipski delivered strong performances in several crime films, playing both villains and positive characters. For example, in 1969 he acted as the militia captain in Sylwester Chęciński’s Only the Dead Will Answer and the criminal in Janusz Majewski’s The Criminal Who Stole a Crime. At the beginning of the 1970s, he appeared in a militia thriller, The Diamonds of Mrs. Zuza (Brylanty pani Zuzy, 1972, Paweł Komorowski), and in an action film set in 1945, Ground Zero (Południk zero, 1971, Waldemar Podgórski). Filipski is, however, best remembered for his remarkable performance in Bohdan Poręba’s film Hubal (1973), where he played the legendary Major Dobrzański, known as Hubal, who kept fighting the Germans after the Polish troops were defeated in September 1939 until he died in action in the spring of 1940. After appearing in Jerzy Hoffman’s The Deluge (1974), Filipski scripted and directed a political suspense thriller in which he also starred, Heads or Tails (Orzeł i reszka, 1975). In 1980 he scripted and directed another film, the contempo-

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rary political drama High Flights (Wysokie loty). Also in 1980, he directed a historical epic, Coup d’état (Zamach stanu, 1980, also a television series in 1982), a chronicle of the events leading to Marshal Józef Piłsudski’s seizure of power in 1926. The role of Piłsudski also belongs to Filipski’s finest performances.

Between 1980 and 1981, Filipski was the founder and head of the film unit Kraków. Later he withdrew from politics (he was a vocal member of the Communist Party) and from cinema and acted only in one film in the 1990s, Waldemar Dziki’s Lazarus (1993). He reemerged in recent years in films such as The Old Tale (2004, Jerzy Hoffman) and Pitbull (2005, Patryk Vega).

FILM SCHOOL AT ŁÓDŹ. See ŁÓDŹ FILM SCHOOL. FILM STUDIOS. Film production in the Polish territories before World War I remained the domain of economically feeble, ephemeral studios. This situation also continued following the war. For example, 321 feature films produced in interwar Poland (between 1919 and 1939) were made by as many as 146 film production companies.

Ninety of them ended their existence after making their first picture, and only twenty-five were able to make more than three films. The majority of the interwar studios were managed by producers of Jewish origin, such as Aleksander Hertz, Henryk Finkelstein, Samuel Ginsburg, Marek Libkow, and Maria Hirszbejn.

The studio Sfinks (Sphinx), established in 1909 and headed by Aleksander Hertz, became the most important producer of films, including patriotic pictures and star vehicles for Pola Negri and Jadwiga Smosarska until 1928, the year marking Hertz’s premature death. Another important studio, Falanga, was founded in 1923

by Stefan Dękierowski and Adam Drzewicki, originally as a film laboratory, and gradually expanded its offerings after building its own studio in 1929. Falanga dominated Polish cinema in the 1930s.

Other prominent studios, producing between six and seventeen films, include Marek Libkow’s Libkow-Film, Maria Hirszbein and Leo Landau’s Leo-Film, Józef Rosen’s Rex-Film, Eugeniusz Bodo’s Urania-Film, and Henryk and Leopold Gleisner’s Blok-Muza-Film.

After World War II (1945–1989), films in Poland were produced by semi-independent cooperatives—film units.

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The new film legislation in 1987, implemented after 1989, abolished the state monopoly in the sphere of film production and distribution. Film studios were now responsible for both the content and the financial success of their products. At the beginning of 1992, the following film studios were in operation: Filip Bajon’s Dom, Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Kadr, Tadeusz Chmielewski’s Oko, Janusz Morgenstern’s Perspektywa, Bohdan Poręba’s Profil, Krzysztof Zanussi’s Tor, Juliusz Machulski’s Zebra, Jerzy Hoffman’s Zodiak, and the Irzykowski Film Studio, managed by Jacek Skalski and Ryszard Bugajski.

The current, less-than-perfect system combines elements of the pre-1989 cinema and free-market economy. Five state-owned and Warsaw-based film studios still remain active in Poland: Dom, Oko, Perspektywa, Tor, and Zebra. They produce films and also support themselves by owning legal rights to films produced before 1989.

Among numerous, but mostly small, private production companies, some play an important role in the Polish cinema industry, such as Apple Film Production, Heritage Films, and Pleograf. State-owned and private television channels, such as Canal Plus and HBO, play essential roles in invigorating the industry. Polish Television remains the leading film producer in Poland.

FILM UNITS (ZESPOŁY FILMOWE). The Polish film industry after World War II was based on a film units system, considered a new and efficient way of managing film production. The concept goes back to the ideas propagated before the war by START members. Before 1955 there were unsuccessful attempts to create film units. For example, in 1948 three such units were founded in order to stimulate film production: Blok, managed by Aleksander Ford; ZAF (Zespół Autorów Filmowych), headed by Wanda Jakubowska; and Warszawa, managed by Ludwik Starski. All were disbanded in 1949. Starting in May 1955, the film industry was reorganized with several film units. Each film unit was composed of film directors, scriptwriters, and producers (along with their collaborators and assistants) and was supervised by an artistic director, with the help of a literary director and a production manager. Film units were considered state enterprises yet had some rudimentary freedoms.

Thanks to units, a number of the Łódź Film School graduates quickly achieved strong positions in the national film industry.

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In 1957 there were eight such film units in operation, among them Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Kadr, which was instrumental in developing the Polish School phenomenon. Other film units included Ludwik Starski’s Iluzjon (with directors such as Wojciech Jerzy Has, Sylwester Chęciński, and Jerzy Passendorfer), Jan Rybkowski’s Rytm (Stanisław Lenartowicz, Stanisław Różewicz), Aleksander Ford’s Studio (Ewa and Czesław Petelski, Janusz Nasfeter), Wanda Jakubowska’s Start (Jan Batory, Maria Kaniewska), Jerzy Zarzycki’s Syrena, Jerzy Bossak’s Kamera (formerly known as “57”), and Antoni Bohdziewicz’s Droga. The literary directors included some of the most prominent writers: Anatol Stern, Stanisław Dygat, Tadeusz Konwicki (himself a renowned filmmaker), Jerzy Stefan Stawiński, Roman Bratny, and Jerzy Andrzejewski.

After 1968 the Communist authorities tightened censorship, criticized “commercialism,” and called for films reflecting the true spirit of socialism. They also reorganized the existing film units to introduce a more centralized organization of the film industry. In 1969 the following six film units were in operation: Iluzjon, Kraj, Nike, Plan, Tor, and Wektor. In the first part of the 1970s, another reorganization of the film units granted them more artistic freedom. In 1972 there were seven film units in operation: Stanisław Różewicz’s Tor, Czesław Petelski’s Iluzjon, Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Kadr, Jerzy Passendorfer’s Panorama, Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski’s Pryzmat, Andrzej Wajda’s X, and the only unit established outside of Warsaw—Kazimierz Kutz’s Silesia in Katowice.

The implementation of martial law in December 1981 seriously affected the cinema in Poland. For example, accused of oppositional activities, Wajda was removed as the head of film unit X. The 1987 legislation, more fully introduced after 1989, abolished the state monopoly in the sphere of film production, distribution, and the purchase of foreign films. State-owned and state-controlled film units were transformed into independent film studios.

FORD, ALEKSANDER (1908–1980). The controversial “father” of post-1945 Polish cinema, Ford started his career with a series of documentary films in 1928. His much-praised narrative debut, The Legion of the Street (Legion ulicy, 1932), voted the best film of the year by Kino readers, was one of the first films showing a realistic picture of

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everyday life coupled with elements of social commentary. The young director was hailed by the leftist press in particular (he was a known Communist) as the most promising Polish director. In 1930 he became the cofounder of START—a dynamic cine club that promoted ambitious, artistic cinema. In 1938 Ford codirected with Jerzy Zarzycki The People of the Vistula (Ludzie Wisły), a film set in the milieu of Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante (1934) and also bearing some features of Vigo’s masterpiece: glimpses of social conditions, a love story on a river barge, and the life on the shore contrasted with that on the barge.

Ford survived the war in the Soviet Union where he cocreated the film unit Czołówka (Vanguard) within the Polish Tadeusz Kościuszko First Division, which fought alongside the Red Army. He returned with the Red Army as an officer in the Kościuszko Division and, thanks to his political connections, became the most important person in the postwar Polish film industry. From 1945 to 1947, he was the head of Film Polski, then artistic director of two film units—Blok (1948–1949) and Studio (1955–1968)—and teacher at the Łódź Film School (1948–1968). Ford also produced several acclaimed films. In 1949 he directed Border Street (Ulica graniczna), a film dealing with the wartime predicament of Polish Jews and showing the partitioning of Warsaw by the Germans into Jewish and Aryan quarters. His next film, The Youth of Chopin (Młodość Chopina, 1952), traced five years of the composer’s life. Ford’s first film in color, Five Boys from Barska Street (Piątka z ulicy Barskiej, 1954), for which he won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, focused on juvenile delinquency, a theme previously untouched in Polish cinema. For Polish viewers, however, Ford is chiefly known as the maker of the most successful (at the box office) Polish film, the historical epic The Teutonic Knights (Krzyz˙ acy) in 1960.

The events of 1968 (the anti-Semitic campaign orchestrated by a nationalistic faction of the Communist Party in order to remove some seasoned party and security force members, many of whom were Jewish, from their privileged positions) isolated Ford as both a person of Jewish origin and an activist linked with the group removed from power. As a result, in 1969 Ford migrated from Poland and tried to continue his career in West Germany, Denmark, and the United States. In Germany he directed The First Circle (Den Foerste Kreds, 1971) and Dr. Korczak, the Martyr (Sie Sind Frei, Dr. Korczak, 1974,

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West Germany–Israel). In 1980, at the age of seventy-two, he committed suicide. Details of his eventful life are covered in Stanisław Janicki’s documentary Loved and Hated: The Tragedy of Life and Death of the Maker of The Teutonic Knights (Kochany i znienawidzony. Dramat ˙zycia i śmierci twórcy Krzyżaków, 2002).

Other films: Sabra (1933), Eighth Day of the Week (Ósmy dzień tygodnia, 1958, released in 1983), The First Day of Freedom (Pierwszy dzień wolności, 1964).

FORGOTTEN MELODY, THE (ZAPOMNIANA MELODIA, 1938).

The crowning achievement of prewar Polish musical comedy, directed by Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke. This comedy of errors offers a fresh and unpretentious filmic experience. The well-executed script

by Fethke, Ludwik Starski, and Napoleon Sądek introduces a lively and logically developed plot. Stefan (Aleksander Żabczyński), who is in love with Helenka (Helena Grossówna), is mistaken for the son of a cosmetics firm owner who competes with the company owned

by Helenka’s father (Antoni Fertner). Helenka’s father, afraid of the competition, destroys the recipe for his new product but first memorizes it with the help of a melody that he later forgets. In the film’s climax, he recalls the “forgotten melody” while listening to Stefan’s song addressed to his beloved Helenka.

Forgotten Melody was cast with an ensemble of popular actors, including Grossówna, Żabczyński, Fertner, Jadwiga Andrzejewska, Michał Znicz, and Stanisław Sielański. It neither relied on a star performance nor resembled popular cabaret sketches—the Achilles’ heel of a number of prewar Polish comedies. The prewar Polish reviewers aptly noted a similarity to American musicals, mainly to the well-received films featuring Universal Studio’s star Deanna Durbin.

Today, this film is chiefly remembered in Poland for its musical pieces composed by Henryk Wars to the lyrics of Starski.

–G–

GAJOS, JANUSZ (1939–). Outstanding film and theatrical actor.

After graduating from the acting department at the Łódź Film

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School, Gajos starred in one of the most popular television series ever produced in Poland, Four Tankmen and a Dog (Czterej pancerni i pies, twenty-one episodes, 1966–1967), directed by Konrad Nałęcki. In this adventure war film, Gajos played the commander of the the tank Rudy on its road to Poland from the Soviet Union. Also in 1967, he appeared in a war drama, The Barn at Salvator (Stajnia na Salwatorze, 1967, Paweł Komorowski), as an underground soldier who gets an order to kill a friend who has betrayed his organization.

The genuine, instant popularity after Four Tankman and a Dog and identification with the role proved to be a curse for Gajos. In the late 1970s, he successfully tried to change his image by starring in Sylwester Szyszko’s film The Millionaire (Milioner, 1977), for which he received an acting award at the Festival of Polish Films, and appearing in the role of the down-to-earth custodian Turecki in the television program Olga Lipińska’s Cabaret. The popularity of this program and Gajos’s role proved to be another obstacle for his career. Another stereotype started to function, despite his outstanding roles in films made during the Solidarity period that were banned after December of 1981: Filip Bajon’s television film ShillyShally (1981), Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron (1981), and Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation (1982/1989).

Toward the end of the 1980s, Gajos starred in Janusz Zaorski’s popular Soccer Poker (1989) and gained critical acclaim for his role in Wojciech Marczewski’s Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (1990), where he starred as a disillusioned Communist censor who fathoms the misery of his present life. He also appeared in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 4 (1988) and the second part of the Three Colors Trilogy: White (1994). Polish critics praised his performances in Juliusz Machulski’s Squadron (1992) and Kazimierz Kutz’s Death as a Slice of Bread (1994).

In recent years Gajos has appeared in a variety of genres, playing different characters. He played policemen, often corrupt ones, in films such as Władysław Pasikowski’s The Pigs (1992), in the popular television series The Extradition (1995–1996), and in Patryk Vega’s Pitbull (2005). He also starred as an alcoholic man in Janusz Morgenstern’s acclaimed television film Yellow Scarf (2000), as a thief in Jacek Bromski’s It’s Me, the Thief (2000), and as a character who tries to escape from Communist Poland in a political suspense

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drama by Wojciech Wójcik, There and Back (2002). Gajos also appeared in epic adaptations of the national canon, such as Filip Bajon’s Early Spring (2001) and Andrzej Wajda’s Revenge (2002).

Gajos was recognized in different Polish plebiscites as the best or the most popular actor and television personality. In the plebiscite of weekly Polityka, he was voted the third most important twentiethcentury Polish actor. He received seven Best Actor awards at the Festival of Polish Films for leading and supporting roles (including starring roles in Interrogation, Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema, Shilly-Shally, and The Millionaire) and the Polish Film Award “Eagle” for his supporting role in It’s Me, the Thief.

GARDAN, JULIUSZ (JULIUSZ GRADSTEIN, 1901–1944). Prewar film director and screenwriter. After assisting director Henryk Szaro, Gardan began his filmmaking career with several works produced by the film studio Leo-Film and photographed by Seweryn Steinwurzel. His early films The Final Touch (Kropka nad i, 1928) and The Police Chief Tagiejew (Policmajster Tagiejew, 1929), influenced

by German Kammerspielfielm, were very well received by critics.

Critics also praised his next films, such as The Beauty of Life (Uroda ˙zycia, 1930), A Heart on the Street (Serce na ulicy, 1931), and, in particular, Life Sentence (Wyrok ˙zycia, 1933), voted the best film of the 1933/1934 season. Life Sentence was an ambitious melodrama about a young woman (Jadwiga Andrzejewska), portrayed as a victim of hostile circumstances, who is convicted of killing her child and sentenced to death. Gardan’s musical comedies with Henryk Wars’s music and songs proved to be popular among audiences: Is Lucyna a Girl? (Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna, 1934), with Jadwiga Smosarska and Eugeniusz Bodo, and Miss Minister Is Dancing (Pani minister tańczy, 1937), starring Tola Mankiewiczówna and Aleksander Żabczyński.

Gardan’s other films also became popular at the box office and received good reviews. They included melodramas such as The Leper (Trędowata, 1936), based on a popular novel by Helena Mniszkówna, and Heather (Wrzos, 1938), adapted from an equally well-known novel by Maria Rodziewiczówna. The outbreak of World War II interrupted several of Gardan’s projects. He died in the Soviet Union.

Other films: Ten Percent for Me (10% dla mnie, 1933), Halka (1937), Dr. Murek (Doktor Murek, 1939).

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GLIŃSKI, ROBERT (1952–). Writer-director who began his career with Sunday Pranks (Niedzielne igraszki, 1983, released in 1988), a highly praised medium-length film about Stalinist indoctrination, set immediately after Joseph Stalin’s death. Gliński returned to Polish history with All That Really Matters (Wszystko, co najwaz˙ niejsze, 1992), the winner of the 1992 Festival of Polish Films. This film examines the fate of Polish citizens deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan after the outbreak of World War II. In 1989 Gliński directed The Swan’s Song (Łabędzi śpiew) about a scriptwriter who produces some desperate “postmodern” versions of Polish history by cannibalizing American models. Gliński’s modest black-and-white 2001 film, Hi, Tereska (Cześć Tereska), is among the best Polish films made in recent years. This tragic coming-of-age story, featuring nonprofessional actresses in the leading roles, became the winner of the Festival of Polish Films and was also awarded at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Gliński’s most recent film, The Call of the Toad (Wróz˙ by kumaka, aka Unkenrufe, 2005), based on Günter Grass’s novel set in Gdańsk, tells a story of a mature love between a Polish woman (Krystyna Janda) and a German man (Matthias Habich) who create the Polish-German Cemetery Society. This Polish-German coproduction deals with reconciliation between the two nations.

Other films: Poisonous Plants (Rośliny trujące, TV, 1985), Supervision (Superwizja, 1991), Mother of Her Own Mother (Matka swojej matki, 1996), Love Me and Do Whatever You Want (Kochaj i rób co chcesz, 1998), Long Weekend (Długi weekend, TV, 2004). See also STALINISM—REPRESENTATION. GOŁAS, WIESŁAW (1930–). Popular actor known for his film, theatrical, and cabaret roles. After appearing in an episodic role in Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955), Gołas played in several films made during the Polish School period. He delivered strong supporting roles in Witold Lesiewicz’s Deserter (1958), Wadim Berestowski’s Rancho Texas (1959), Andrzej Wajda’s Lotna (1959), and Wojciech Has’s How to Be Loved (1963). His breakthrough came in 1961 with the title role in Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s cruel postwar action drama The Artillery Sergeant Kaleń (1961). He also received critical acclaim for his lead role as a circus mime in Stanisław Jędryka’s The Impossible Goodbye (1962). Gołas became

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one of the most popular actors of the 1960s. He acted in several films directed by Stanisław Bareja, including the lead roles in a crime film, Touch of the Night (1961), and in a popular comedy, The Wife for an Australian (1964), in which he was paired with Elżbieta Czyżewska. In addition, he became a television personality. He starred in Bareja’s first Polish television crime series Captain Sowa Investigates (1965), in sophisticated television program Cabaret of Elderly Gentlemen (Kabaret starszych panów), and he appeared in the supporting role of Tomasz Czereśniak in the extremely popular television war adventure series Four Tankmen and a Dog (Czterej pancerni i pies, 1966–1967), directed by Konrad Nałęcki. Gołas also played the leading role in Henryk Kluba’s The Skinny and Others (1967) and had a number of other memorable supporting roles.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Gołas had the leading role in another successful television series, Sylwester Chęciński’s The Road (1973), played in Andrzej Kondratiuk’s films, and had the lead role in Jerzy Gruza’s comedy The Woodpecker (Dzięcioł, 1971). His later films made in the 1980s were never as popular as his earlier works.

His last major role was in Jan Jakub Kolski’s The Saber from the Commander (1995).

GREEN, JOSEPH (JÓZEF GRINBERG, 1900–1996). A Polishborn Jewish American film director, producer, and distributor.

Joseph Green is responsible for some of the best-known examples of Yiddish cinema produced in Poland prior to 1939, which depict Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Educated in Berlin, he toured Europe with the Vilna Troupe. In 1924 he moved to New York and then to Hollywood where he became interested in cinema. His career started with distribution of American-made Yiddish films in Poland. Later he invested his talent into Yiddish films made on location in Poland, mostly for the American market, with the participation of Polish/ Jewish and American/Jewish talent, as well as Polish filmmakers.

Between 1936 and 1939, he produced four films, beginning with a well-received musical comedy Yiddle with His Fiddle (Yidl mitn fidl, 1936) with the Jewish American actress Molly Picon and codirected

by Green and a Polish director, Jan Nowina-Przybylski. This film tells the story of a girl (Picon) dressed as a boy fiddler and three other klezmorim (musicians) touring the Jewish quarters of small Polish

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towns. The list of Green’s successful productions also include The Purim Player (Purimszpiler, 1937), codirected with Jan NowinaPrzybylski; after Nowina-Przybylski’s death, Little Mother (Mamele, 1938), codirected with Konrad Tom; and A Letter to Mother (A brivele der mamen, 1938), codirected with Leon Trystan. Before the outbreak of World War II, Green returned to the United States.

–H–

HAS, WOJCIECH JERZY (1925–2000). One of the most highly respected Polish film directors, known for his easily recognizable personal style and esteemed adaptations of well-known works of literature. Unlike the majority of Polish filmmakers, Has ignored history and politics, the fateful fascination of Polish cinema, did not take political stands, and trusted his own imagination. Although he never studied at the Łódź Film School, his name is associated with that establishment.

He started teaching there in 1974, headed the school from 1990 to 1996, and was the founder and head of its production studio Indeks since 1990. In 2000 he received an honorary doctorate from the school.

Has debuted with the medium-length film Harmony (Harmonia) in 1947, but his greatest films were made during the Polish School period and shortly afterward. In Noose (Pętla, 1958), he portrayed a single day in the life of an alcoholic young man (Gustaw Holoubek) focused on his destruction, ending in suicide. As in other films by Has, small objects, such as the clock and the black telephone, had important roles and virtually became characters in this film. In his other works made during the Polish School period, such as Farewells (Poz˙ egnania 1958) and Shared Room (Wspólny pokój, 1960), Has did not introduce typical Polish romantic heroes but characters whose private worlds were built of their own dreams, fantasies, and fears. They lived as if outside of history and time, trapped in a surreal reality. How to Be Loved (Jak być kochaną, 1963), Has’s classic film based on Kazimierz Brandys’s story, was slightly different because it offered a female perspective on the war. The protagonist Felicja (Barbara Krafftówna) considered love more important than national duty and paid a heavy price for it.

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In the mid-1960s, Has changed his intimate style and moved to the realm of historical spectaculars based on great literary works.

His 1965 black-and-white film, The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie), was adapted from the novel published in 1813 by Count Jan Potocki. The film offers a complex, labyrinthlike narrative structure that leaves itself open to interpretation. The viewer follows Captain Alfons von Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski) and his surreal, improbable voyages across eighteenth-century Spain.

The dreamlike dimension of this travel, the motif of a journey into one’s past, and the appearances of characters that emerge from the realm of dreams or memories also characterized Hospital under the Hourglass (Sanatorium pod klepsydrą, 1973). In this adaptation of Bruno Schulz’s prose, Has succeeded in representing the writer’s moody evocation of the lost Jewish world. In 1968 Has produced one of his most popular films, an adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel The Doll (Lalka). Set in the late nineteenth century, this love story between an impoverished, aristocratic young lady, Countess Izabela Łęcka (Beata Tyszkiewicz), and a rich merchant, Stanisław Wokulski (Mariusz Dmochowski), dealt with the conflict between the emerging Polish capitalism and the old Polish romantic tradition.

The Doll proved to be Has’s last acclaimed work. His later films, for example Uninteresting Story (Nieciekawa historia, 1982) and Personal Memoir of a Sinner, Written by Himself (Osobisty pamiętnik grzesznika przez niego samego spisany, 1986), received mixed reviews from critics and were ignored by audiences.

Other films: Gold (Złoto 1961), Ciphers (Szyfry, 1966), The Scribbler (Pismak, 1985), The Unusual Journey of Baltazar Kober (Niezwykła podróz˙ Baltazara Kobera, 1988).

HERTZ, ALEKSANDER (1879–1928). Film producer who dominated the first stage of the development of Polish cinema with his film studio established in 1909, Sfinks (Sphinx). Hertz recognized the commercial appeal of stars. He was responsible for launching the careers of Pola Negri and Jadwiga Smosarska, among others. He was also able to attract the best film professionals, including influential directors Ryszard Bolesławski, Edward Puchalski, and Jan Kucharski; camera operators Jan Skarbek-Malczewski and Zbigniew Gniazdowski; and actors such as Antoni Fertner, Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski,

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and Józef Węgrzyn. Hertz is credited as a director or codirector of several films, including The Man (Męz˙ czyzna, 1918), Krysta (1919, with Danny Kaden), and The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana, 1927, with Zbigniew Gniazdowski). Hertz’s premature death in 1928 marked the end of the first period of Polish cinema.

HIMILSBACH, JAN (1931–1988). Colorful character actor, writer (three volumes of short stories published), and scriptwriter who started his acting career in Marek Piwowski’s film The Cruise (1970). After the success of this film, and paired with Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, Himilsbach starred in Andrzej Kondratiuk’s productions: the television cult film The Ascended (1973), which he coscripted, and another television production, How It Is Done (1973). He also appeared in numerous big-screen and television films, mostly in supporting or episodic roles, displaying his working-class glamor.

HOFFMAN, JERZY (1932–). Film director known chiefly for his popular epic adaptations of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical trilogy: Pan Michael (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969), The Deluge (Potop, 1974), and With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1999). Hoffman started his career with documentary films produced with Edward Skórzewski, such as Attention, Hooligans! (Uwaga, chuligani! 1955), the forerunner of “black series” (see BLACK REALISM) films dealing with social maladies. His early feature films attempted to adapt the generic conventions of popular cinema to Polish reality: satirical comedy found expression in Gangsters and Philanthropists (Gansterzy i filantropi, 1962) and the Western genre was transplanted in Law and Fist (Prawo i pięść, 1964), codirected with Edward Skórzewski.

As stated earlier, Hoffman owes his fame to the adaptations of Sienkiewicz’s trilogy, set in the turbulent mid-seventeenth century. Its first part, Pan Michael, is a generic adventure film dealing with the seventeenth-century defense of Christianity against the Islamic Turks and featuring a likeable protagonist, Michał Wołodyjowski, played

by Tadeusz Łomnicki. The two-part, five-hour-long epic The Deluge is set during the Swedish invasion of Poland known as the “Swedish deluge.” Hoffman narrates a melodramatic love story between color sergeant Andrzej Kmicic (Daniel Olbrychski) and Oleńka Billewiczówna (Małgorzata Braunek). The last, equally popular install-

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ment, With Fire and Sword, promotes reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine via, among other things, the elimination of several scenes that would be offensive to contemporary Ukrainians. With 6.7 million viewers, With Fire and Sword became the most successful (in terms of box office) film shown in Poland between 1992 and 1999. Hoffman’s list of other adaptations includes the reworkings of popular prewar adaptations The Leper (Trędowata, 1976) and The Quack (Znachor, 1982) and the adaptation of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s pseudohistorical novel The Old Tale (Stara Baśń, 2004).

Other films: Three Steps on Earth (Trzy kroki po ziemi, 1965), Father (Ojciec, 1967), According to the Decrees of Providence (Wedle wyroków twoich, 1983), Till the Last Drop of Blood (Do krwi ostatniej, 1978), Beautiful, Unknown Lady (Piękna nieznajoma, 1992).

HOLLAND, AGNIESZKA (1948–). Prominent director-scriptwriter whose films made in Poland and abroad received numerous awards.

After graduating in 1971 from the Prague Film School (FAMU), Holland began her career assisting Krzysztof Zanussi on his Illumination (Iluminacja, 1973). Between 1972 and 1981, she was a member of Andrzej Wajda’s film unit X and the leading representative of the Cinema of Distrust. She started her career with two television films, An Evening with Abdon (Wieczór u Abdona, 1975) and Sunday Children (Niedzielne dzieci, 1976). During the Cinema of Distrust period she directed several films that were thinly veiled metaphors for Poland’s politics. In Provincial Actors (Aktorzy prowincjonalni, 1979), awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, Holland depicted a group of discontented young actors unable to fulfill their artistic dreams.

In Fever (Gorączka, 1981), a story about terrorism, she dealt with the young Polish revolutionaries fighting the tsarist regime in 1905. In 1981 Holland produced for Polish television one of the darkest and most brutally honest films ever made in Poland: A Woman Alone (Kobieta samotna, released in 1988). Unfolding in a series of episodes, the film concerns a single mother, the postal worker Irena (Maria Chwalibóg), who struggles in a joyless Polish reality. Her new relationship with the equally unhappy, young but handicapped ex-miner Jacek (Bogusław Linda) offers her a short-lived chance to change her life.

Holland also worked as a scriptwriter for several films directed by her mentor—Wajda—among them Festival of Polish Films winner

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Rough Treatment (Bez znieczulenia, 1978) and Korczak (1990). She scripted Yurek Bogayevicz’s Anna (1987) and collaborated closely with her friend Krzysztof Kieślowski, for example on his Three Colors Trilogy (she is acknowledged as a “script consultant”). In addition, Holland appeared in supporting roles in Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation (1982) and Kieślowski’s The Scar (1976), among others.

After the declaration of martial law in December 1981, Holland decided to remain in France. Later she directed a number of internationally acclaimed films in Germany, France, and the United States. In Germany she made Angry Harvest (Bittere Ernte, 1985), a Holocaust drama examining the relationship between a gentile farmer and a Jewish woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Even more successful was her next Holocaust film, Europa, Europa (1991), the story of a young Jewish man who survives the war by concealing his identity, for which she received several awards, including a Golden Globe. Holland’s French films include To Kill a Priest (1988), the political story based on Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko’s tragic death; Olivier, Olivier (1992); and Total Eclipse (1995, French-English coproduction), the latter film dealing with the homosexual love affair between Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis).

Holland’s Hollywood films include two adaptations of classic literary works: The Secret Garden (1993), an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, and Washington Square (1997), a faithful adaptation of Henry James’s novel. Her list of films also includes The Third Miracle (1999), an unusual religious film dealing with the nature of miracles and spirituality, and the television drama Shot in the Heart (2001, HBO).

Holland’s Canadian-German-Polish coproduction Julia Walking Home (aka The Healer), which was released in 2003, received mixed reviews.

Other films: Something for Something (Coś za coś, TV, 1977), Screen Tests (Zdjęcia próbne, 1977, with Paweł Kędzierski and Jerzy Domaradzki), Largo desolato (TV, 1991, France), Golden Dreams (2001, United States), Copying Beethoven (2006, United States).

HOLOCAUST—REPRESENTATION. During World War II, Poland lost more than six million of its inhabitants, about 22 percent of the entire population. That number includes about three million Polish Jews who perished during the war. The Holocaust was portrayed in

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several postwar Polish films, including the first two prestigious successes The Last Stage (1948) by Wanda Jakubowska and Border Street (1949) by Aleksander Ford. Later, Jakubowska regularly returned to her Auschwitz experiences in films such as The End of Our World (1964) and Invitation (1985). A number of films dealt with the Holocaust during the Polish School period, such as Stanisław Różewicz’s The Birth Certificate (1961), Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963), Jerzy Zarzycki’s White Bear (Biały niedz´ wiedz´ , 1959), and Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s The Beater (1964). The motif of hiding, common to many Holocaust narratives, appeared later in Jan Rybkowski’s Ascension Day (1969) and Janusz Nasfeter’s The Long Night, which was produced in 1967 but not released until 1989. The Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states in June 1967 and the tense situation within the Soviet bloc (which supported the Arab states) were the main reasons for this film’s shelving. Also, several documentary films dealt with the Holocaust, including the classic Requiem for 500,000 (1963) by Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak.

The Holocaust was often present in Andrzej Wajda’s films.

In Samson (1961), Landscape after Battle (1970), and in his later films, such as Korczak (1990) and Holy Week (1996), he provided an examination of Polish morality and of the Polish experience of the Holocaust. In Korczak, scripted by Agnieszka Holland, he portrayed a figure of great importance for both Polish and Jewish cultures, Dr. Janusz Korczak (Józef Goldszmit), who died in the gas chamber of Treblinka with two hundred of “his orphans” from a Jewish orphanage. Holy Week, based on Jerzy Andrzejewski’s short story, was set during the first seven days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and depicted a Jewish protagonist, Irena Lilien, who seeks sanctuary with her Polish friend and his wife.

Several films made in the 1980s also dealt with the Holocaust.

A Postcard from the Journey (Kartka z podróży, 1984), Waldemar Dziki’s impressive debut, is set in 1941 in the Warsaw Ghetto and portrays a middle-aged Jew, Jakub Rosenberg (Władysław Kowalski), who is preparing for death. Other lesser-known films include Jerzy Hoffman’s According to the Decrees of Providence (1983), Juliusz Janicki’s There Was No Sun That Spring (Nie było słońca tej wiosny, 1984), and Wojciech Żółtowski’s In the Shadow of Hatred (W cieniu nienawiści, 1986).

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The return of democracy in 1989 has enabled Polish filmmakers to freely explore areas that were difficult to deal with under the previous political order. Apart from Wajda’s films, Korczak and Holy Week, a group of notable films includes Warszawa 5703 by Janusz Kijowski, Farewell to Maria (Poz˙ egnanie z Marią, 1993) by Filip Zylber, Just beyond This Forest (1991) by Jan Łomnicki, and Deborah (1995)

by Ryszard Brylski. Warszawa 5703 (a Polish-French-German coproduction) tells the story of a young couple escaping through sewers from the Warsaw Ghetto and finding refuge on the Polish side of the wall in an apartment owned by a half-German, middle-aged woman whose Polish husband is in a POW camp. Farewell to Maria, based on a classic, powerful short story by Tadeusz Borowski, is the story of two Jewish women who manage to escape from the ghetto. Just beyond This Forest depicts small, insignificant people overwhelmed by history. It introduces an ordinary hero, a washerwoman (Ryszarda Hanin), who performs ordinary deeds in exceptional circumstances— she is trying to save a Jewish child. The Holocaust theme is not limited to the aforementioned films. It also appears, although not explicitly, in Kornblumenblau (1989) by Leszek Wosiewicz, All That Really Matters (1992) by Robert Gliński, and The Burial of a Potato (1991) by Jan Jakub Kolski.

In recent years, the theme of the Holocaust has been chiefly explored in documentary films, such as Paweł Łoziński’s Birthplace (Miejsce urodzenia, 1992), Jolanta Dylewska’s Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising According to Marek Edelman (Kronika powstania w getcie warszawskim wg Marka Edelmana, 1993), and Grzegorz Linkowski’s The Cross Inscribed in the Star of David (Wpisany w gwiazdę Dawida—Krzyz˙ , 1997). The few narrative films dealing with the Holocaust include Kolski’s psychological drama about hiding, Keep Away from the Window (2002), and Roman Polański’s internationally acclaimed The Pianist (2002).

HOLOUBEK, GUSTAW (1923–). Distinguished theatrical and film actor. After playing Felix Dzerzhinsky in his first film, Wanda Jakubowska’s propagandist The Soldier of Victory (1953), Holoubek excelled in several films directed by Wojciech Has, particularly in Noose (1958) where he starred as a young alcoholic man. During the Polish School phenomenon, he also appeared in other Has films, such

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as Farewells (1958) and Shared Room (1960). He later continued his collaboration with Has, acting frequently in his productions, such as in The Saragossa Manuscript (1965), Hospital under the Hourglass (1973), Uninteresting Story (1982), and The Scribbler (1985). During the Polish School, Holoubek also played the leading role in Jerzy Zarzycki’s Holocaust drama about hiding, White Bear (Biały niedz´ wiedz´ , 1959); Leonard Buczkowski’s war drama Time Past (1961); and Janusz Morgenstern’s satirical comedy Opening Tomorrow (1962).

Holoubek received popular acclaim starring in Jerzy Hoffman’s and Edward Skórzewski’s two productions: the comedy Gangsters and Philanthropists (1962) and an action film borrowing from Western conventions, Law and Fist (1964), respectively. Holoubek’s close colaboration with his friend, director Tadeusz Konwicki, resulted in his fine performances in Somersault (1965), How Far from Here, yet How Near (1972), and Lava: The Story of Forefathers (1989).

The long list of Holoubek’s accomplishments also includes roles in films directed by Janusz Zaorski (A Room with a View of the Sea, 1978, and Bodensee, 1986), Jerzy Kawalerowicz (The Game, 1968), Andrzej Domalik (Zygfryd, 1986), and in recent years, supporting roles in films by Hoffman (With Fire and Sword, 1999) and Władysław Pasikowski (Operation Samum, 1999). In 1976 Holoubek scripted and directed the historical film Mazepa, based on Juliusz Słowacki’s drama. He is also known for numerous fine roles for television. In the poll of weekly Polityka, Holoubek was voted the second most important Polish actor of the twentieth century.

HÜBNER, ZYGMUNT (1930–1989). Accomplished theatrical and film actor, film and theater director, teacher at the State Acting School (PWST) in Warsaw since 1970, playwright, and author of several books on theater. After graduating from PWST in 1952, Hübner became associated with a number of theaters. He debuted in cinema playing episodic roles (not credited) as German officers in Stanisław Różewicz’s Free City (1958) and Leonard Buczkowski’s The Submarine Eagle (1959). His first major role was in Witold Lesiewicz’s contemporary drama One Position (1966), followed by the role of Major Henryk Sucharski in Stanisław Różewicz’s war drama Westerplatte (1967).

Later Hübner often played figures of authority—army and militia officers, prosecutors, and party apparatchiks—and became known for

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portraying the psychological depth of his characters. For example, he played Captain Siwy, a militia officer who searches for justice after his retirement, in Janusz Majewski’s The Criminal Who Stole a Crime (1969) and an army officer, Major Niwiński, in Jerzy Passendorfer’s Operation “Brutus” (1970). He acted as a medical doctor in Majewski’s The Gorgon Affair (1977), in Edward Żebrowski’s The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979), and as the dean of the medical department in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blind Chance (1981). He also played a prosecutor in Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s The Convicted (1976) and party apparatchiks in Roman Załuski’s Rust (Rdza, 1982) and Ryszard Ber’s The Four-Star Hotel (Hotel klasy Lux, 1979).

In 1969 Hübner started his directorial career with the mediumlength television film What Is Inside a Man (Co jest w człowieku w środku). In 1971 he produced another television film, The Chase (Gonitwa), and in 1972 a feature called Sex-Teens (Seksolatki), depicting a teenage love story within a harsh environment. In the 1980s, Hübner appeared mostly in television films, as in Hanka Włodarczyk’s Ivy (Bluszcz, 1984) and Stanisław Jędryka’s I Died to Live (1984).

His last screen appearance was in 1988 in the television production No Man’s Field (Pole niczyje, Jan Błeszyński). Apart from being an acclaimed theatrical actor, since 1974 Hübner had been the head of Popular Theater (Teatr Powszechny) in Warsaw, which was later named after him (Teatr Powszechny im. Zygmunta Hübnera).

–I–

IDZIAK, SŁAWOMIR (1945–). One of Poland’s leading cinematographers. The 1969 Łódź Film School graduate Sławomir Idziak gained recognition from working with Krzysztof Zanussi since 1970. He photographed the classic Balance Sheet (1975) and all of Zanussi’s films made in the 1980s, including the winner of the Venice Film Festival Year of the Quiet Sun (1985) and several films that Zanussi made abroad during that decade. International esteem brought him, in particular, the collaboration with Krzysztof Kieślowski that dates back to the 1973 medium-length film Pedestrian Subway. Idziak photographed some of Kieślowski’s best-known films, such as A Short

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Film about Killing (1988), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), and the first part of the Three Colors Trilogy: Blue (1993). He became known for his predilection for hand-held camera, the bold use of filters (greenish filters in A Short Film about Killing to dehumanize the setting, blue and amber in Blue), and images reflected in glass and shown through glass (mainly in The Double Life of Veronique).

Lesser known is Idziak’s work as a scriptwriter-director. In 1972 he made a television film for children, Paper Bird (Papierowy ptak, 1972), followed by The Flying Lesson (Nauka latania, 1978). He also directed television films such as The Screening (Seans, 1978), Debut (Debiut, 1979), and Good Night Fairy Tales (Bajki na dobranoc, 1980), and later his most ambitious project, the multinational political science fiction film Enak (1992).

Since 1993 Idziak has continued his successful career outside of Poland. He worked as a cinematographer with Jerzy Domaradzki (Lilian’s Story, 1996), John Duigan (The Journey of August King, 1995, and Paranoid, 2000), John Sayles (Men with Guns, 1997), and Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, 1997). Recent years have brought him praise for Taylor Hackford’s Proof of Life (2000) and Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2002), for which he received several honors, including Oscar and BAFTA nominations. His latest Polish recognitions include awards at the Camerimage Film Festival in 2004 and the special Polish Film Award “Eagle” in 2002.

INTERROGATION (PRZESŁUCHANIE, 1982, RELEASED IN 1989). Set in early 1950s Poland, Interrogation offers a shocking portrayal of ruthlessness and dehumanization and is arguably the strongest work on the Stalinist past ever made in Central Europe.

The film was scripted and directed by Ryszard Bugajski, photographed by Jacek Petrycki, and produced by Andrzej Wajda’s studio X. Its story deals with the imprisonment and torture of an innocent young woman, Antonina (Tonia) Dziwisz (Krystyna Janda), who is wrongly charged by the Stalinist secret police. The film is set predominantly in a prison and graphically shows the horror and brutality of the times. It is built around the sharp opposition between the oppressive Stalinist system (represented by the interrogators played by Adam Ferency, Janusz Gajos, and others) and its innocent victims (exemplified by Tonia and her prison mates,

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played by Anna Romantowska, Agnieszka Holland, and others).

Finished after the introduction of martial law in Poland, Interrogation was immediately shelved by the Communist regime, and Bugajski was forced to emigrate. Perhaps the most famous Polish film of the 1980s, Interrogation was seen by viewers in Poland on illegal video copies until its release in 1989. In 1990 the film received several awards at the Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia, including the Special Jury Prize for Bugajski, Best Actress award for Janda, Best Actor award for Gajos, and Best Supporting Actress for Romantowska. Janda also received the Best Actress award at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. See also STALINISM—REPRESENTATION. IRZYKOWSKI FILM STUDIO (STUDIO FILMOWE IM. KAROLA IRZYKOWSKIEGO). The Warsaw-based film studio named after film theorist Karol Irzykowski, which was founded in 1981 by a group of young graduates of the Łódź Film School, headed by Janusz Kijowski. Among several filmmakers associated with this studio throughout the years are Robert Gliński, Waldemar Dziki, Marek Koterski, Leszek Wosiewicz, and Wiesław Saniewski. The studio was managed by, among others, Janusz Kijowski (1988–1989), Mariusz Treliński (1989–1990), and Jacek Skalski (1991–1996). The studio produced thirty-eight features, among them several notable films such as Saniewski’s Custody (1985), Wosiewicz’s Kornblumenblau (1989), Jan Jakub Kolski’s The Burial of a Potato (1991), and the winner of the 2003 Festival of Polish Films, Dariusz Gajewski’s Warszawa. In 2005 the studio merged with Czołówka Film Studio.

IRZYKOWSKI, KAROL (1873–1944). A literary critic and writer, a prominent early film theorist, and one of the most important figures on the Polish literary scene. In 1924 he published the crowning accomplishment of prewar Polish film theory and one of the most important works of film theory produced in the 1920s: The Tenth Muse: Aesthetic Problems of Cinema (X muza: Zagadnienia estetyczne kina). Unlike many of his contemporaries, Irzykowski focused on the artistic possibilities of film rather than on its imperfect stage of development. He saw cinema’s unique feature in the visibility

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of movement of material forms, illustrating, in Irzykowski’s own words, “man’s struggle with matter.” In spite of his importance and broad readership in Poland (there were reprints after the war in 1957, 1960, 1977, and 1982), Irzykowski’s ideas had only limited influence on cinematic practice and on the dominant mode of theorizing and film criticism. See also IRZYKOWSKI FILM STUDIO.

–J–

JAHODA, MIECZYSŁAW (1924–). Accomplished cinematographer who worked on several influential Polish films. While still a student at the Łódź Film School (from which he graduated in 1953), Jahoda worked as a second camera operator on Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s films The Village Mill (1952), A Night of Remembrance (1954), and Under the Phrygian Star (1954). Stanisław Lenartowicz’s expressionistic Winter Twilight (1957) became his first film as a cinematographer. The dreamlike visual style of Wojciech J. Has’s early films owes a lot to Jahoda, who photographed Noose (1958), Farewells (1958), The Saragossa Manuscript (1965), and Ciphers (1966). During the Polish School period, he also photographed Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s The Artillery Sergeant Kaleń (1961) and Jan Rybkowski’s films Meeting at Bajka Café (1962) and Truly Yesterday (1963). Jahoda is also known for pioneering several techniques; for example, he photographed the first widescreen Polish film in Eastmancolor, The Teutonic Knights (1960, Aleksander Ford).

Later he continued working with Rybkowski (Ascension Day, 1969), Tadeusz Chmielewski (I Hate Mondays, 1971), Tadeusz Konwicki (How Far from Here, yet How Near, 1972), Jan Batory (The Lake of Mysteries, 1973), and Andrzej Kondratiuk (Scorpio, Virgo, and Sagitarius, 1971). Jahoda continued his career as a cinematographer until 1987, also teaching at the Łódź Film School. In 1978 he codirected with Janusz Rzeszewski the musical comedy Hello, Fred the Beard (Hallo Szpicbródka, czyli ostatni występ króla kasiarzy). His last films were made with director Stanisław Jędryka, for example Upside Down (1983) and I Died to Live (1984).

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JAKUBOWSKA, WANDA (1907–1998). In film criticism Jakubowska’s name is almost exclusively associated with The Last Stage (Ostatni etap, 1948), which shows the monstrosity of Auschwitz, despite the fact that she directed thirteen feature films and her career spanned almost fifty years. In The Last Stage, the mother of all Holocaust films, she depicted her firsthand experiences at Auschwitz (in 1942 she spent six months in the infamous Pawiak prison in Warsaw and then was incarcerated in Ravensbrück and the women’s concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau until 18 January 1945). This film also marked the birth of the post-1945 Polish cinema and was received as such after its much-anticipated premiere.

Jakubowska became the cofounder of START in 1935 and finished her first film, On the Niemen River (Nad Niemnem, 1939), shortly before the war (it was never seen—all of the film’s prints were destroyed during the war). The silence over Jakubowska’s films produced after The Last Stage has to do largely with her staunch involvement with the Communist ideology, which resulted in several painfully didactic and propagandist films promoting the Communist cause. Some of Jakubowska’s films, such as The Soldier of Victory (Żołnierz zwycięstwa, 1953), belong among classic examples of blatant Communist propaganda in Poland—praised and awarded immediately after their release and objects of ridicule for contemporary audiences. Of critical interest are Jakubowska’s returns to her camp experiences in later films. In Meetings in the Twilight (Spotkania w mroku, 1960), she develops a contemporary story with references to the war—a Polish pianist performing in West Germany remembers her imprisonment in a labor camp. The same themes are present in The End of Our World (Koniec naszego świata, 1964), the film she considered her best, and Invitation (Zaproszenie, 1985). Both films, rarely seen and virtually ignored in discussions on the filmic representation of the Nazi Holocaust, are set in the present and rely on the flashback structure to tell the story of Auschwitz. Jakubowska was also a professor at the Łódź Film School (1949–1974) and the artistic director of film units ZAF (1948–1949) and Start (1955–1968).

Other films: The Atlantic Story (Opowieść Atlantycka, 1954), Farewell to the Devil (Poz˙ egnanie z diabłem, 1956), King Maciuś I (Król Maciuś I, children’s film, 1958), A Modern Story (Historia współczesna, 1960), Hot Line (Gorąca linia, 1965), 150 Per Hour

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(150 na godzinę, 1971), White Mazurka (Biały mazur, 1978), The Colors of Love (Kolory kochania, 1988). See also SOCIALIST REALIST CINEMA. JANCZAR, TADEUSZ (1926–1997). One of the most significant actors of the Polish School generation, Janczar gained critical recognition for his roles in Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955) and Kanal (1956). In A Generation, he played the most complex character, Janek Krone, the prototype of Wajda’s heroic protagonist: doubtful, troubled, and eventually dying a tragic death. In Kanal he starred as the heroic Korab—the wounded platoon leader in the Warsaw Uprising. It is no coincidence that later, in 1970, he served as a narrator for Janusz Morgenstern’s classic television series about the Warsaw Uprising—Columbuses. Janczar’s other roles during the Polish School period include the lead in Wojciech Has’s Farewells (1958), roles in Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (the third part, Con bravura, 1958) and Bad Luck (1960), and Stanisław Lenartowicz’s Oil (1961). In 1970 Janczar played a strong supporting role in another film by Wajda, Landscape after Battle, and he starred in Andrzej Jerzy Piotrowski’s Signs on the Road (Znaki na drodze), the winner of the Locarno Film Festival. In the 1970s, Janczar acted in films directed by Jerzy Passendorfer (Kill the Black Sheep, 1972), Bohdan Poręba (Hubal, 1973), and Jan Rybkowski (Peasants, 1973), among others. His later screen appearances were rare and included a role in a celebrated television series, The House (1980–1996), directed by Jan Łomnicki.

JANDA, KRYSTYNA (1952–). One of Poland’s leading actresses, Janda was voted the best Polish actress in 1989 and 1992 in a poll conducted by the weekly Film. In 1996 she was voted by Film readers the best actress in the history of Polish cinema. She rose to stardom almost overnight after playing Agnieszka in Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble (1977), a young film director who uncovers the Stalinist era in Poland while making her diploma film. She continued that role in the equally well-known sequel, Man of Iron (1981). After appearing in two other films by Wajda, an episodic role in Rough Treatment (1978) and the leading one in The Orchestra Conductor (1980), her screen persona was established. She became known for

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playing women who were independent and forceful; with actor Jerzy Radziwiłowicz she became one of the most recognizable faces of the new Polish cinema.

During the Solidarity period she appeared in several films directed

by Piotr Szulkin and also in the internationally known Mephisto (1981), directed by Hungarian István Szabó. Her finest screen performance, however, was in Ryszard Bugajski’s Interrogation (1982/1989), where she played an innocent young woman wrongly charged by the Stalinist secret police. For this role she received several awards, including the distinction of Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990. After the introduction of martial law in 1981, Janda mostly appeared in films made abroad—in France, West Germany, Italy, and Austria—among them in Helma Sanders-Brahms’s Laputa (1986). In 1987 she starred once again with Radziwiłowicz in Waldemar Krzystek’s Suspended (1987), a film about the everyday ugliness of Stalinism and its impact on ordinary yet heroic people. In the late 1980s, she also acted in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 2 and Krzysztof Zanussi’s Inventory (1989). In 1995 Janda directed and starred with Daniel Olbrychski in her own film, Pip (Pestka). Later, she directed, cowrote, and acted in the television series MasculineFeminine (Męskie-Żeńskie, 2003–2004) together with her daughter, actress Maria Seweryn. In recent years, Janda has appeared in films

by Zanussi (Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease, 2000) and Filip Bajon (Early Spring, 2001) and received an award at the Festival of Polish Films for her role as a blind female poet in Several People, Little Time (2005), directed by Andrzej Barański. In addition, Janda is an accomplished theatrical actress in Warsaw; she has also appeared in more than fifty productions of television theater.

JĘDRYKA, STANISŁAW (1933–). Director Stanisław Jędryka is best known for his popular films for children and young adults, among them several classic television series scripted by writer Adam Bahdaj, such as Summer with Ghosts (Wakacje z duchami, 1970), A Trip for One Smile (Podróz˙ za jeden uśmiech, 1972), and I Bet on Tomek Banan (Stawiam na Tomka Banana, 1973). A 1956 graduate of the Łódź Film School, Jędryka initially assisted Stanisław Lenartowicz and Stanisław Różewicz before directing his very well-received debut, The Impossible Goodbye (Dom bez okien,

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1962), a story about a small provincial circus, written by Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski and starring some fine Polish actors, among them Wiesław Gołas and Elżbieta Czyżewska. In 1967 Jędryka released the psychological drama Return to Earth (Powrót na ziemię, 1967), starring Stanisław Mikulski and Ewa Krzyżewska, a film about the impossibility of freeing oneself from the shadow of the war. His 1965 film, The Island of Delinquents (Wyspa złoczyńców), marked the beginning of his long-lasting interest in problems experienced by children and teenagers. He often dealt with the impoverished and the delinquent and portrayed generational conflicts in popular films, such as Shoot Paragon! (Paragon gola! 1969) and The End of the Holiday (Koniec wakacji, 1974). The action of his two films for children, Salad Days (Zielone lata, 1980) and Upside Down (Do góry nogami, 1983), introduced the political atmosphere before and at the beginning of World War II in Sosnowiec (Jędryka’s place of birth) and Chorzów (in the neighboring Upper Silesia). In the 1980s, Jędryka also continued making films in the spirit of his earlier Return to Earth dealing with the Home Army (AK) fighters, such as Amnesty (Amnestia, 1982) and I Died to Live (Umarłem, aby ˙zyć, 1984), both photographed by Mieczysław Jahoda. The latter film generated two sequels produced in 1989.

JUNOSZA-STĘPOWSKI, KAZIMIERZ (1882–1943). Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski’s name is inseparably linked with prewar Polish cinema. He started his career in 1902, acting in the first Polish narrative film produced by Kazimierz Prószyński, The Return of a Merry Fellow, and continued until the war, making several films per year (ten in 1938), including some of the best-known prewar Polish works. He appeared in films directed by Ryszard Bolesławski (The Heroism of a Polish Boy Scout, 1920, and Miracle on the Vistula, 1921), Józef Lejtes (The Young Forest, 1934, and The Rose, 1936), Michał Waszyński (The Quack, 1937, and Professor Wilczur, 1938), and several other leading prewar Polish directors. At the beginning of his career, Junosza-Stępowski, also a respected Warsaw theatrical actor, starred with Pola Negri and then Jadwiga Smosarska in several films produced by the Sfinks studio. He was arguably the most accomplished and the most versatile prewar actor and succeeded in several genres and in silent as well as sound films. Although during his long career he appeared in fifty-seven films (twenty-

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two of which were silent), perhaps his most memorable creation was the character of a noble surgeon, Professor Wilczur, in The Quack and its two sequels, Professor Wilczur and Professor Wilczur’s Last Will (1939, Leonard Buczkowski). Junosza-Stępowski was killed in 1943 by the members of the Polish Home Army (AK) while trying to protect his wife, a gestapo informer. His wife, who survived the assassination attempt, was killed nine months later. In 1989 Jerzy Sztwiertnia made Daze (Oszołomienie), a feature film inspired by Junosza-Stępowski’s life and the circumstances of his death.

–K–

KACZMAREK, JAN A. P. (1953–). Successful film and theater composer. In 2005 he received an Academy Award (Best Original Score) for Finding Neverland, directed by Marc Forster. Kaczmarek began his career touring Europe with his Orchestra of the Eighth Day (Orkiestra Ósmego Dnia). In the 1980s, he started composing for film. In the 1990s, living in the United States, he gained international recognition for his work on Agnieszka Holland’s films such as Total Eclipse (1995), Washington Square (1997), and The Third Miracle (1999). His recent films include Edges of the Lord (2001, Yurek Bogayevicz), Unfaithful (2002, Adrian Lyne), and Polish films such as Quo Vadis (2001, Jerzy Kawalerowicz) and Who Never Lived (2006, Andrzej Seweryn).

KADR. Arguably the most important Polish film studio, founded in 1956 as a film unit, headed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz from its beginning to present. During the 1956–2003 period, Kadr produced 150 feature, television, and documentary films, which were made by almost fifty directors. Kadr was instrumental in developing the Polish School phenomenon under the supervision of Kawalerowicz, Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz (until 1957), and (later) Tadeusz Konwicki as literary directors and Ludwik Hager as a production manager. Among its members were directors Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Janusz Morgenstern, and Kazimierz Kutz; cinematographers Jerzy Lipman and Jerzy Wójcik; writers Bohdan

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Czeszko and Jerzy Stefan Stawiński; and composers Jan Krenz and Jerzy Markowski. The studio produced several classic Polish School films such as Kanal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Eroica (1958), Nobody is Calling (1960), and Mother Joan of the Angels (1961). The studio also produced experimental films by, among others, Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica, such as Once There Was (1957) and House (1958).

Before 1968 Kadr was producing approximately three or four films yearly, including some big-budget productions, such as Kawalerowicz’s epic adaptation The Pharaoh (1966). In 1968 the authorities temporarily disbanded all film units, including Kadr. Some members of the unit who were of Jewish origins, like Hager and Lipman, left Poland. In 1972 Kadr began film production anew and remained an important player in the 1970s, releasing films made by directors such as Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki, Barbara Sass, and Jan Łomnicki.

It also became successful with television series, including Jan Rybkowski’s Peasants (1972) and Jerzy Antczak’s Nights and Days (1977). At the beginning of the 1980s, Kadr produced the first films

by Juliusz Machulski and Kutz’s winner of the Festival of Polish Films, Beads of One Rosary (1981). In 1989 Kadr was renamed Film Studio Kadr. The studio has been producing fewer films in recent years, mostly documentaries and Kawalerowicz’s own works, such as For What? (1996) and Quo Vadis (2001).

KANAL (KANAŁ, 1957). Andrzej Wajda’s breakthrough film about the Warsaw Uprising (1 August–2 October 1944) based on Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s script. The film narrates the story of a Home Army (AK) unit that manages to escape German troops via the only route left—the city sewers—in which the majority of the fighters meet their deaths. From its opening sequence, Kanal depicts a bleak vision of defeat. The voice-over narration introduces the leading character-insurgents, offers laconic comments on them, and tells the viewers that they are watching the last hours of the characters’ lives. The choice of the unusual environment (sewers) largely explains the use of expressionistic lighting, claustrophobic camera angles, and the darkness of the set (photography by Jerzy Lipman). It is a nightmarish underworld permeated by madness, death, and despair—full of dead bodies, German booby traps, and excrement. The Warsaw Uprising

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is a controversial subject in Poland to this day, and the release of Kanal, the first film to portray the legendary uprising, sparked passionate debates. In the film, Wajda neither glorifies the uprising, as was expected by the majority of his countrymen in 1957, nor does he criticize the official Communist stand on the “liberation” of Warsaw by the Soviet troops. Instead, he stresses the patriotism of the Home Army soldiers, their sense of duty, and their heroic yet futile effort.

They gain sympathy as ill-fated casualties of the war and the victims of political manipulations. The film received the Special Jury Award at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. See also POLISH SCHOOL. KAPER, BRONISŁAW (1902–1983). One of the most successful Polish film composers. A graduate of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, Kaper moved to Germany in 1930. He composed concert music as well as music for early German sound films, usually collaborating with Austrian composer Walter Jurman. After being offered a seven-year contract with MGM by Louis B. Mayer, Kaper immigrated to the United States in 1935. He worked as a composer, arranger, and the conductor until the late 1960s on nearly 150 Hollywood films, including works by known directors such as John Huston, King Vidor, George Cukor, and Arthur Hiller. He is also known for numerous hit songs, usually produced with lyricists Gus Kahn, Helen Deutsch, and Sammy Cahn, among others. Kaper received four Academy nominations (for, among others, the 1962 Mutiny on the Bounty) and was awarded an Academy Award in 1953 for Lili.

KARABASZ, KAZIMIERZ (1930–). Acclaimed director of documentary films and influential teacher at the Łódź Film School. At the beginning of his career, Karabasz worked for the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw and collaborated with the Polish Newsreel.

In 1956 he coproduced with Władysław Ślesicki two films that form the canon of Polish Black Realism: Where the Devil Says Good Night (Gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc, 1957) and People from Nowhere (Ludzie z pustego obszaru, 1957), films that depict Warsaw’s rundown districts. In these and several other films, for example From Powiśle (Z Powiśla, 1958), Karabasz tried to discover the truth about society and to expose social maladies. In 1960 he directed Sunday Musicians (Muzykanci, 1960), a classic study portraying the rehears-

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als of an amateur brass band established by older male tram workers, which won several prestigious short film festivals, both national and international. In 1967 he produced another highly regarded film, the full-length documentary The Year of Franek W. (Rok Franka W.), a coming-of-age film focusing on an undistinguished young man from a rural area. The same preoccupation with faithful representation of reality can be seen in Karabasz’s other documentaries (his output includes thirty-four such films) and in his other films, such as in the fictionalized documentary made for television Prism (Pryzmat, 1976) and the feature film A Looming Shadow (Cień juz˙ niedaleko, 1984). Like Karabasz’s films, his four books on documentary film, among them The Patient Eye (Cierpliwe oko, 1979) and Without Fiction (Bez fikcji, 1985), also advocate meticulous observation of the subject and simplicity. Karabasz’s influence can be traced in several works made by younger filmmakers, including films made by Krzysztof Kieślowski at the beginning of his career.

KATOWICE FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL. Popular name of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television at the University of Silesia in Katowice (Uniwersytet Śląski, Wydział Radia i Telewizji im. Krzysztofa Kieślowskiego w Katowicach).

Established in 1978 as the second film school in Poland, originally for the television industry exclusively, it emerged as a competitor to the well-known Łódź Film School and was essential in invigorating the Polish film industry. By the end of the 1980s, the Katowice school was dominating its famous rival with such talented graduates as Maciej Dejczer, Waldemar Krzystek, and Piotr and Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, to name just a few. The Katowice school was and still is known for its distinguished teachers, among them Krzysztof Kieślowski, Kazimierz Kutz, Andrzej Wajda, and Krzysztof Zanussi. Critics in Poland often juxtaposed the documentary-oriented style of Katowice with the formal concerns of Łódź. The competition between the two film centers has produced some engaging artistic results. In 2000 the school was named after Kieślowski, who taught there from 1979 to 1982.

KAWALEROWICZ, JERZY (1922–). One of Poland’s most prominent directors, Kawalerowicz started his career as an assistant direc-

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tor on the first postwar Polish film, Forbidden Songs (1947). In 1954, after his much-criticized feature debut, The Village Mill (Gromada, 1952, codirected by Kazimierz Sumerski), he directed an epic diptych, A Night of Remembrance (Celuloza) and Under the Phrygian Star (Pod gwiazdą frygijską), perhaps the best work produced during the period of socialist realist cinema and influenced by Italian neorealist and classic Soviet biographical films. Kawalerowicz portrays a coming-of-age story about a peasant’s son who moves to town, works in a cellulose factory, matures, gains “class consciousness,” and becomes a Communist activist. Kawalerowicz’s next film, Shadow (Cień, 1956), written by Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski, was an unusual, suspenseful story set in the postwar Polish political climate.

In The True End of the Great War (Prawdziwy koniec wielkiej wojny, 1957), he developed a psychological study of a woman, Róża (Lucyna Winnicka), and the two men in her life: her emotionally disturbed husband, a concentration camp survivor, and the man she turned to when she thought that her husband was dead.

During the Polish School period, Jerzy Kawalerowicz also produced two stylistically refined films—Night Train (aka Baltic Express, Pociąg, 1959) and Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od Aniołów, 1961). These two internationally known films received numerous awards, including the Georges Méliès award and the Best Actress award Winnicka received at the 1959 Venice Film Festival for her role in Night Train. Kawalerowicz also won a Silver Palm at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival for Mother Joan of the Angels. Night Train is a film with Hitchcockian overtones about two characters, Marta (Winnicka) and Jerzy (Leon Niemczyk), who are forced to share a compartment in an overnight train heading for a Baltic resort.

Mother Joan of the Angels, a classic tale about demonic possession set in eighteenth-century eastern Poland, is loosely based on the wellknown story about the possessed nuns at the seventeenth-century monastery in Loudun, France.

In 1966 Kawalerowicz directed one of the best Polish historical films, The Pharaoh (Faraon), nominated for an Oscar in 1967 in the Best Foreign Film category. The script by Kawalerowicz and Tadeusz Konwicki follows Bolesław Prus’s celebrated novel about a young pharaoh (Jerzy Zelnik) who tries to modernize Egypt but is defeated by his antagonists—the priests. Kawalerowicz’s histori-

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cal epic, enormous by Polish standards, is still absorbing not only for its theme, but chiefly for its grand formal beauty: Eisensteinian compositions of frame (cinematography by Jerzy Wójcik), stylized gestures and movements of actors, and creative design. Kawalerowicz also received critical acclaim for his Death of a President (Śmierć prezydenta, 1977), depicting the 1922 assassination of the first Polish president, Gabriel Narutowicz, by a nationalist fanatic. Austeria (aka The Inn, 1983), the last renowned Kawalerowicz film, portrays the idealized Jewish world of a small eastern Galician town at the outbreak of World War I. Its protagonist, Tag (Franciszek Pieczka), the innkeeper at Austeria, witnesses diverse communities who gather in his inn on the eve of the war. Kawalerowicz’s two films released after the wall came down, The Prisoner of Europe (Jeniec Europy, 1989) and For What? (Za co? 1996) were poorly received by critics and ignored by audiences. In 2001 he tried to regain his audience with the adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s classic novel Quo Vadis (2001), the most expensive Polish film ever made.

Apart from being a respected film director, since 1955 Kawalerowicz also headed Kadr, one of the most prominent film units, taught at the Łódź Film School, and acted as the cofounder and head of the Polish Filmmakers Association (1966–1978). A member of the Communist Party (PZPR) from 1954 until its disbanding in 1989, Kawalerowicz was also a member of the People’s Poland Parliament from 1985 to 1989.

Other films: The Game (Gra, 1968), Maddalena (1971), Meeting on the Atlantic (Spotkanie na Atlantyku, 1980), Bronsteins Kinder (1990).

KĘDZIERZAWSKA, DOROTA (1957–). Writer-director who started her career with modest yet well-received television films: The End of the World (Koniec świata, 1988) and Devils, Devils (Diabły, diabły, 1991). Her subsequent films have been popular on the international film festival circuit, yet neglected by Polish viewers. However, their feminist messages and the filmmaker’s continuous interest in marginalized characters make them unique in the Polish context. For example, Crows (Wrony, 1994) tells the story of a lonely twelve-year-old girl who kidnaps a two-year-old toddler, pretends to be her mother, and then returns her many hours later. The film’s simple, poetic

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narrative is superbly visualized by Artur Reinhart, Kędzierzawska’s regular cinematographer, whose photography captures beautiful yet cold landscapes. Another film, Nothing (Nic, 1998), deals with the issue of abortion, much debated in Poland. Reminiscent of Crows, Kędzierzawska’s last film, I Am (Jestem, 2005), focuses on another troubled child.

KIEŚLOWSKI, KRZYSZTOF (1941–1996). Perhaps the bestknown Polish filmmaker of the 1990s. On his third attempt, in 1964, Kieślowski was admitted to the Łódź Film School, completing his studies in 1968. He established himself by the mid-1970s as a leading Polish documentary filmmaker with films such as The Photograph (Zdjęcie, 1968), From the City of Łódz´ (Z miasta Łodzi, 1969), I Was a Soldier (Byłem z˙ ołnierzem, 1970), Bricklayer (Murarz, 1973/1981), and First Love (Pierwsza miłość, 1974). In his later documentary films, such as Seven Women of Different Ages (Siedem kobiet w róz˙ nym wieku, 1978) and Talking Heads (Gadające głowy, 1980), he strived for directness and authenticity and showed interest in typical characters in an observation of a small portion of reality.

A modest television drama, Personnel (Personel, 1975), marked his shift toward narrative cinema and a long-term working association with the Tor Film Studio headed by Krzysztof Zanussi. In 1976 Kieślowski directed two realistic films: The Calm (Spokój, released in 1980), starring Jerzy Stuhr, and The Scar (Blizna), with Franciszek Pieczka. By the late 1970s and at the beginning of the 1980s, he became one of the best-known representatives of the Cinema of Distrust. His commitment to uncover the “unrepresented reality” was evident in Camera Buff (Amator, 1979), starring Stuhr, a meditation on filmmaking, its pleasures and dangers, and an essay about being faithful to oneself and personal sacrifice, as well as about the responsibilities of being an artist.

Kieślowski’s next film, Blind Chance (Przypadek, 1981, released in 1987), which quickly attained dissident cult status at the beginning of the 1980s, portrayed an undergraduate medical student played by Bogusław Linda whose future is determined by whether he is able to jump onto a moving train. Blind Chance served as a pessimistic philosophical parable on human destiny shaped by occurrences beyond individual control. His next film, No End (Bez końca, 1985), the first

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one he made after the imposition of martial law in December 1981 and one of the bleakest films ever made in Poland, contained elements of psychological drama, a ghost story, romance, and courtroom drama and was a political and metaphysical film.

Kieślowski’s fame spread beyond national borders toward the end of the 1980s. Decalogue (Dekalog, 1988), a ten-part series of contemporary television films loosely inspired by the Ten Commandments, was hailed by Western European film critics as a great achievement and incontestably placed its director among the ranks of renowned European auteurs. In particular, extended feature versions of two parts of Decalogue, A Short Film about Killing (Krótki film o zabijaniu, 1988) and A Short Film about Love (Krótki film o miłości, 1988), were exceptionally well received in Europe.

Working closely with a small circle of creative collaborators, including coscriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, composer Zbigniew Preisner, and cinematographer Sławomir Idziak, Kieślowski had been moving gradually away from documentary observations and documentary techniques by adding metaphysical elements and relying on visual associations. In his Polish-French coproductions, beginning in 1991 with The Double Life of Veronique (La double vie de Véronique), which focused on the parallel existences of the Polish Weronika and the French Véronique (both played by Irène Jacob), the realistic, often uncomplimentary vision of Poland—a realm of drab landscapes populated by gray characters who are dwarfed by the political system—gave way to dazzling photography, as if taken from glossy illustrated journals. Kieślowski’s Three Colors Trilogy, Three Colors: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu, 1993), Three Colors: White (Trois couleurs: Blanc, 1994), and Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge, 1994), a major cinematic achievement of the 1990s, was inspired by the colors of the French flag and the central notions of the French revolution. In the trilogy Kieślowski continued to portray transcendental and metaphysical issues and dealt with protagonists facing moral dilemmas in their individual quests for the three values embodied in the French flag. The films won numerous awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for Blue. At the same festival, the Best Actress award was given to Juliette Binoche and the Best Photography award to Idziak. White received the Silver Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival (Best Director category). Red received numerous

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awards, including three Academy Award nominations in 1995 (direction, screenplay, cinematography). Kieślowski’s international coproductions consolidated his position as a household name in European art cinema. On 13 March 1996 he died in Warsaw following heart bypass surgery. His premature death at the peak of his artistic powers came as a profound shock to the world filmmaking community.

Other films: Pedestrian Subway (Przejście podziemne, TV, 1973), Curriculum Vitae (Życiorys, TV docudrama, 1975), Short Working Day (Krótki dzień pracy, 1981, TV premiere in 1996).

KIJOWSKI, JANUSZ (1948–). One of the leading figures of the Cinema of Distrust, writer-director Kijowski is often credited with coining the phrase “Cinema of Moral Concern.” His first feature film, Index (Indeks, 1977, due to censorship released in 1981), introduced a student expelled from a university for defending a politically active colleague. The film portrayed the protagonist who struggles to maintain his moral view during the period of Communist conformity.

Similar protagonists were present in Kijowski’s next film, Kung-fu (1980). In the 1980s, Kijowski directed a psychological film, Voices (Głosy, 1982), and two political films set among actors, Masquerade (Maskarada, 1986) and The State of Fear (Stan strachu, 1990), the latter dealing with life under martial law. In his best-known film, Warszawa 5703 (1992), a Polish-French-German production featuring an international cast (Lambert Wilson, Julie Delpy, and Hanna Schygulla), Kijowski tells the story of a young Jewish couple escaping through sewers from the Warsaw Ghetto and finding refuge on the Polish side. In recent years, with the exception of Chameleon (Kameleon, 2001), a crime film full of references to Polish political and social life, Kijowski has been acting as a film producer associated with the Irzykowski Film Studio.

KILAR, WOJCIECH (1932–). Classical composer known worldwide and also a prolific, arguably the best, Polish author of music for film, television, and theater. Kilar composed music for more than 130 films made in Poland and abroad beginning with his debut, The Sleepwalkers (Lunatycy, 1959, Bohdan Poręba). Kilar’s name is associated with several leading Polish directors. He composed music for all the films directed by Krzysztof Zanussi from The Structure of

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Crystals (1969) to Persona Non Grata (2005), including a number of classics such as Illumination (1973), Camouflage (1977), and Year of the Quiet Sun (1985). Kilar also composed music for the majority of Kazimierz Kutz’s films, including Nobody Is Calling (1960) and the Silesian Trilogy (Salt of the Black Earth, 1970, The Pearl in the Crown, 1972, and Beads of One Rosary, 1980), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blind Chance (1981/1987), and Jerzy Stuhr’s One Week in the Life of a Man (1999). Among films with his musical scores are comedies (The Cruise, 1970), crime films (The Criminal Who Stole a Crime, 1969), “Easterns” (Wolves’ Echoes, 1968), and war classics (Westerplatte, 1967). He also composed music for some of Andrzej Wajda’s films, among them The Promised Land (1975) and Pan Tadeusz (1999). Internationally, Kilar is perhaps best known for his work with Roman Polański (Death and the Maiden, 1994, The Ninth Gate, 1999, and The Pianist, 2002) and the haunting musical score for Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Kilar’s numerous film awards include ASCAP’s best musical score award for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, four Polish Film Awards “Eagles,” and five awards at the Festival of Polish Films.

KŁOSIŃSKI, EDWARD (1943–). Since the early 1970s, Kłosiński has belonged to a group of the most prominent Polish cinematographers. He photographed Andrzej Wajda’s seminal films, such as The Promised Land (1975), Man of Marble (1977), and Man of Iron (1981), and a number of Krzysztof Zanussi’s films, including Illumination (1973), Camouflage (1977), and Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000). He also worked as a cinematographer on such canonical films as Feliks Falk’s Top Dog (1978), Janusz Zaorski’s The Mother of Kings (1982/1987), and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 2 (1988) and Three Colors: White (1994).

In the 1990s, he photographed several foreign films; for example, he was a co-cinematographer of Lars von Trier’s Europa (1991). In recent years, Kłosiński also worked with Jerzy Stuhr (One Week from the Life of a Man, 1999), Juliusz Machulski (Vinci, 2004), and Marek Koterski (We All Are Christs, 2006).

KLUBA, HENRYK (1931–2005). Director, actor, and head of the Łódź Film School (1982–1990 and 1996–2002). Kluba began as an

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actor, appearing in, among others, Roman Polański’s shorts, such as Two Men with a Wardrobe (1958) and Mammals (1962). He started his directorial careeer assisting others and working as a second director with Jerzy Skolimowski and Janusz Morgenstern. Kluba made his first film in 1967, Skinny and Others (Chudy i inni), a realistic drama featuring Wiesław Gołas, Franciszek Pieczka, Ryszard Filipski, and others. Also in 1967, he made a stylized political ballad set during the postwar period, The Sun Rises Once a Day (Słońce wschodzi raz na dzień), starring Pieczka, which was released after five years. He made another stylized postwar ballad, A Story in Red (Opowieść w czerwieni), in 1974. Working at the Łódź Film School since 1966, Kluba also supervised numerous students’ projects.

Other films: Warsaw Sketches (Szkice Warszawskie, 1970), Five and a Half of Pale Joe (Pięć i pół bladego Józka, 1971, never released), The Scatterbrain of St. Cross Mountains (Sowizdrzał Świętokrzyski, 1978/1980), The Star Wormwood (Gwiazda piołun, 1988).

KNIFE IN THE WATER (NÓŻ W WODZIE, 1962). The first feature-length film by Roman Polański, scripted by him, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Jakub Goldberg. The story of Knife in the Water, which is limited to three characters, concerns a well-to-do Warsaw sports journalist (Leon Niemczyk) and his younger wife (Jolanta Umecka) who invite a young hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz) for a yachting weekend. The bulk of the film’s action is then confined to a small boat in the Mazurian Lakes, where a fierce rivalry develops between the worldly journalist and the insecure hitchhiker who challenges him. Often framed between the two men, the wife serves as their “prize” and is perfectly aware of her role in the conflict. The jazz score by Krzysztof Komeda, who also worked on Polański’s earlier short films, and the photography of Jerzy Lipman help to create a vibrating, jazzy tempo and mood. Knife in the Water, one of the highlights of the Polish School, employs elements of the thriller genre, avoids political or social commitment, and defies the typical Communist expectations of a work of art. Its success abroad (including the first Polish nomination for the Academy Award in 1963) was treated with suspicion in Poland. The film offended political leaders and the film authorities because of its “cosmopolitan” and apolitical

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nature. Władysław Gomułka, the leader of the Communist Party (PZPR), officially condemned the film in August 1963.

KOBIELA, BOGUMIŁ (1931–1969). A popular actor specializing in comedy, Kobiela became known for his film, theatrical, cabaret, and television theater performances. After graduating in 1953 from the acting school (PWSA) in Kraków, Kobiela worked for the theater in Gdańsk (the Seashore Theater) and, with his friend Zbigniew Cybulski, was also a member of the prominent student cabaret Bim-Bom. In cinema he became popular toward the end of the 1950s, thanks to his roles such as Lieutenant Dąbecki in Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958) and, in particular, as Drewnowski, an opportunistic secretary to the town’s president in Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958).

During the Polish School period, Kobiela also played the lead role of Jan Piszczyk, the unheroic, luckless character in Munk’s Bad Luck (1960). In the 1960s, Kobiela starred in popular comedies, for example in Leon Jeannot’s Codename Nectar (Kryptonim nektar, 1963) and Man from an Apartment (Człowiek z M-3, 1969), and appeared in several films in supporting roles, for example in Wojciech Has’s classic films The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) and The Doll (1968).

In 1967 Kobiela played in Jerzy Skolimowski’s Hands Up, one of the first films dealing with the Stalinist past, which was released as late as 1985. He also played the lead role in Wajda’s television productions—the science fiction film Roly Poly (1968) and, as himself (Bobek), in Wajda’s self-reflexive Everything for Sale (1969). Kobiela died tragically in a car accident returning from a film set.

KOLSKI, JAN JAKUB (1956–). One of the most important and the most original film directors who emerged during the post-Communist period. Trained as cinematographer at the Łódź Film School, Kolski began his career directing short films, including the prize-winning The Most Beautiful Cave in the World (Najpiękniejsza jaskinia świata, 1988). Since his well-received mainstream debut in 1991, The Burial of a Potato (Pogrzeb kartofla), he made a number of highly original films such as Pograbek (1992), Johnnie the Aquarius (Jańcio Wodnik, 1993), Miraculous Place (Cudowne miejsce, 1994), The Sabre from the Commander (aka Legacy of Steel, Szabla od komendanta, 1995), and The Plate Player (Grający z talerza, 1995). In

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1998 he won the Festival of Polish Films with The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy (Historia kina w Popielawach).

Kolski’s slow-paced films are characterized by their fine cinematography (by Piotr Lenar) and stylized acting, particularly from Franciszek Pieczka, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Mariusz Saniternik, and Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska (the director’s wife). The direct political references present in The Burial of a Potato disappear from his later works, replaced by metaphysical meditation and folk wisdom combined with a unique version of lyricism and humor. During the early stage of his career, Kolski was interested in oversensitive, weird, and marginalized rural characters whose worlds are limited to their village and end with the horizon. His prolific nature and his obsession with the private world led inevitably to a certain mannerism. Writer-director Kolski (all scripts are his own) favored the same picturesque landscapes and characters and dealt with the presence of the religious/supernatural element in the lives of his down-to-earth yet unique characters. Johnnie the Aquarius, a film portraying a village thinker who discovers his unusual ability to “control” water, which under his power is no longer constrained by the laws of gravity, arguably contains the essence of Kolski’s stylized, poetic, perhaps magical, realism. Kolski’s unusual story employing stylized dialogues and songs commenting on the action has no equivalent in Polish cinema—it has the appeal of a chromolithograph, of “primitive poetry,” and of a philosophical folktale in the spirit of Witold Leszczyński’s celebrated The Life of Matthew (1968). In recent years, Kolski has been trying to broaden his oeuvre. In 2002 he directed a film about the Holocaust, Keep Away from the Window (Daleko od okna), based on Hanna Krall’s short story, and adapted Witold Gombrowicz’s novel Pornography (Pornografia, 2003). His most recent film, Jasminum (2006), however, returns to the poetics of his early films.

KOMEDA, KRZYSZTOF (KRZYSZTOF TRZCIŃSKI, 1931–1969).

Film composer mostly known for his music in Roman Polański’s films. A physician by training, Komeda gained prominence in Poland playing cool jazz with his group Komeda Sextet. His film scores for Polański’s short films, such as Two Men with a Wardrobe (1958) and When Angels Fall (1959), were followed by his now-classic jazzy

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score for Polański’s debut film, Knife in the Water (1962). Komeda continued his successful collaboration with Polański on his later films made abroad, including Cul-de-sac (1966) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), which became perhaps his best-known film score. In the 1960s, Komeda also composed music for films made by, among others, Andrzej Wajda (Innocent Sorcerers, 1960), Janusz Nasfeter (The Criminal and the Maiden, 1963, Unloved, 1966), Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski (Law and Fist, 1964), and Jerzy Skolimowski (The Barrier, 1966, Hands Up, 1967). His premature death at the age of thirty-eight interrupted his flourishing international career.

KOMOROWSKA, MAJA (1937–). Distinguished theatrical and film actress. After graduating from the Puppet Department of the Kraków State Acting School (PWST), Komorowska became a member of the Jerzy Grotowski’s theater between 1961 and 1968. Her screen debut in 1970 in Krzysztof Zanussi’s short film Mountains at Dusk was followed by the leading roles in Zanussi’s two films produced in 1971, the feature film Family Life and the television film Next Door. Her long-term collaboration with Zanussi resulted in several great films and memorable screen performances. In Balance Sheet (1975), for which she was awarded at the Festival of Polish Films, Komorowska played a woman involved in an extramarital affair. Her other memorable leading roles in Zanussi’s films include the Polish war widow Emilia in Year of the Quiet Sun (1985) and a proud Catholic woman who outsmarts the Communist system in In Full Gallop (1996), for which she received several acting awards, including one at the Festival of Polish Films. Although Komorowska’s film career is often linked exclusively with Zanussi’s cinema (she appeared in fifteen of his films), her other roles include those in films directed by Edward Żebrowski (Deliverance, 1972), Andrzej Wajda (The Wedding, 1973, The Maids of Wilko, 1979), and Krzysztof Kieślowski (Decalogue 1, 1988). She also appeared in some Hungarian productions, for example in István Szabó’s Budapest Tales (1976).

KONDRAT, MAREK (1950–). Popular Polish actor, voted the best Polish actor in 1997 and 2003 by readers of weekly Film and the best television actor in 1995, 1998, and 1999. The son of distinguished Polish actor Tadeusz Kondrat (1908–1994), Marek Kondrat

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began acting as a child in Sylwester Chęciński’s children’s film The Story of the Golden Boot (1961). Three years after completing the Warsaw Acting School (PWST) in 1972, he delivered a memorable performance as a young waiter working in an exclusive Kraków hotel in the 1930s in Janusz Majewski’s Hotel Pacific (1975). Later he often appeared in Majewski’s films, for example in a supporting role in stylish The Lesson of a Dead Language (1979) and starring in the barrack comedy Deserters (1985) and its sequel, Deserter’s Gold (1998). In 1976 Kondrat had a lead role in Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow Line (1976). In the following years he played several roles, for example in films by Wojciech Marczewski (Nightmares, 1979), Wajda (Danton, 1983), and Krzysztof Kieślowski (No End, 1985).

Kondrat’s career flourished in the 1990s. He starred in action films, for example, playing a corrupt former Communist secret police officer, Olo Żwirski, in Władysław Pasikowski’s The Pigs (1992), as well as a hard-bitten Warsaw police inspector, Olgierd Halski, in the popular television series Extradition (1995–1996, 1998) directed

by Wojciech Wójcik. He was praised for his lead role in Kazimierz Kutz’s Colonel Kwiatkowski (1996), where he played an army physician who pretends to be a high-ranked Stalinist secret police officer, and for his strong supporting role in Kutz’s The Turned Back (1994).

In recent years, Kondrat has maintained his popularity appearing in heritage films such as Pan Tadeusz (1999, Wajda) and starring in other prestigious productions such as Marczewski’s Weiser (2001), Robert Gliński’s The Call of the Toad (2005), and Jan Hryniak’s The Third (Trzeci, 2004). Arguably, his finest and most popular performance was in the role of neurotic Adaś Miauczyński in Marek Koterski’s The Day of the Wacko (2002) and We All Are Christs (2006).

In 1999 Kondrat made his directorial debut with Father’s Law (Prawo ojca), in which he also stars as a single father avenging his teenage daughter. Kondrat’s achievements also include numerous television theater performances and appearances in the popular Television Cabaret of Olga Lipińska.

KONDRATIUK, ANDRZEJ (1936–). Director, screenwiter, cinematographer, frequent collaborator (as writer-actor) with his brother, director Janusz Kondratiuk. Kondratiuk started his career in 1965 with

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the television film The Trumpeter’s Monologue (Monolog trębacza) and made several popular films in the 1970s, including Hydro-Riddle (Hydrozagadka, 1970), A Hole in the Ground (Dziura w ziemi, 1970), Scorpio, Virgo, and Sagitarius (Skorpion, panna i łucznik, 1971), How It Is Done (Jak to się robi, 1973), and The Ascended (Wniebowzięci, 1973). The latter two, featuring Jan Himilsbach and Zdzisław Maklakiewicz, enjoy cult status in Poland. Later films, such as Full Moon (Pełnia, 1979), Stardust (Gwiezdny pył, 1982), and, in particular, The Four Seasons (Cztery pory roku, 1984), The Spinning Wheel of Time (Wrzeciono czasu, 1995), and The Sundial (Słoneczny zegar, 1997), helped to establish Kondratiuk as the master of “private/separate cinema” (as it is often labeled by Polish critics), films mostly produced by the director’s family and friends. Beginning with Four Seasons, he made semiautobiographical films with his wife (well-known actresssinger Iga Cembrzyńska who acts as producer-star) on aging, family bonds, and art. His works are characterized by slow-paced scenes, unmistakable self-mockery, sarcastic humor, clever dialogues about existential problems, and visual beauty.

Select other films: The Filmic Memoir of Iga C. (Pamiętnik filmowy Igi C., 2000), Prodigal Daughter (Córa marnotrawna, 2001), The Windmill Bar (Bar pod młynkiem, 2005).

KONDRATIUK, JANUSZ (1943–). Film director and screenwriter known mostly for his realistic tragicomedies and medium-length television films, made in the spirit of an early Miloš Forman. Kondratiuk began his career with How to Gain Money, Women and Fame (Jak zdobyć pieniądze, kobietę i sławę, 1969), a bitter satire on human weaknesses, and Barabasz’s Sunday (Niedziela Barabasza, 1971), which tells the story of a soccer goalkeeper who is humiliated in front of his fans and fellow players when, during the match, his loudly complaining wife appears behind him. His next film, Marriageable Girls (Dziewczyny do wzięcia, 1972), is among the most popular television films ever made in Poland. Kondratiuk also made full-length films in the 1990s, including The Voice (Głos, 1992) and The Golden Fleece (Złote runo, 1997). He worked closely with his older brother, Andrzej Kondratiuk, on The Ascended (1973) and appeared in some of his films, including The Four Seasons (1984) and The Spinning Wheel of Time (1995). In recent years, he also made two successful television

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films: The Night of Santa Claus (Noc świętego Mikołaja, 2000) and Marriageable Guys (Faceci do wzięcia, 2006).

KONWICKI, TADEUSZ (1926–). Prominent writer, scriptwriter, and director, Tadeusz Konwicki was instrumental during the Polish School period as both filmmaker and the literary director of the film unit Kadr (1956–1968). Although Konwicki started his writing career in 1946, he attracted the attention of critics and readers later, when he detached himself from the socialist realist dogma with his 1956 novel Marshes (Rojsty), which told the story of the Home Army (AK) unit that fights the Germans, then the Soviets. Konwicki directed his first film in 1958 in the spirit of the new wave, The Last Day of Summer (Ostatni dzień lata), which deals with his favorite themes: evocations of past times and the impossibility of overcoming the burden of war.

In his next film, All Souls’ Day (Zaduszki, 1961), Konwicki discontinued the realistic narrative by including four lengthy flashbacks that dealt with World War II. He portrayed the obsessive memories of his characters (Edmund Fetting and Ewa Krzyżewska), who were crippled by war experiences, incapable of forgetting, and unable to live in the present. His 1965 film, Somersault (Salto, 1965), debunked the Polish war mythology and also focused on the impossibility of freeing oneself from the shadow of the war.

Konwicki’s How Far from Here, yet How Near (Jak daleko stąd, jak blisko, 1972) was, like his novels, a filmic essay replete with autobiographical features, an essay on memory with thinly veiled political observations. His last two films also moved between the present and the past: The Valley of Issa (Dolina Issy, 1982), based on Czesław Miłosz’s novel, and Lava: The Story of Forefathers (Lawa: Opowieść o dziadach, 1989), the adaptation of the canonized drama by Adam Mickiewicz. Konwicki is also a scriptwriter of his own films and wrote, among others, scripts for several classic Polish films by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, such as Mother Joan of the Angels (1961), The Pharaoh (1966), and Austeria (1983), and Andrzej Wajda’s A Chronicle of Amorous Accidents (1985).

KOTERSKI, MAREK (1942–). Writer-director Marek Koterski is chiefly known for a series of exhibitionist, largely autobiographical, bitter satires featuring Adam (or Michał) Miauczyński, an unfortunate

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loser with intellectual pretensions who suffers from never-ending midlife crises and permanent writer’s block. For example, in Nothing Funny (Nic śmiesznego, 1996), Cezary Pazura stars as the deceased filmmaker Miauczyński who tells the sad story of his life, where one misfortune follows another from the time he was in diapers. In this film Koterski laughs at himself, as well as mocks the filmmaking community in Poland—several (sometimes crude) gags ridicule its alleged lack of professionalism and stupidity. Pazura also starred in the next comedy about Miauczyński, I Love You (Ajlavju, 1999).

Koterski’s most celebrated film, The Day of the Wacko (Dzień świra, 2002), the continuation of Miauczyński’s misfortunes, received the main prize at the 2002 Festival of Polish Films. The film relies heavily on the performance of Marek Kondrat, an actor who had also appeared in Koterski’s earlier satire The House of Fools (Dom wariatów, 1984). In The Day of the Wacko he plays another incarnation of Miauczyński—a middle-aged teacher of Polish language who is struggling with himself, his environment, and life in Poland in general. In his episodic films Koterski skillfully plays with conventions and stereotypes; he also blends absurdist humor and well-observed situations with lavatory jokes and crude imagery.

Other films: Inner Life (Życie wewnętrzne, 1987), Porno (1989), We Are All Christs (Wszyscy jesteśmy Chrystusami, 2006).

KOTLARCZYK, TERESA (1955–). Director of documentary and narrative films and television series. Graduate of the Katowice Film and Television School, Kotlarczyk is the author of The Reformatory (Zakład, 1990), an intriguing film dealing with the problem of manipulation and, on a different level, with moral questions involved in filmmaking. Her next film, Visit Me in My Dream (Odwiedz´ mnie we śnie, 1996), is the Polish equivalent of Ghost (1990). Kotlarczyk’s recent film The Primate: Three Years out of the Millennium (Prymas. Trzy lata z tysiąclecia, 2000) tells the story of the internment of the Polish Catholic primate Stefan Wyszyński by the Communist authorities during the Stalinist period.

KRAKÓW FILM FESTIVAL (KRAKOWSKI FESTIWAL FILMOWY, KFF). One of the world’s oldest and the most important festival of short films: documentary, animation, fiction, and experimental.

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The festival originated in 1961 as the Polish Festival of Documentary and Short Films in Kraków. Kazimierz Karabasz’s celebrated documentary Sunday Musicians, Witold Żukowski’s New Alchemy (Nowa alchemia), and Jan Lenica’s The New Janko Musician became its first winners. Since 1974 the Polish section is followed by the International Film Festival of Documentary and Short Films. Marian Marzyński’s film The Return of a Vessel (Powrót statku) became its first winner.

Among later winners of the KFF are filmmakers such as Tadeusz Makarczyński, Danuta Halladin, Krystyna Gryczełowska, Marek Piwowski, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jan Lenica, Marcel Łoziński, Piotr Dumała, Werner Herzog, and Jan Švankmajer. The best Polish films receive Golden, Silver, and Bronze awards (“Lajkonik”); films in the international section compete for the main prize—the Golden Dragon (Złoty Smok)—and three special awards (Silver Dragons) for best documentary, animation, and fiction film. Special Lifetime Achievement awards are also given to distinguished filmmakers for their contribution to documentary and short films.

KRAUZE, ANTONI (1940–). Film director and scriptwriter Krauze began his career with television films such as Monidło (1969, the title refers to a portrait painted from a photograph), based on Jan Himilsbach’s short story, and Shelter (Meta, 1971, released in 1981), an adaptation of Marek Nowakowski’s fiction. His first bigscreen film, God’s Finger (Palec boz˙ y, 1972), with Marian Opania in the role of a sensitive, small-town man who wants to become an actor, was very well received by critics. Krauze followed it with a crime film, Fear (Strach, 1975). In 1983 he directed Weather Forecast (Prognoza pogody, 1983), an unusual “seniors road movie” with some clear references to the atmosphere preceding the introduction of martial law. After a psychological study, The Girl from the Excelsior Hotel (Dziewczynka z hotelu Excelsior, 1988), Krauze directed a spy film, The Aquarium (Akwarium, 1996, also a television series in 1995), a Polish-German-Ukrainian coproduction about the Soviet secret services. He also produced several short films for the Educational Film Studio in Łódź.

Other films: The Haunted Manor (Zaklęty dwór, TV series, 1976), A Voyage to Arabia (Podróz˙ do Arabii, 1979), An Evening Party (Party przy świecach, TV, 1980), Station (Stacja, 1981).

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KRAUZE, KRZYSZTOF (1953–). Director and scriptwriter Krauze started his career in 1988 with New York, 4 AM (Nowy Jork, czwarta rano). He received critical recognition for his later films Street Games (Gry uliczne, 1996) and Debt (Dług, 1999). Street Games, a political thriller, tells the story of a young television reporter who investigates the Communist past, which emerges in its dangerous intricacy and overshadows the present. Awarded the Grand Prix at the 1999 Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia, the psychological thriller Debt refers to a well-publicized event: a group of young businessmen, blackmailed by a gangster who tries to collect a nonexisting debt, kill the blackmailer and his bodyguard out of desperation. The film took part in a national discussion concerning the weakness of the law and the links between organized crime and the political elite.

Krauze’s next film, My Nikifor (Mój Nikifor, 2004), a biography of the well-known “naive painter” Nikifor (played by actress Krystyna Feldman), received critical acclaim in Poland and won top prizes at the international film festivals in Chicago and Karlovy Vary. His most recent film, the realistic drama Savior Square (Plac Zbawiciela, 2006), which he codirected with his wife, Joanna Kos-Krauze, also won the main award at the Festival of Polish Films.

KRAWICZ, MIECZYSŁAW (1893–1944). Film director, scriptwriter, and set designer Krawicz belonged to a group of the most popular prewar Polish filmmakers. He started his career in the mid-1920s working as a set designer for Edward Puchalski, Aleksander Hertz, and Ryszard Ordyński. In 1929 he directed his first film, the melodrama Sinful Love (Grzeszna miłość) starring Jadwiga Smosarska, who later appeared in some of his films such as the costume drama The Countess of Łowicz (Księz˙ na Łowicka, 1932), the comedy Jadzia (1936), and the melodrama I Lied (Skłamałam, 1937). Apart from Smosarska, Krawicz worked with the best-known Polish actors: Eugeniusz Bodo, Adolf Dymsza, Ina Benita, Franciszek Brodniewicz, and Aleksander Żabczyński. The list of Krawicz’s films includes The Masked Spy (Szpieg w masce, 1933), featuring prewar cabaret icon Hanka Ordonówna who sings Henryk Wars’s song “Love Will Forgive You Everything” (“Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy”), one of the prewar musical hits. Krawicz’s trademark became simple yet charming comedies such as Good for

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Nothing (Niedorajda, 1937) and Paweł and Gaweł (Paweł i Gaweł, 1938), both with Dymsza, and melodramas such as What We Don’t Talk About (O czym się nie mówi, 1939), with Stanisława AngelEngelówna and Mieczysław Cybulski.

Other films: On the Path of Shame (Szlakiem hańby, 1929), Uhlans, Uhlans (Ułani, ułani, chłopcy malowani, 1932), Everybody May Love (Kaz˙ demu wolno kochać, 1933), Uhlan’s Pledge (aka Love in the Army, Śluby ułańskie, 1934), Two Joasias (Dwie Joasie, 1935), His Great Love (Jego wielka miłość, 1936), My Parents Are Getting Divorced (Moi rodzice rozwodzą się, 1938), Hubert and Bertrand (Hubert i Bertrand, 1938), I’m the Boss Here (Ja tu rządzę, 1939), A Sportsman against His Will (Sportowiec mimo woli, 1939).

KRÓLIKIEWICZ, GRZEGORZ (1939–). One of the most original Polish directors, known for his bold cinematic and theatrical experiments. A 1967 graduate of the Łódź Film School, where he has been teaching since 1981, Królikiewicz is also well known for his important theatrical productions for the Polish Television Theater and for a series of books—detailed analyses of film masterpieces.

He established himself at the beginning of the 1970s with a series of documentary films such as Brothers (Bracia, 1971) and Don’t Cry (Nie płacz, 1972), which belong to a brand of Polish cinema that was labeled by Polish critics “creative documentary” (dokument kreacyjny).

Since his debut in 1969, he has produced approximately forty documentary films.

In 1973 Królikiewicz made a highly original and provocative film, Through and Through (Na wylot, 1973), which was praised

by Polish critics. His 1978 film Dancing Hawk (Tańczący jastrząb, 1978), based on Julian Kawalec’s novel and photographed by Zbigniew Rybczyński, was also very well received. The film told the story of the rise of an ambitious villager (Franciszek Trzeciak) who graduates from a university, breaks links with his roots, and sacrifices everything for his career, with tragic repercussions. The search for a new cinematic language, experiments with an offscreen space, and the avoidance of psychologizing later resulted in the mixed reception of Królikiewicz’s films such as Fort 13 (1983) and The Killing of Aunt (Zabicie ciotki, 1984). In 1993 Królikiewicz won the Festival of Polish Films with his new film, The Case

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of Pekosiński (Przypadek Pekosińskiego, 1993), which tells the story of an older, ill, and alcoholic man who is without a family and without any knowledge of who he is. Królikiewicz was not afraid to employ Pekosiński to reconstruct episodes and scenes from his own life and, consequently, to block the viewer’s identification with the protagonist.

Other films: Everlasting Resentments (Wieczne pretensje, 1974), The Jewel of Clear Conscience (Klejnot wolnego sumienia, 1981), Trees (Drzewa, 1995).

KRZYSTEK, WALDEMAR (1953–). Director, scriptwriter, and a 1981 graduate of the Katowice Film and Television School.

His 1987 film about Stalinism, Suspended (W zawieszeniu, 1987), brought him critical recognition. The film told the story of a former Home Army (AK) member who hides for several years in the cellar of the house belonging to his wife, whom he had secretly married during the war. To stress the link between his film and Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble, Krzystek employed two of Wajda’s stars: Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. Krzystek’s next two films were also political dramas. The Last Ferry (Ostatni prom, 1989) dealt with the introduction of martial law in 1981, and Dismissed from Life (Zwolnieni z ˙zycia, 1991) combined elements of political suspense and melodrama in its depiction of the year of transition (1989). Krzystek also has been directing plays for television as well as television series, such as The Wave of Crime (Fala zbrodni, 2005).

Other films: The Relation (Powinowactwo, TV, 1984), Polish Death (Polska śmierć, 1994), No Mercy (Nie ma zmiłuj, 2000).

KRZYŻEWSKA, EWA (1939–2003). Popular actress who achieved fame after starring in the role of Krystyna in Ashes and Diamonds (1958), directed by Andrzej Wajda, where she was partnered with Zbigniew Cybulski. The success of the film and Krzyżewska’s instant popularity were followed by several leading roles in films revolving around World War II, such as Tadeusz Konwicki’s All Souls’ Day (1961) and Stanisław Jędryka’s Return to Earth. She was once again paired with Cybulski in a crime drama directed

by Janusz Nasfeter, The Criminal and the Maiden (1963). In the 1960s, she also played strong supporting roles in films such as The

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Pharaoh (1966) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz; Truly Yesterday (1963) and Way of Life (1966), both by Jan Rybkowski; and Hell and Heaven (1966) by Stanisław Różewicz. At the beginning of the 1970s, she starred in the postwar political drama Operation “Brutus” (1970, Jerzy Passendorfer) and another film by Konwicki, How Far from Here, yet How Near (1972). The powerful leading role of Rebeka Widmarowa in Janusz Majewski’s Jealousy and Medicine (1973) became her last major screen appearance. See also POLISH SCHOOL. KUTZ, KAZIMIERZ (1929–). One of the old masters of Polish cinema and a prominent member of the Polish School generation, chiefly known for his films about Upper Silesia—the place of his birth. Kutz is also an accomplished theater director, essayist, political commentator, and political activist and a member of the Senate (parliamentary upper chamber) since 1997. In addition to filmmaking, Kutz founded and headed the Silesia Film Unit in Katowice (1972–1978) and taught at the Katowice Film and Television School (1979–1983).

Unlike Andrzej Wajda, Kutz usually focused on ordinary people absorbed by history, rather than on history epitomized by individual cases. After assisting Wajda on A Generation (1955) and Kanal (1957), he started his career in 1959 directing Cross of Valor (Krzyz˙ walecznych), which consists of three war novellas dealing with regular soldiers in ordinary situations. His next film, Nobody Is Calling (Nikt nie woła, 1960), is one of the most original films made during the Polish School period. Often discussed as polemical with Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds, this episodic, slowpaced film introduces a Home Army (AK) fighter who is hunted by his former colleagues for military disobedience. The film’s formalist poetics caused consternation among the film critics and the disapproval of the film authorities. After the well-received People from the Train (Ludzie z pociągu, 1961), Kutz’s return to the realistic depiction of the war, psychology of the crowd, and accidental heroism, several of his realistic films made in the 1960s received mixed reviews: Wild Horses (Tarpany, 1962), Silence (Milczenie, 1963), Whoever Knows (Ktokolwiek wie, 1966), and Robbery (Skok, 1967/1969).

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Kutz’s return to his roots, his native Upper Silesia, proved to be one of the most important moments in post-1945 Polish cinema. He scripted and directed a trilogy of personal films that form the contemporary Polish canon: Salt of the Black Earth (Sól ziemi czarnej, 1970), The Pearl in the Crown (Perła w koronie, 1972), and Beads of One Rosary (Paciorki jednego róz˙ ańca, 1980). Salt of the Black Earth deals with the Second Polish Rising against the German rule of Silesia in 1920, but it also creates a poetic image of the province, which was traditionally regarded by the Warsaw-based Polish film industry as an unglamorous, unphotogenic land of hard work and coal mines. In a folk-ballad manner, Kutz portrays grayish images of industrial Silesia contrasted with the reddish color of miners’ brick houses and utilizes dialogue in Silesian dialect. The discourses on class solidarity, family ties, love for the family, and love for the land are at the center of The Pearl in the Crown, which concerns the coal miners’ strike in the 1930s. Relying on nonprofessional actors from Silesia, the intimate Beads of One Rosary, Kutz’s farewell to the old Silesia, tells the story of a retired miner and his struggle to preserve an old way of life.

Kutz continued to be one of the key figures in Polish cinema in the 1990s. Active in theater and television, he directed, among others, two more films about Silesia—The Turned Back (Zawrócony, 1994) and Death as a Slice of Bread (Śmierć jak kromka chleba, 1994), both films referring to the introduction of martial law in 1981.

The tragicomic, grotesque story of the former (Best Film award at the 1994 Festival of Polish Films) is replaced in the latter by tragedy and pathos in a faithful reconstruction of the sit-in strike at the coal mine Wujek. Another successful film, Colonel Kwiatkowski (Pułkownik Kwiatkowski, 1996), based on Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s script, introduced a picaresque hero, an army physician who assumes the false identity of a high-ranking officer in the secret police during the Stalinist period.

Other films: Heat (Upał, 1964), The Line (Linia, 1975), From Nowhere to Nowhere (Znikąd donikąd, 1975), I Will Stand on Guard (Na straz˙ y swej stać będę, 1983), The Brothers Will Come Soon (Wkrótce nadejdą bracia, 1986), The Terrible Dream of Dzidziuś Górkiewicz (Straszny sen Dzidziusia Górkiewicza, 1993), Fame and Glory (Sława i chwała, TV series, 1997).

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KUŹMIŃSKI, ZBIGNIEW (1921–2005). Film director and scriptwriter.

Since 1947 Kuźmiński worked as director’s assistant and second director on several films, including Aleksander Ford’s classic works: Border Street (1949), Five Boys from Barska Street (1954), and The Teutonic Knights (1960). Since 1950 Kuźmiński had produced documentary films; in 1962 he directed his first narrative film, Silent Traces (Milczące ślady), a suspense drama set in 1946. During his long career, this prolific director worked within different genres. Arguably, he is best known for literary adaptations. For example, he adapted Eliza Orzeszkowa’s celebrated Polish novel On the Niemen River (aka On the Banks of Niemen, Nad Niemnem, also a television series), the most popular film in 1987 with six million viewers. At the beginning of his career, Kuźmiński directed several suspense dramas with political overtones, such as Another Shore (Drugi brzeg, 1962), The Descent to Hell (Zejście do piekła, 1966), and Heaven on Earth (Raj na ziemi, 1970). In 1972 he made Top Agent (Agent nr 1, 1972), starring Karol Strasburger as the real-life Polish war superhero Jerzy Szajnowicz-Iwanow.

An interesting aspect of Kuźmiński’s career has to do with films he made about the sea and sailors, something of a rarity in Polish cinema, for example Crab and Joanna (Krab i Joanna, 1980) and Environs of a Quiet Sea (Okolice spokojnego morza, 1981), starring Jan Nowicki and Roman Wilhelmi, respectively. Kuźmiński’s filmography also includes action drama A Short Life (Krótkie ˙zycie, 1976), set in 1949; war drama A Hundred Horses to a Hundred Shores (Sto koni do stu brzegów, 1978); historical film The Republic of Hope (Republika nadziei, 1986); historical melodrama Desperation (Desperacja, 1988); and a melodrama set among farmers, My Second Marriage (Mój drugi oz˙ enek, 1963), an adaptation of Józef Morton’s novel.

Select other films: The Gang (Banda, 1965), A Crazy Night (Zwariowana noc, 1967), Closer to the Sky Every Day (Co dzień bliz˙ ej nieba, 1984).

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ŁAGÓW FILM FESTIWAL (LUBUSKIE LATO FILMOWE— ŁAGÓW). The oldest film festival devoted to Polish cinema,

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organized since 1969 in the small resort town of Łagów in westcentral Poland. Until 1974, when the Festival of Polish Films in Gdańsk was established, Łagów was the only festival celebrating Polish cinema. The screenings were accompanied by seminars and discussions with filmmakers and film critics. Since 1974, although the festival had been overshadowed by the bigger and state-supported festival in Gdańsk (since 1996 in Gdynia), it survived by becoming a discussion forum for the Polish Federation of Film Clubs (PFDKF). Beginning in 1990, the festival broadened its scope and has become the international festival focusing on postCommunist national cinemas. The festival’s main prize, the Golden Grape (Złote Grono), has been given to Everything for Sale (1969, Andrzej Wajda), Salt of the Black Earth (1970, Kazimierz Kutz), The Pearl in the Crown (1972, Kutz), The Wedding (1973, Wajda), Illumination (1974, Krzysztof Zanussi), The Promised Land (1975, Wajda), Spiral (1978, Zanussi), and Top Dog (1978, Feliks Falk). In subsequent years the awards went to Stanisław Różewicz (1985), Witold Leszczyński (1986), Ryszard Bugajski (1989), and Marcel Łoziński (1990), among others. The list of foreign recipients includes István Szabó, Sándor Sára, Jan Hřebejk, and Lajos Koltai.

LAST STAGE, THE (AKA THE LAST STOP, OSTATNI ETAP, 1948). The landmark film by Wanda Jakubowska that shows the monstrosity of Auschwitz and draws on her firsthand experiences— she was imprisoned in Ravensbrück and the women’s concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. With its dramatization of the camp experience, The Last Stage established several images easily discernible in later Holocaust narratives: dark, “realistic” images of the camp (the film was shot in Auschwitz-Birkenau by Russian cinematographer Borys Monastyrski), passionate moralistic appeal, and clear divisions between victims and victimizers. Jakubowska’s objective, however, was not so much to portray the repelling reality of the concentration camp, but to show the female inmates’ solidarity in their suffering as well as in their struggle against Fascism.

She focused on carefully chosen female inmates, mostly Communists and supporters of the Communist resistance in the camp, who represented different oppressed nationalities and groups of people.

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The images of camp life in The Last Stage (for example, morning and evening roll calls on the Appellplatz, the arrival of transports, and the selections for the gas chambers) reinforced the depiction of Nazi concentration camps and are present in a number of subsequent films, including Sophie’s Choice (1982), directed by Alan Pakula, and Schindler’s List (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg.

To this day, The Last Stage remains a foundational film about Auschwitz and the Holocaust and a prototype for future Holocaust cinematic narratives. ŁAZARKIEWICZ, MAGDALENA (1954–). Scriptwriter and director, a 1982 graduate of the Katowice Film and Television School, sister of Agnieszka Holland. Łazarkiewicz is chiefly known for the youth-oriented The Last Bell (Ostatni dzwonek, 1989), political Departure (Odjazd, 1992, codirected with her husband, Piotr Łazarkiewicz), and White Marriage (Białe małz˙ eństwo, 1993). The latter film can be taken as an intelligent discussion of female sexuality with strong Freudian overtones, something of a rarity in Polish cinema. Perhaps Łazarkiewicz’s best work is a modest television film, The Touch (Przez dotyk, 1986), a realistic psychological drama set in a hospital, featuring Maria Ciunelis and Grażyna Szapołowska.

Other films: Another Shore (Drugi brzeg, TV, 1997), To the End of the World (Na koniec świata, 1999), Dreams to Fulfill (Marzenia do spełnienia, TV series, 2001–2002).

LEJTES, JÓZEF (1901–1983). Arguably the best Polish director before 1939, Lejtes established his name in 1928 with the patriotic picture Hurricane (Huragan, 1928, Polish-Austrian production), the love story of a young insurgent and a proud noblewoman, set against the backdrop of the 1863 January Uprising. At the beginning of the 1930s, Lejtes quickly gained recognition for his cinematic treatment of recent Polish history. In The Wild Fields (Dzikie pola, 1932), he dealt with the fate of Polish soldiers trying to return to their country from Russia after the end of World War I. Another critically acclaimed film, General Pankratov’s Daughter (Córka generała Pankratowa, 1934), focused on the political unrest in 1905. With its superb cast (Nora Ney, Franciszek Brodniewicz, and

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Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski), Seweryn Steinwurzel’s camera, Henryk Wars’s musical score, and Lejtes’s adroit use of the conventions of melodrama applied to the events of 1905, the film became one of the best-known examples of mid-1930s Polish cinema. The events of 1905 also provided the setting for two other well-received films by Lejtes: The Young Forest (Młody las, 1934) and The Rose (Róz˙ a, 1936). The former, voted the best film of 1934 by the readers of the weekly magazine Kino, deals with a conflict between Polish students and their Russian teachers. The latter, an adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel, focuses on the story of the Polish Socialist Party members and their fight against the tsarist regime. Some of Lejtes’s other films referred to more distant and mythologized events in Polish history. His Barbara Radziwiłłówna (1936), with Jadwiga Smosarska in the leading role, portrays a love story between the king of Poland, Zygmunt August, and Barbara from the noble family of Radziwiłł. Another historical epic, Kościuszko at Racławice (Kościuszko pod Racławicami, 1938), deals with the 1794 national insurrection led by Tadeusz Kościuszko.

Lejtes is also known for his skillful adaptations of celebrated contemporary literature: The Girls from Nowolipki (Dziewczęta z Nowolipek, 1937) and The Line (Granica, 1938), based on the novels by Pola Gojawiczyńska and Zofia Nałkowska, respectively. The Girls from Nowolipki depicts the dramatic stories of four young women who live in the same working-class Warsaw building, and The Line offers a fatalistic story of a man torn between two women with whom he has had an ongoing affair. Lejtes is also responsible for one of the greatest successes of Polish cinema in the 1930s, Under Your Protection (Pod twoją obronę, 1933), starring Maria Bogda and Adam Brodzisz. Because of Lejtes’s Jewish origins, his name was removed from the credits (the experienced Edward Puchalski is listed as the director) in order to please the Catholic Church, the patron of this “Christian film.”

Lejtes, who also scripted several of his films, worked closely with the best prewar cinematographers, chiefly with Steinwurzel and Albert Wywerka. After 1945 Lejtes remained in Israel where he directed several films, including My Father’s House (1947). From 1955 to 1958, he directed several television films in the United States, including an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Bonanza (1959) and a full-length television film, Valley of Mystery (1967).

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Other films: From Day to Day (Z dnia na dzień, 1929), The Day of a Great Adventure (Dzień wielkiej przygody, 1935), The Signals (Sygnały, 1938).

LENARTOWICZ, STANISŁAW (1921–). Director and scriptwriter, a 1953 graduate of the Łódź Film School who started his career working for the Educational Film Studio (WFO). In 1957 he released his first feature film, the psychological drama Winter Twilight (Zimowy zmierzch, 1957), which portrays a small provincial town somewhere in the eastern part of Poland. Its episodic narrative structure (Tadeusz Konwicki’s script) relies on stylized, expressionistic flashbacks and the observation of local customs. Lenartowicz’s bestknown films were made during the Polish School period: World War II suspense drama Pills for Aurelia (Pigułki dla Aurelii, 1958), the psychological portrait of social advancement The Oil (Nafta, 1961), and the almost farcical presentation of the war Giuseppe in Warsaw (Giuseppe w Warszawie, 1964), with Elżbieta Czyżewska and Zbigniew Cybulski. Lenartowicz worked within different genres, with different results. He made marital dramas, The Diary of Mrs. Hanka (Pamiętnik pani Hanki, 1963) with Lucyna Winnnicka and Obsession (Opętanie, 1972); comedy, Full Ahead (Cała naprzód, 1967); a crime film, I Did Kill (To ja zabiłem, 1975); and a romantic drama consisting of four novellas, Encounters (Spotkania, 1957).

Lenartowicz was praised for his series of historical television films set in tsarist Russia, such as The Postmaster (Poczmistrz, 1967), The Nose (Nos, 1971), and Actress (Aktorka, 1971). Toward the end of his career, he produced a remake of the 1938 classic film The Ghosts (Strachy), first as a popular television series in 1979, then as a feature film under the title Tears Won’t Help (Szkoda twoich łez, 1983).

Other films: See You on Sunday (Zobaczymy się w niedzielę, 1960), The Fatalist (Fatalista, TV, 1967), Monster (Upiór, TV, 1967), The Red and the Gold (Czerwone i złote, 1969), Dead Wave (Martwa fala, 1971), In a Year, in a Day, in a Moment . . . (Za rok, za dzień za chwilę . . . , 1976).

LENICA, JAN (1928–2001). The renowned animator, illustrator, and poster designer, one of the prominent members of the Polish School

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of Poster. After studying music (piano) and architecture, Lenica turned to painting and poster design. With another poster designer, Walerian Borowczyk, he produced a series of animated short films that won international acclaim: Once There Was (aka Once Upon a Time, Był sobie raz, 1957), Love Requited (Nagrodzone uczucia, 1957), and House (Dom, 1958). The filmmakers relied on cutout technique to produce the absurdist and grotesque spirit in animation.

Their works attracted a cult following and influenced future animators in Poland (Daniel Szczechura) and abroad (Jan Švankmajer and the Brothers Quay).

Like Borowczyk, Lenica also moved to France, where he made his first solo film, Monsier Tete (1959), narrated by Eugene Ionesco. His next films were made in France, Poland, the United States (where he lectured at Harvard), and Germany (where he taught poster design and animation at universities in Kassel and Berlin). In Poland, he produced a pastiche of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novella The New Janko Musician (Nowy Janko muzykant, 1960), awarded at the Kraków Film Festival in 1961, and Labyrinth (Labirynt, 1963), arguably his greatest film, a political Kafkaesque animation that won several prestigious film festivals, including Oberhausen, Kraków, and Buenos Aires. In France, Lenica produced the winner of the Venice Film Festival—The Flower Woman (La femme fleur, 1965)—Fantoro, the Last Arbiter (Fantoro, le dernier justicier, 1971), and Hell (Enfer, 1973). In the Federal Republic of Germany, Lenica started with a variation on Ionesco’s play The Rhinoceros (Die Nashorner, 1963), which was followed by his perhaps most ambitious project: the feature-length animation Adam II (1968). In Germany, he also made his first film with actors, Still Life (Stilleben, 1969), followed by the medium-length Ubu Roi (1975), based on Alfred Jarry’s play. In 1974 Lenica made his only American film, the semiautobiographical Landscape. His last film, Island R.O. (Wyspa R.O.), which combines animation with live actors, was produced in 2001 in Poland.

LESIEWICZ, WITOLD (1922–). Director and 1951 graduate of the Łódź Film School who gained prominence with a series of war films made during the Polish School period. In Deserter (Dezerter, 1958), set during World War II in Upper Silesia, he dealt with the fate of young Poles living in the territories annexed by the Reich who were

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forced to join the German army. His next film, First Year (Rok pierwszy, 1960), described the 1944 situation in Poland with the Home Army (AK) opposing the implementation of the Communist system.

Produced in 1961, April (Kwiecień) concerned the ordinary soldiers of the Second Polish Army during the final stages of the war. In 1963 Lesiewicz completed The Passenger, Andrzej Munk’s unfinished project. His later films included the contemporary social drama One Position (Miejsce dla jednego, 1966) and the historical film Bolesław the Bold (Bolesław Śmiały, 1972).

Other films: Between Shorelines (Między brzegami, 1963), The Unknown (Nieznany, 1964).

LESZCZYŃSKI, WITOLD (1933–). Since his acclaimed debut, The Life of Matthew (Żywot Mateusza, 1968), now part of the Polish film canon, writer-director Witold Leszczyński has made six highly personal films. In 1972 he codirected with Andrzej Kostenko the psychological drama Personal Search (Rewizja osobista, 1972). This film was followed by Recollections (Rekolekcje, 1977), a semiautobiographical story about the filmmaker’s dilemmas, and perhaps Leszczyński’s most personal work. In 1981 Leszczyński produced a film that equals The Life of Matthew—the black-and-white Konopielka (1981), based on a popular novel by Edward Redliński. It portrays a grotesquely backward rural community that is changed by the appearance of a beautiful young female teacher (Joanna Sienkiewicz). Under her influence, the film’s central character (Krzysztof Majchrzak) begins to question old customs, taboos, and superstitious practices. Leszczyński’s next film, Siekierezada (Axiliad, 1985), based on writer Edward Stachura’s writings and life (which he ended prematurely in 1979 by committing suicide), became the winner of the 1986 Festival of Polish Films. After the transition to democracy, Leszczyński directed only two films, the Polish-Norwegian coproduction Koloss (1993) and Requiem (2001), the latter made in the spirit of The Life of Matthew. That parallel is emphasized by another casting of Franciszek Pieczka (this time as Bartłomiej) and Anna Milewska (this time as his old love interest Olga).

LIFE OF MATTHEW, THE (ŻYWOT MATEUSZA, 1968). An adaptation of Tarjei Vesaasa’s novel and one of the unique films of the

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late 1960s directed by Witold Leszczyński. The film’s slow-paced story, divided into seven chapters, concerns the forty-year-old Matthew (Franciszek Pieczka), an oversensitive person who is considered mentally handicapped by his neighbors. Living with his sister (Anna Milewska) in virtual isolation on the lake, Matthew develops an unusual closeness to nature. The outside world turns on Matthew when his sister falls in love with an outsider, and he paddles to the middle of the lake and punches a hole in the bottom of his boat.

Leszczyński focuses on the psychological study of loneliness and of the relationship between man and nature. Exquisite black-and-white cinematography by Andrzej Kostenko and the skillful use of classical music by Arcangelo Corelli enhance the poetic atmosphere of the film, which was awarded at several international film festivals.

LINDA, BOGUSŁAW (1952–). Generational actor in the 1990s who followed two acting personalities known for their roles in Andrzej Wajda’s films: Zbigniew Cybulski and Daniel Olbrychski. Like his predecessors, and unlike the majority of Polish actors, Linda is known almost exclusively for his filmic roles. He started his acting career at the beginning of the 1980s in a series of acclaimed political films, including Agnieszka Holland’s Fever (1981) and A Woman Alone (1981/1988), Wajda’s Man of Iron (1981) and Danton (1983), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blind Chance (1981/1987), and Janusz Zaorski’s Mother of Kings (1982/1987). He became one of the idols of the Solidarity generation, although most of the films he appeared in were shelved by the censor until 1987. He also starred in Filip Bajon’s The Magnate (1987).

At the beginning of the 1990s, Linda became an icon for another generation, the post-Solidarity generation, and represented its disillusionment with the new reality. He achieved star status by appearing in political action films directed by Władysław Pasikowski, such as The Pigs (1992) and its sequel, The Pigs 2: The Last Blood (1994).

Linda’s tough and cynical characters aptly reflected the reality of the first period of Polish capitalism. Readers of the weekly Film voted him the best Polish actor in 1987, 1991, 1992, and 1995. As a sign of Linda’s popularity, at the 1994 Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia he was honored with a special retrospective of his films. In recent years, he has continued his tough guy image in films by Pasikowski and

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starred in Maciej Ślesicki’s Sarah (Sara, 1997) and Piotr Wereśniak’s Station (Stacja, 2001). He also appeared in prestigious adaptations of the national literary canon by Wajda (Pan Tadeusz, 1999) and Jerzy Kawalerowicz (Quo Vadis, 2001).

Linda received several Best Actor prizes at the Festival of Polish Films. They include awards for Fever (1981), Blind Chance and The Magnate (awarded in 1987), A Woman Alone (1988), The Pigs (1992), and Ślesicki’s Daddy (Tato, 1995). In 1990 Linda directed his first feature film, Seychelles (Seszele), which was well received by young audiences, and in 2001 he directed The Sucker Season (Sezon na leszcza), clearly influenced by Quentin Tarantino’s films. In 2007 he made Clear Blue Windows (Jasne błękitne okna), a story of female friendship.

LIPMAN, JERZY (1922–1983). Cinematographer whose name is associated with several great achievements of the Polish School. Lipman started his career in 1953 as a camera operator on Aleksander Ford’s Five Boys from Barska Street. Later he worked as a cinematographer on Andrzej Wajda’s war films: A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), and Lotna (1959). His contributions to the Polish School phenomenon also include Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Shadow (1956) and The True End of the Great War (1957), Jerzy Passendorfer’s Answer to Violence (1958), and Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (1962).

In the 1960s, Lipman worked on Wajda’s epic adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel Ashes (1965), Janusz Nasfeter’s The Criminal and the Maiden (1963), and films by Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski, such as Gangsters and Philanthropists (1962) and Law and Fist (1964). Hoffman’s Pan Michael (1969) became Lipman’s last Polish production. In 1968, a year of anti-Semitic excesses in Poland, he left for West Germany where he worked until 1982, mostly for television, and, for example, directed an episode in the series Tatort, also directed by Sam Fuller. Lipman also worked with Aleksander Ford on Dr. Korczak, the Martyr (1974). ŁÓDŹ FILM SCHOOL (PAŃSTWOWA WYŻSZA SZKOŁA FILMOWA, TELEWIZYJNA I TEATRALNA IM. LEONA SCHILLERA, PWSFTiT). The first and for many years the only film school in Poland. The now famous school was established in 1948 in Łódź to train film directors and cinematographers and

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quickly began to dominate the Polish film industry in the mid-1950s with talented graduates such as Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Kazimierz Kutz, Janusz Morgenstern, and numerous others. Since 1952 the school has also been training executive producers. In 1955 as many as 158 graduates of the Łódź Film School worked in the national film industry, among a total of 228 active film professionals. The prominent list of teachers includes Wanda Jakubowska, Antoni Bohdziewicz, Jerzy Bossak, Stanisław Wohl, and Jerzy Toeplitz. Toeplitz, who insisted on a broad humanistic program coupled with technical expertise, became perhaps the most prominent head of the school (1949–1952 and 1957–1968). In 1958 the school merged with the Leon Schiller State Acting School (named after its first president, Leon Schiller, the legend of Polish theater), which provided more opportunities for actors, cinematographers, and directors. The international success of films made by students toward the end of the 1950s and at the beginning of the 1960s, such as Roman Polański and Jerzy Skolimowski, helped to strengthen the legend of the school.

After the 1968 anti-Semitic campaign, Toeplitz and a group of professors and students were forced to leave the school. The hiring of Wojciech Jerzy Has in 1974 helped to end the stagnation.

Later he became the head of the school from 1990 to 1996 and was the founder and, since 1990, head of its production studio Indeks.

Strong competition with the Katowice Film and Television School in the mid-1980s reinvigorated the school. Currently, the school trains film directors, cinematographers, actors, and producers (also television specialists since 1970) in four departments. Teachers include some of the best talents in Polish cinema, among them directors Grzegorz Królikiewicz and Kazimierz Karabasz, actors Jan Machulski and Wojciech Malajkat, and cinematographers Jerzy Wójcik, Wiesław Zdort, and Witold Sobociński. The Department of Cinematography, which also includes animation, has been perhaps the strongest of the school’s programs in recent years and greatly contributed to the success of several Polish cinematographers working in Poland and abroad. ŁOMNICKI, JAN (1929–2002). Director of documentary, television, feature films and brother of actor Tadeusz Łomnicki. This pro-

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lific filmmaker is mostly remembered for his well-received television series The House (Dom, 1980–2000), dealing with the fates of inhabitants of a Warsaw apartment building, portrayed against the vast panorama of Polish history and politics. Łomnicki’s career, however, spans almost fifty years. Beginning in 1954, he produced sixty-four documentary films, including the classic Polish documentary The Birth of a Ship (Narodziny statku, 1961), which received awards at many festivals. He is also known for a series of films referring to the war and occupation: Contribution (Kontrybucja, 1966), To Save the Town (Ocalić miasto, 1976), The Action near the Arsenal (Akcja pod Arsenałem, 1978), and Just beyond This Forest (Jeszcze tylko ten las, 1991). Łomnicki’s oeuvre also includes psychological films such as The Slide (Poślizg, 1972) and biopics such as Mr. Dodek (Pan Dodek, 1970), about the prewar comedy star Adolf Dymsza, and Modrzejewska (1989), a television series about the Polish theater legend Helena Modrzejewska (Helena Modjeska). He also directed comedies with references to actual events, such as The Big Giveaway (Wielka wsypa, 1992).

Other films: The Dowry (Wiano, 1964), Short Questionaire (Mała ankieta, TV, 1970), Awards and Decorations (Nagrody i odznaczenia, 1974), Neverending Lies (Rzeka kłamstwa, TV series, 1989), The Rat (Szczur, 1995). ŁOMNICKI, TADEUSZ (1927–1992). Accomplished film actor, stage director, and a legend of Polish theater, voted the most important twentieth-century Polish actor in the weekly Polityka’s poll from 1998. Although his fame has to do mostly with his theatrical accomplishments, Łomnicki appeared in more than sixty films since his screen debut in 1946. He gained recognition for his first major roles in films by Aleksander Ford (Five Boys from Barska Street, 1953) and Andrzej Wajda (A Generation, 1955). Later he became one of the recognizable faces of the Polish School, in particular after his appearances in Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s Damned Roads (1958) and The Sky of Stone (1959), Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958), and Wajda’s Innocent Sorcerers (1960).

In the 1960s, after appearing in films such as Janusz Morgenstern’s Life Once Again (1964) and Jerzy Skolimowski’s Hands Up (1967), Łomnicki received not only critical recognition but also wide popular

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acclaim starring as Colonel Michał Wołodyjowski in Jerzy Hoffman’s adaptations of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical novels: Pan Michael (1969) and The Deluge (1974). During the Cinema of Distrust period, he acted in Wajda’s Man of Marble as director Burski and played main roles in films by Krzysztof Zanussi (Contrakt, 1980), Wojciech Marczewski (The Housekeeper, 1979), and Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki (Wherever You Are, Mr. President . . . , 1978). He also received critical recognition for his roles in films by Filip Bajon, such as Inspection at the Scene of the Crime, 1901 and Daimler Benz Limousine, both released in 1981, and in films by Krzysztof Kieślowski, such as Blind Chance (1981) and Decalogue 8 (1988). Łomnicki is also known for his fine performances in Polish Television Theater and his work as an acting teacher; between 1970 and 1981, he headed the State Acting Academy in Warsaw (PWST). He was also an active member of the Polish Communist Party (PZPR) from 1951 (and a member of its Central Committee from 1975) to 1981, when he resigned after the introduction of martial law. He is the brother of director Jan Łomnicki. ŁOZIŃSKI, MARCEL (1940–). Leading Polish documentary filmmaker and the winner of numerous awards at the most prestigious film festivals. Born in Paris, Łoziński graduated from the Łódź Film School in 1971 (diploma in 1976) and started his career as assistant director on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s short documentary Factory (Fabryka, 1970), a metaphor for Communist Poland. Some of Łoziński’s best-known works produced in the 1970s and the 1980s dealt with the issues of Communist manipulation and indoctrination on a metaphorical level, for example How Are We to Live? (Jak ˙zyć?

1977, premiere in 1981) and Microphone Test (Próba mikrofonu, 1980). The power of manipulative montage to distort people’s ideas is also shown in his later Film Workshop (Ćwiczenia warsztatowe, 1986). After the transition to democracy, Łoziński produced a fourpart documentary about the Communist period in Polish history: Polish People’s Republic, 1945–1989 (PRL 45–89, 1990), in which he juxtaposed archival material with comments expressed by those who opposed the Communist system.

Among several films produced by Łoziński are important documentaries about the Holocaust and Polish-Jewish relations: Witnesses

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(Świadkowie, 1988), My Seven Jewish Schoolmates (Siedmiu Żydów z mojej klasy, 1991), and I Remember (Pamiętam, 2003). The director also deals with other neglected moments in Polish history in The Katyń Forest (Las Katyński, 1990), a film about the World War II Katyń massacre of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet regime. Łoziński is also highly regarded for films such as 89 Millimeters from Europe (89 mm od Europy, 1992) and Everything Can Happen (Wszystko moz˙ e się przytrafić, 1994). In the former, the routine change of railroad tracks’ width on the Polish eastern border provides a metaphor for the relationship between Europe and Russia. In the latter, the conversation between a six-year-old boy (Łoziński’s son Tomaszek) and elderly people in a park offers sensitive comments on aging, dying, and the beauty of life.

Select other films: The Wheels of Fortune (Koło fortuny, 1973), High School Exam (Egzamin dojrzałości, 1979), Rear Window (Okno na podwórze, 1979), My Place (Moje miejsce, 1987), Warsaw 95: The Sentimental Journey (Warszawa 95. Podróz˙ sentymentalna, 1994), We All Were Children (Wszyscy byliśmy dziećmi, 1994), After the Victory (Po zwycięstwie, 1995), So It Doesn’t Hurt (Żeby nie bolało, 1998), How It Is Done (Jak to się robi, 2006).

LUBASZENKO, OLAF (OLAF LINDE-LUBASZENKO, 1968–).

Popular actor and director. Lubaszenko started his career as a child actor in a television series called The Life of Kamil Kurant (Życie Kamila Kuranta, 1982). Later he appeared in several mainstream films in 1987 and 1988, including his breakthrough role in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 5 (1988) and its theatrical version, A Short Film about Love (1988). Readers of the popular Polish weekly Film voted him and his screen partner, Grażyna Szapołowska, the best Polish actors in 1988. Lubaszenko, who also worked as Kieślowski’s assistant on Decalogue 1, 2, 3, and 10, furthered his popularity at the beginning of the 1990s, appearing in films directed by Władysław Pasikowski, such as Kroll (1991) and The Pigs (1992). In the late 1990s, apart from appearing in numerous films, such as the successful Polish-Czech production To Kill Sekal (Zabić Sekala, 1998, Vladimir Michálek), he also began another career as a film director with The Sting (Sztos, 1997). The Sting was followed by several popular films, mostly crime comedies, such as Boys Don’t Cry (Chłopaki nie płacz , 2000) and The Morning of Coyote (Poranek kojota, 2001). They tell

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entertaining but unrefined stories and feature well-liked Polish actors including Cezary Pazura, Maciej Stuhr (Jerzy Stuhr’s son), and Edward Linde-Lubaszenko (Olaf’s father). ŁUKASZEWICZ, OLGIERD (1946–). Accomplished film and theatrical actor. After graduating from the Kraków State Acting School (PWST) in 1968, Łukaszewicz, a native of Silesia, starred in Kazimierz Kutz’s Salt of the Black Earth (1970). He played the youngest Basista son, Gabryel, participating in the 1920 Silesian Uprising. In the second part of Kutz’s Silesian trilogy, The Pearl in the Crown (1972), he continued Gabryel’s role, this time as a young miner participating in a hunger strike in the 1930s Silesia. In 1970 Łukaszewicz also had a lead role in Andrzej Wajda’s Birchwood, in which he played a character dying of tuberculosis who has just returned from a sanatorium in Switzerland to spend the last moments of his life with his brother (Daniel Olbrychski). Later he played similar characters in Janusz Majewski’s The Lesson of a Dead Language (1979) and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 2 (1988)—an uhlan lieutenant dying of tuberculosis in a small Carpathian town during the demise of the AustroHungarian Empire and a dying husband, respectively. Łukaszewicz proved to be a versatile actor. In historical films he played idealistic characters, as in Stanisław Różewicz’s The Romantics (1970), but also villainous types, for example in Walerian Borowczyk’s The Story of Sin (1975), Agnieszka Holland’s Fever (1981), and Filip Bajon’s The Magnate (1987). Łukaszewicz also successfully acted in comedy, for example in Juliusz Machulski’s Sex Mission (1984). In 1995 he starred in two notable films: as a high-ranked Catholic priest persecuted by the Stalinist regime in Barbara Sass’s Temptation (1995) and as a Pole trying to save his Jewish lover in Ryszard Brylski’s Holocaust drama Deborah (1995). His twin brother, Jerzy Łukaszewicz, is a respected cinematographer and director.

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MACHULSKI, JULIUSZ (1955–). Director and scriptwriter for all his films and producer of several popular films directed by other

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filmmakers. A former leading actor in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Personnel (1975), Machulski started his successful filmmaking career at the beginning of the 1980s with Vabank (Va banque, 1982), a retrogangster comedy influenced by American films such as The Sting (1973). The film tells the story of professional safecracker Kwinto (Jan Machulski, the director’s father), who avenges a betrayal by his former partner—a respected banker who convinced Kwinto to rob his bank to cover up misappropriations but then called the police.

In this film and its sequel, Va banque II (Vabank II, 1985), Machulski referred to Western cinema rather than a national context, to cinema conventions rather than life “as it is.” His next film, Sex Mission (Seksmisja, 1984), was a science fiction farce with some clear references to gender politics in Poland and the Polish political reality. In Déjà vu (1989), one of his best films, Machulski employed pastiche as a dominant form of expression. Set in 1925, Déjà vu tells the story of Johnny Pollack (Jerzy Stuhr), an American gangster of Polish origin sent by mobsters from Chicago to Odessa. In the most famous sequence, frequently cited by scholars, Johnny Pollack, who is pursuing another gangster, finds himself on the steps of Odessa during Sergei Eisenstein’s shooting of Battleship Potemkin (1925).

The most popular films by Machulski, from Va banque to his boxoffice successes in the 1990s—Kiler (1997) and its 1999 sequel, Kiler 2 (Kiler-ów 2-óch), both starring Cezary Pazura—were inspired by American genre cinema. The commercial and critical success of these films in Poland relied on yet another important ingredient: formulaic structures that were saturated with numerous references to Polish politics and everyday life. This was also evident in his Girl Guide, winner of the 1995 Festival of Polish Films, which employs elements of Hollywood genre cinema but fuses them with a distinctly Polish idiom. When Machulski tried to move to the realm of art cinema, as he did with his historical drama Squadron (Szwadron, 1992), the result was less convincing.

In recent years, Machulski maintained popularity with his bitter comedy on the state of Polish film industry, Super Production (Superprodukcja, 2002), and a stylish heist film set in Kraków, Vinci (2004). Machulski continues to head the film studio Zebra in Warsaw, which he founded in 1988, and where he produced a number of well-received films, including those directed by Jerzy Stuhr, Marek Koterski,

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and Krzysztof Krauze. Since 2003 Machulski has also been President of the Polish Film Academy.

Other films: King-size (Kingsajz, 1987), V.I.P (1991), Mothers, Wives, Lovers (Matki, ˙zony, kochanki, TV series, part 1 in 1995, part 2 in 1998), Money Is Not Everything (Pieniądze to nie wszystko, 2001).

MAJCHRZAK, KRZYSZTOF (1948–). Character actor known for several memorable roles in the films directed by Jan Jakub Kolski, Witold Leszczyński, and Filip Bajon. A 1974 graduate of the State Acting School in Warsaw (PWST), Majchrzak has played episodic and supporting roles since 1970. The leading role of wrestling champion Władysław Góralewicz in Bajon’s Aria for an Athlete (1979) proved to be a turning point in his career. He followed it with another outstanding performance in Leszczyński’s Konopielka (1981). In the 1980s, he played strong supporting roles in Radosław Piwowarski’s Yesterday (1985) and Piotr Szulkin’s political science fiction films.

After his tour de force performance as an unorthodox Catholic priest in Kolski’s 1994 film Miraculous Place, Majchrzak also appeared in Kolski’s later The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy (1998) and Pornography (2003). In addition, he appeared in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Quo Vadis (2001), Natalia Koryncka-Gruz’s Amok (1998), Jerzy Antczak’s Chopin—Desire for Love (2002), and Tomasz Wiszniewski’s multinational production about the Balkan War, Where Eskimos Live (2001). Majchrzak was voted the best Polish actor in 1998 by Film readers. He also received acting awards at the Festival of Polish Films for his roles in Kolski’s films, including Best Actor (for The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy and Pornography) and Best Supporting Actor (for Miraculous Place).

MAJEWSKI, JANUSZ (1931–). Janusz Majewski began his distinguished career in the 1960s with films in a variety of genres.

Originally trained as an architect, then as a director at the Łódź Film School, Majewski started his career as an art director and a documentary filmmaker. His Private Fleischer’s Photo Album (Album Fleischera, 1963), which portrays the war through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier, became a classic example of Polish documentary cinema. Majewski also made a number of successful television films, mostly mysteries, such as Avatar, or the Exchange

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of Souls (Awatar, czyli zamiana dusz, 1967), and I Am Burning (Ja gore, 1968). His range is demonstrated by another well-received television drama, the psychological study The Black Gown (Czarna suknia, 1967), with Ida Kamińska and Aleksandra Śląska.

Part of the Third Polish Cinema, Majewski is mostly known for his well-crafted, stylish literary adaptations made in the late 1960s and the 1970s. He began with a black comedy, The Lodger (Sublokator, 1967), which was followed by a crime film, A Criminal Who Stole a Crime (Zbrodniarz, który ukradł zbrodnię, 1969), frequently cited as one of the best Polish crime films. In The Bear (Lokis, 1970), based on Prosper Mérimée’s short story, Majewski continued his fascination with the horror genre. Critical acclaim, however, allowed him to make subtle adaptations of the prewar Polish literary canon: Jealousy and Medicine (Zazdrość i medycyna, 1973), based on Michał Choromański’s novel, and Hotel Pacific (Zaklęte rewiry, 1975), an adaptation of Henryk Worcell’s fiction. Majewski’s films made in the late 1970s were also set in the past. The Gorgon Affair (Sprawa Gorgonowej, 1977) and The Lesson of a Dead Language (Lekcja martwego języka, 1979) established his name as a filmmaker sensitive to the nuances of the past and able to capture its tone. The former, scripted by Bolesław Michałek and set in the 1930s, tells about the actual trial of Rita Gorgon (Ewa Dałkowska), who was accused of murdering the teenage daughter of her employer and lover.

The latter, based on Andrzej Kuśniewicz’s novel, concerns the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the end of a historical epoch.

Apart from heading the Polish Filmmakers Association from 1983 to 1990, Majewski also continued his successful career with the television series Queen Bona (Królowa Bona, 1980) and its theatrical version produced in 1982, An Epitaph for Barbara Radziwiłł (Epitafium dla Barbarary Radziwiłłówny), starring Anna Dymna, Jerzy Zelnik, and Aleksandra Śląska. In 1985 he directed his biggest commercial success, Deserters (C. K. Dezerterzy), a barrack comedy set in 1918. The popularity of this film resulted in the 1998 sequel titled Deserters’ Gold (Złoto dezerterów). Also in the late 1990s, Majewski produced two television series, Bar Atlantic (1996) and Habitation (Siedlisko, 1998).

Other films: Salty Rose (Słona róz˙ a, 1982), Day-Dream (Mrzonka, TV, 1985), Black Ravine (Czarny wąwóz, 1989), After the Season (Po sezonie, 2006).

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MAJEWSKI, LECH J. (1953–). Film, theater, and opera director; screenwriter and producer; writer, poet, and painter. The multitalented Lech Majewski graduated from the Łódź Film School in 1977, established himself as a theater director, and became known for his highly personal, poetic, and stylized cinema, as evidenced by his film The Knight (Rycerz, 1980). In 1981 he moved to England and then to the United States, where he made Flight of the Spruce Goose (1985) and The Gospel According to Harry (1992, with Polish involvement).

He also made another international coproduction, The Prisoner of Rio (1988, United Kingdom–Brazil–Switzerland–Poland). Arguably Majewski’s best-known work is a Polish film, Wojaczek (1999), an atypical biopic of poet Rafał Wojaczek (1945–1972), for which he received the Best Director award at the Festival of Polish Films. Majewski’s next film, Angelus (2001), was also well received. The film deals with a Silesian occult group that became known thanks to some of its members, such as Teofil Ociepka, now a celebrated painter.

Cinematographer Adam Sikora (who also worked on Wojaczek) won the Silver Frog award at the Camerimage festival. Majewski’s recent projects include The Garden of Earthly Delights (2003), a coproduction between Poland, Italy, and Great Britain.

MAKLAKIEWICZ, ZDZISŁAW (1927–1977). Prolific character actor, best remembered for his roles in comedies also starring Jan Himilsbach. In the 1960s, Maklakiewicz appeared in strong supporting or episodic roles in almost fifty films, including works by Jerzy Skolimowski (The Barrier, 1966), Tadeusz Konwicki (Somersault, 1965), and Wojciech J. Has (The Doll, 1968). He received popular acclaim and cult actor status in 1970 when he acted together with Himilsbach in the successful The Cruise, directed by Marek Piwowski. Later both actors cemented their popularity in Andrzej Kondratiuk’s productions: the television cult film The Ascended (1973) and How It Is Done (1973).

MAN OF IRON (CZŁOWIEK Z ŻELAZA, 1981). Andrzej Wajda’s sequel to Man of Marble (1977). The film won the Palme d’Or (the grand prize) at the Cannes Film Festival and was the biggest critical success of the Solidarity period. Man of Iron preserves the narrative structure of its famous predecessor and relies on flashbacks to tell

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the story of Birkut’s son Maciek Tomczyk (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), a Gdańsk shipyard worker and a Solidarity activist married to Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda). The alcoholic journalist Winkiel (Marian Opania), who is being blackmailed by the state authorities, searches for Birkut’s son in order to discredit him. The viewer learns about Tomczyk through the converted sinner Winkiel, who changes his views after meeting the Solidarity activists and learning about their goals. Wajda incorporates documents, newsreels, fragments of Man of Marble, television programs, and real-life political figures (among them Lech Wałęsa) to produce an explicitly political work. With its clear divisions between “us” and “them” and because it was hastily made during the brief Solidarity period, Man of Iron suffers from one-dimensional characterization typical of socialist realist cinema.

However, although Wajda’s film may fail as a work of art, it fittingly captures the spirit of Solidarity. The film was banned by the authorities after the introduction of martial law on 13 December 1981. See also CENSORSHIP. MAN OF MARBLE (CZŁOWIEK Z MARMURU, 1977). One of Andrzej Wajda’s best-known works, a pioneer narrative film that denounced Stalinism and retold the story of the Polish 1950s. The film, scripted by Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski, deals with cynical manipulation and repression. Its protagonist, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), is an honest bricklayer at the Nowa Huta steelworks near Kraków, an exemplary worker, courted and exploited by the Communist authorities as a national hero. The structure of Man of Marble resembles that of Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941). While making her student documentary about Birkut, the film student Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda) learns the true history of the Stalinist period. A marble statue of Birkut that she finds in the basement of the museum initiates her search for the “man behind the mask.”

Agnieszka starts with the “official truth” (a newsreel featuring her protagonist), but as she gradually learns the story behind the facade, a more complete picture of the period emerges. Extensive flashbacks portray the rise of the simple-minded worker to Communist stardom and expose the hypocrisy and dirty politics of Stalinism. Wajda employs authentic black-and-white newsreels, a number of flashbacks in color, and skillfully made black-and-white pseudo-documentaries and

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newsreels, which are virtually undistinguishable from the real ones.

As the first powerful political as well as artistic work dealing with the Stalinist period, Man of Marble influenced future Polish filmmakers dealing with Stalinism. The Communist authorities limited the distribution of the film and prevented Wajda from getting any awards at the Festival of Polish Films. The director received a symbolic award from Polish journalists—the brick. Man of Marble finds its continuation in the 1981 sequel, Man of Iron. See also CENSORSHIP. MARCZEWSKI, WOJCIECH (1944–). Highly regarded in Poland as a film director and screenwriter, Marczewski initially worked at the SE-MA-FOR and Czołówka studios, where he directed several television films mostly referring to World War II. From 1972 to 1994, he was a member of the film studio Tor. In 1979 he directed his first theatrical film, the very well-received Nightmares (Zmory), based on Emil Zegadłowicz’s anticlerical novel, telling the coming-of-age story of a sensitive boy in a small Galician town (then part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy). In 1981 Marczewski directed another coming-of-age story, this time set in the 1950s, Shivers (Dreszcze). This powerful film about Stalinism, dealing with institutionalized indoctrination and manipulation, tells the story of a teenage boy sent to a scouts’ camp after Stalin’s death. Nightmares and Shivers form a generational trilogy with Marczewski’s later film Weiser (2001), an adaptation of a critically acclaimed contemporary novel by Paweł Huelle.

After the declaration of martial law, as a gesture of protest Marczewski stopped making films for almost ten years. In 1990 he directed Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (Ucieczka z kina “Wolność”), which won the Festival of Polish Films and received several international awards. This multilayered film tells the story of a disillusioned government censor (Janusz Gajos) who comes to fathom the misery of his present life. On another level, however, it clearly serves as an allegory for the situation in the 1980s, a reminder of the supremacy of politics over people’s lives. Marczewski is also a well-known film teacher.

Since 1984 he has taught regularly at film schools in Copenhagen, Denmark, conducted film workshops in several European countries, and cofounded the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.

Other films: The Housekeeper (Klucznik, TV, 1979), Time of Betrayal (Czas zdrady, TV, 1997).

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MATUSZEWSKI, BOLESŁAW (1856–1943?). A well-known Warsaw photographer and cameraman who worked for the Lumière brothers in Poland, France, and Russia. In 1897 the tsar awarded him the title of court cinematographer. Matuszewski, considered in Poland the pioneer of scientific cinema and documentary cinema (with Kazimierz Prószyński), is also the author of the first lengthy treatises on cinema written by a Pole that appeared as early as 1898: A New Source of History and Animated Photography, published in Paris. These were pioneer texts on a world scale that aimed at presenting the practical possibilities of film. As a cameraman traveling across Europe, Matuszewski was interested primarily in the recording function of film as an eyewitness to history. He considered “living photographs” capable of truthful documentation of reality and postulated the creation of film archives.

MICHAŁEK, BOLESŁAW (1925–1997). Screenwriter and influential film critic, also the author of several books on cinema, among them the classic English-language book on Polish cinema The Modern Cinema of Poland (1988), which he coauthored with Frank Turaj. Throughout his life, Michałek was associated with Polish film journals such as the weekly Film (as managing editor from 1961 to 1972) and monthly Kino (1973–1983). He taught screenwriting at the Łódź Film School and served as the literary director of two film units: X (1973–1983) and Tor (1989–1991). He also served twice as the president of FIPRESCI (1968–1972 and 1974–1979). His screenwriting output consists of eight films, among them works such as Janusz Majewski’s The Gorgon Affair (1977), Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Death of a President (1977), Andrzej Wajda’s Love in Germany (1983), and Robert Gliński’s The Swan’s Song (1989). Michałek also served as Polish ambassador to Italy from 1990 to 1995.

MIKULSKI, STANISŁAW (1929–). The role of Hans Kloss in the television series More Than Life at Stake (Stawka większa niz˙ ˙zycie, eighteen episodes, 1967–1968), directed by Janusz Morgenstern and Andrzej Konic, propelled Mikulski to stardom and overshadowed his other accomplishments. The series, set during World War II, narrated the story of a Polish superspy dressed in a German uniform and offered a simplified version of history. Thanks to this role,

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Mikulski became one of the most popular Polish actors of the day.

According to the poll of the Evening Express (Express Wieczorny), he was voted the most popular Polish actor in 1965, 1966, and 1968; he was second most popular in 1967 and 1969.

After his film debut in Leonard Buczkowski’s The Start (Pierwszy start, 1951), Mikulski played mostly military men, partisans, and insurgents. He appeared as the lieutenant in Jan Rybkowski’s The Hours of Hope (1955), the Home Army (AK) fighter Smukły (Slim) in Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal (1956), and the underground fighter in Jerzy Passendorfer’s Answer to Violence (1958). Mikulski continued with similar roles in the 1960s, playing a security (UB) officer in Jan Batory’s Meeting with the Spy (1964), an army captain in Bathed in Fire (1964), and the AK officer in Scenes of Battle (1965), both directed by Passendorfer. Mikulski’s notable accomplishments, however, resulted from ventures into different genres in films such as Tadeusz Chmielewski’s Ewa Wants to Sleep (1968), a classic Polish comedy, and Stanisław Jędryka’s Return to Earth (1967), a psychological war drama about the impossibility of freeing oneself from the shadow of the war. After More Than Life at Stake, Mikulski struggled with his star status. Following Jerzy Zarzycki’s In Search of Adam (Pogoń za Adamem, 1970) and Stanisław Lenartowicz’s Obsession (1972), he appeared in several television series, sometimes playing himself. He still enjoys popularity in Poland, especially among young viewers, for whom More Than Life at Stake remains a cult series.

MORGENSTERN, JANUSZ (1922–). Janusz “Kuba” Morgenstern has a distinguished career in cinema, television, and television theater. A member of the Polish School generation, he served as an assistant director on Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal and as a second director on Ashes and Diamonds. In 1960 he directed his first film, which introduced a new lyrical tone to contemporary films: See You Tomorrow (Do widzenia, do jutra, 1960), starring Zbigniew Cybulski and featuring a jazz score by Krzysztof Komeda. It was followed by Opening Tomorrow (Jutro premiera, 1962), a satirical comedy set in the world of theater; the underappreciated Back to Life Again (Życie raz jeszcze, 1965), which examines the postwar political situation; and Then There Will Be Silence (Potem nastąpi cisza, 1966), a war drama set in 1944.

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After making the psychological drama Jowita (1967) with Daniel Olbrychski and Barbara Kwiatkowska, Morgenstern directed three television series about different aspects of World War II, which form the canon of Polish television film. In the years 1967–1968, he directed nine episodes (out of eighteen) of one of the most popular television series ever made in Poland—the war suspense drama More Than Life at Stake (Stawka większa niz˙ ˙zycie, 1968), the story of Hans Kloss (Stanisław Mikulski), a Polish spy in a German uniform. This success was followed by a critically acclaimed series about the Warsaw Uprising, Columbuses (Kolumbowie, five episodes, 1970), and in 1976 by another classic television production, The Polish Ways (Polskie drogi, ten feature-length episodes), a series portraying a vast panorama of Polish characters under the German occupation. In 1972 Morgenstern directed the well-received drama Kill That Love (Trzeba zabić tę miłość), scripted by Janusz Głowacki, which depicts love between two young people who did not get enough points to enter the university. Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, starring as a girl who dreams of becoming a doctor, created one of the most interesting characters in Polish cinema of the 1970s. Morgenstern has been the head of film studio Perspektywa since its beginning in 1978.

Other films: The Two Ribs of Adam (Dwa ˙zebra Adama, 1963), S.O.S. (TV series, 1974), The Hour “W” (Godzina “W,” TV, 1979), Smaller Sky (Mniejsze niebo, 1980), Legend of the White Horse (1986, with Jerzy Domaradzki), Yellow Scarf (Żółty szalik, TV, 2000).

MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS (MATKA JOANNA OD ANIOŁÓW, 1961). Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s film, the recipient of a Silver Palm at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. The film, an adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s short story set in eighteenth-century eastern Poland, is loosely based on a well-known account about possessed nuns at a seventeenth-century monastery in Loudun, France.

This classic tale about demonic possession presents two main characters: Mother Joan (Lucyna Winnicka), the supposedly possessed mother superior, and Father Suryn (Mieczysław Voit), a young ascetic and devout exorcist who is sent to the convent after one of his predecessors was burned at the stake for his involvement with Mother Joan. When Father Suryn exhausts the traditional methods (prescribed rituals, prayers, and self-flagellation), he consciously

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commits a horrid crime (the killing of two stable boys) to liberate Mother Joan and the convent’s sisters from demons and place the demons under his care. Jerzy Wójcik’s photography, with clear contrast between black and white elements within the frame, portrays a barren, inhospitable landscape with only four buildings. The bright convent on the hill and the dark inn at its bottom play a crucial role in the film’s concept. The convent is inhabited by the white figures of the nuns, whirling during the devil’s activities, their robes flowing in a carefully choreographed manner. The whiteness of the nuns’ robes is juxtaposed with the dark robes of the exorcists and the black or shadowy background.

MUNK, ANDRZEJ (1920–1961). One of the leading directors of the Polish School generation, usually considered by critics as the leading exponent of its “rationalistic” tendency. After completing the Łódź Film School in 1950, Munk began his career with a series of documentary films. Some of them, such as A Railwayman’s Word (Kolejarskie słowo, 1953) and The Stars Must Blaze (Gwiazdy muszą płonąć, 1954), moved beyond the constraints of socialist realist cinema and contained the elements of Munk’s mature style. Following his feature debut, the war adventure film The Blue Cross (Błękitny krzyz˙ , 1955), Munk directed his breakthrough film, Man on the Track (Człowiek na torze, 1957). The film tells the story of a retired train engineer, Orzechowski (Kazimierz Opaliński), who dies under mysterious circumstances while attempting to stop a train and whose death saves the passengers of the train. The film opens in the manner of Citizen Kane and Rashomon by introducing the mystery. The rest of the film becomes a search for (unattainable) truth—for the psychological portrait of the old man and the motivations behind his actions amid suspicion of sabotage. Munk’s next film, Eroica (1958), also based on Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s script, is one of the most important works of the Polish School. It offers a tragic-grotesque depiction of a different, everyday face of Polish heroism, stripped of romantic myths.

Munk’s subsequent film, Bad Luck (aka Cockeyed Luck, Zezowate szczęście, 1960), scripted by Stawiński as well, belongs to the same tradition. Set between the 1930s and the 1950s, it introduces Jan Piszczyk (Bogumił Kobiela), a Polish everyman who desperately wants to play an important role in the course of events, yet with no luck on

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his side he becomes another victim of history. The Holocaust motif is present in Munk’s incomplete The Passenger (Pasaz˙ erka), based on Zofia Posmysz’s novel. At the center of the film is the relationship between the oppressor at Auschwitz (an SS woman, Liza, played by Aleksandra Śląska) and the oppressed (a Polish inmate, Marta, played

by Anna Ciepielewska). Years after, a chance meeting between the two on a luxury liner brings back memories of the suppressed past.

Munk was killed in 1961 in a car accident while returning from the set of The Passenger. The film, finished by Witold Lesiewicz, premiered on the second anniversary of Munk’s death, 20 September 1963.

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NASFETER, JANUSZ (1920–1998). Director and scriptwriter renowned for his children’s films, Nasfeter established himself with films such as Small Dramas (Małe dramaty, 1958) and Colored Stockings (Kolorowe pończochy, 1960). Later he continued to write and direct films, primarily addressed to children but with a universal meaning, such as Abel, Your Brother (Abel, twój brat, 1970), Butterflies (Motyle, 1973), and My War, My Love (Moja wojna, moja miłość, 1975). Mostly known as the master of films for young adults, for which he received several international festival awards, Nasfeter was, however, a versatile filmmaker. In the 1960s, he succeeded in making partisan war film The Wounded in the Forest (Ranny w lesie, 1964), psychological war drama Weekend with a Girl (Weekend z dziewczyną, 1968), as well as crime film The Criminal and the Maiden (Zbrodniarz i panna, 1963), starring Ewa Krzyżewska and Zbigniew Cybulski. Nasfeter’s Holocaust drama, The Long Night (Długa noc), produced in 1967, was immediately shelved by the authorities and not released until 1989. Unloved (Niekochana, 1966), Nasfeter’s film based on Adolf Rudnicki’s short story, remains one of his most interesting works. The film deals with the unhappy, obsessive, and damaging love of a Jewish woman, Noemi (Elżbieta Czyżewska), for a Polish fine arts student. Set just hours before the outbreak of World War II and told in flashbacks, the film portrays the story of the lovers’ separations and reunions and Noemi’s mental breakdown.

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Other films: Two Brigades (Dwie brygady, 1950), My Old Man (Mój stary, 1962), This Cruel, Villainous Boy (Ten okrutny, nikczemny chłopak, 1972), Queen of Bees (Królowa pszczół, 1977), To Dream within a Dream (Śnić we śnie, 1979).

NATIONAL FILM ARCHIVE (FILMOTEKA NARODOWA).

Founded in 1955 as the Central Film Archive (Centralne Archiwum Filmowe, CAF), the National Film Archive in Warsaw is a mine of information for any film scholar dealing with Polish cinema. The archive’s main task is to collect and preserve Polish and selected world films. The collection, one of the best in Europe, includes approximately fifteen thousand films, twenty-three thousand books, one thousand titles of film journals, and thousands of screenplays, film programs, film stills, and other archival materials. The archive also promotes film culture through irregular book and journal publications and by having close links with mass media, cine clubs, and other cultural institutions in Poland and abroad. For example, the archive organizes numerous film retrospectives in its cinema theater, Iluzjon. The archive is in part subsidized by the Polish Ministry of Culture through the Polish Film Institute.

NEGRI, POLA (APOLONIA CHAŁUPIEC, 1897–1987). One of the best-known stars of silent cinema, Negri started her career in Poland as a dancer and a theatrical actress. In a series of unsophisticated but popular melodramas produced by the studio Sfinks, beginning with The Slave of Sin (aka Love and Passion, Niewolnica zmysłów, 1914, Jan Pawłowski), Negri created a Polish femme fatale who seduces and then destroys her lovers. Playing aggressive, caricatured women, Negri sealed her popularity with a series of melodramas made by Sfinks in 1917, known as The Mysteries of Warsaw, such as Arabella, His Last Deed (Jego ostatni czyn) and Room Number 13 (Pokój nr 13), which referred to real-life Warsaw criminal activity and erotic affairs. Thanks to her role in the pantomime Sumurun, produced in 1913 by Ryszard Ordyński for a Warsaw theater, Negri moved in 1917 to Berlin to play the same character in Max Reinhardt’s stage production. Between 1917 and 1922, she starred in twenty-three German films. Her career accelerated after she met Ernst Lubitsch, who directed her in three internationally famous films: Carmen (1918), Madame DuBarry (aka Passion, 1919), and

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Sumurun (1920), which enabled her to move with him to Hollywood.

In the 1920s, she starred in several Hollywood films directed by, among others, Lubitsch (Forbidden Paradise, 1924), Raoul Walsh (East of Suez, 1925), Dimitri Buchowetzki (Lily of the Dust, 1924, The Crown of Lies, 1926), Mauritz Stiller (Hotel Imperial, 1927, The Woman on Trial, 1927), and Rowland V. Lee (Three Sinners, 1928, Loves of an Actress, 1928). At the beginning of the 1930s, after appearing in her first sound film, A Woman Commands (1932, Paul L. Stein), Negri moved back to Germany where she starred in films such as Mazurka (1935, Willi Frost) and Madame Bovary (1937, Gerhard Lamprecht). In 1941 Negri returned to America. In 1964 she appeared in her last film, The Moon Spinners, directed by James Neilson. Details from Negri’s life can be found in her 1970 autobiographical book, Memoirs of a Star.

NIEMCZYK, LEON (1923–2006). Perhaps the most prolific Polish film actor whose career spans half a century, with almost three hundred roles in films made in Poland and the former East Germany and numerous television series. Niemczyk began his career in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s A Night of Remembrance (1954). During the Polish School period he became one of its most recognizable faces after appearing in some landmark films. He played the worldly journalist Andrzej in Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (1962), the Hungarian officer Istvan Kolya in Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958), and the confused surgeon on an overnight train heading for a Baltic resort in Kawalerowicz’s Night Train (1959). Niemczyk also had a memorable role in Czesław Petelski’s Damned Roads (1959) and appeared in Aleksander Ford’s The Teutonic Knights (1960). Beginning with the role of knight Fulko de Lorche in Ford’s film, Niemczyk was often cast as a foreigner (he spoke fluent German and English and served in General George S. Patton’s army during World War II) and, given his commanding presence on the screen, he played noblemen, kings, officers, medical doctors, and other figures of authority. He performed these supporting, often episodic, roles in numerous films, including films by Ewa and Czesław Petelski, Jerzy Antczak, Stanisław Lenartowicz, Wojciech J. Has, Henryk Kluba, Aleksander ŚciborRylski, Janusz Majewski, and Jerzy Passendorfer.

In the 1970s, Niemczyk began to appear frequently in East German films, including roles in popular Westerns/“Easterns,” such as

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Tecumseh (1973) and The Apaches (Apachen, 1973), both starring Gojko Mitic. At the beginning of the 1980s, he played strong supporting and main roles in several known Polish films. He was cast in Zbigniew Kuźmiński’s Crab and Joanna (1982), Jerzy Domaradzki’s The Big Run (1981/1987), Juliusz Machulski’s Va banque (1982), and Sylwester Chęciński’s The Big Rook (1983). Niemczyk also appeared in several films directed by Olaf Lubaszenko, beginning with The Sting (1997), and played the lead role in Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s Fort 13 (1984). In recent years he has appeared regularly in popular Polish television series, such as The Family Złotopolski (Złotopolscy, 1999–2006), and he played a supporting role in David Lynch’s Inland Empire (2006) and the starring role in Majewski’s After the Season (2006).

NIGHTS AND DAYS (NOCE I DNIE, 1975). Jerzy Antczak’s faithful adaptation of Maria Dąbrowska’s revered epic novel. This melodramatic account of love between emotional and ambitious Barbara (Jadwiga Barańska) and down-to-earth Bogumił (Jerzy Bińczycki) covers almost forty years, beginning in 1874. The film begins and ends with the outbreak of World War I, which destroys the tranquillity experienced in the past. The film deals with Barbara’s reminiscences of her life and the theme of long-lasting love against all odds. Like Dąbrowska’s family saga, Antczak’s film offers a nostalgic venture into the past and an evocation of life and models of behavior for the impoverished Polish gentry (szlachta). Nights and Days belongs to the group of Poland’s biggest box-office successes. According to figures from 2000, it is ranked fifth on the list of the most popular films ever shown on Polish screens with 22.4 million viewers. Nights and Days also received critical acclaim: Antczak’s film won the 1975 Festival of Polish Films, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1977 in the Best Foreign Language Film category, and Barańska and Bińczycki received several acting awards. Jerzy Antczak also produced an equally popular television series of Nights and Days (thirteen episodes), which premiered on Polish television after the theatrical release of the film.

NOBODY IS CALLING (NIKT NIE WOŁA, 1960). One of the most original films made during the Polish School period, directed by Kazimierz Kutz. A polemic along with Ashes and Diamonds, the

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film focuses on a Home Army (AK) fighter (Henryk Boukołowski) who is hunted by his former colleagues for an act of military disobedience—his refusal to carry out the death sentence on a Communist.

He hides after the war in a small town in Poland’s western territories.

Among other displaced people, wounded by war and with complex backgrounds, he meets a young woman (Zofia Marcinkowska) and falls in love with her. Kutz and his cinematographer, Jerzy Wójcik, strove to challenge the dominant aesthetics of Polish films. The episodic, slow-paced story of Nobody Is Calling is maintained by means of the ascetic, frequently static black-and-white images. The youth and the physical attraction of the two lovers clash with the gloomy atmosphere of the city. Images of dilapidated walls, empty streets and apartments, decaying window frames, and the devastated postwar landscape register the feelings of the two protagonists and function as their psychological landscape. The meticulous composition of frame, the scarcity and repetitiveness of dialogue that is supplemented by the protagonist’s voice-over narration, and Wojciech Kilar’s original music helped to create the new wave–like style of the film.

In the context of highly politicized Polish cinema, its formalist poetics, bordering on aesthetic provocation, caused consternation among film critics and the disapproval of the film authorities. The film had to wait several years to be recognized as a work of art.

NOWICKI, JAN (1939–). Popular film and theater actor, affiliated since 1965 with Kraków’s Old Theater (Teatr Stary), voted by the Film readers to be the best Polish film actor for 1983. Following his graduation from the Kraków State Acting School (PWST) in 1964, Nowicki appeared in Andrzej Wajda’s historical epic Ashes (1965) and starred in Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Barrier (1966). His reputation was growing at the beginning of the 1970s thanks to leading roles in Andrzej Kondratiuk’s The Hole in the Ground (1970) and Scorpio, Virgo, and Sagitarius (1973), Krzysztof Zanussi’s Family Life (1971), and Wojciech Has’s Hospital under the Hourglass (1973). His leading role in a Polish love story, Anatomy of Love (Anatomia miłości, 1972), directed by Roman Załuski, was popular among audiences.

In 1976 Nowicki started to appear in a number of Hungarian films, several of them directed by his wife, internationally known director Márta Mészáros. These include Nine Months (1976), Diary for My

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Children (1987), and The Unburied Man (2004), among others. In Poland, he excelled playing a terminally ill man in Zanussi’s Spiral (1978) and appeared in strong supporting roles in films directed

by Edward Żebrowski (In Broad Daylight, 1980), Piotr Szulkin (Golem, 1979), and Wojciech Marczewski (Nightmares, 1979). In the 1980s, Nowicki maintained his popularity in Poland with films such as Sylwester Chęciński’s crime drama The Big Rook (1983) and starring as Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Teuss in Filip Bajon’s historical epic The Magnate (1987). After 1989 Nowicki continued his work in Hungarian film and more often appeared in Polish entertainment films such as Jarosław Żamojda’s Young Wolves (Młode wilki, 1995) and Olaf Lubaszenko’s The Sting (1997).

NOWINA-PRZYBYLSKI, JAN (1902–1938). One of the leading film directors before 1939 who directed several classic films in Polish and Yiddish. Nowina-Przybylski’s first films were made during the early stages of sound cinema in Poland. His debut, The Boor (Cham, 1931), draws on the familiar clash between the corrupt city and the pastoral country by telling of a love story between a former city prostitute (Krystyna Ankwicz) and a good-natured fisherman (Mieczysław Cybulski). He followed the success of this film with the war melodrama Bloody East (Krwawy wschód, 1931), which used the 1920 Polish-Soviet war as a backdrop for a love triangle.

Made in 1933, The Vagabond (Przybłęda) introduced a Polish femme fatale, Ina Benita, as an attractive outsider in the Hutsul region (southeastern Poland). The film was praised for its stylized folklore, an outside view of the exotic culture, and the documentarylike scenes (Albert Wywerka’s photography). Nowina-Przybylski also directed successful musical comedies, such as Love Schemes (Manewry miłosne, 1935, with Konrad Tom), featuring Henryk Wars’s music (including several well-known prewar songs) and starring popular Polish actors Loda Halama, Tola Mankiewiczówna, and Aleksander Żabczyński. His suspense drama with strong religious overtones, Thou, Who Shines in the Gate (Ty, co w ostrej świecisz bramie, 1937), also was well received in Poland.

Nowina-Przybylski is also known for directing two Yiddish classics (producer Joseph Green is usually listed as the codirector): Yiddle with His Fiddle (Yidl mitn fidl, 1936) and The Purim Player (Der

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purymszpiler, 1937). The musical comedy Yiddle with His Fiddle, with the Jewish American actress Molly Picon and based on Konrad Tom’s script, is today chiefly remembered for its music, written by the American Abraham Ellstein. It tells the story of a girl (played by Picon) dressed as a boy fiddler and three other klezmorim (musicians) touring the Jewish quarters of small Polish towns.

Other films: Romeo and Juliette (Romeo i Julcia, 1933), Awakening (Przebudzenie, 1934), The Young Lady from the Post Office (Panienka z poste restante, 1935, codirected with Michał Waszyński), Little Sailor (Mały marynarz, 1936), Mr. Editor Is Going Crazy (Pan redaktor szaleje, 1937), A Song about a Great Sculptor (Pieśń o wielkim rzez´ biarzu, 1937).

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OLBRYCHSKI, DANIEL (1945–). One of the most important Polish actors known for a range of roles in more than one hundred historical, action, psychological, and comedic films made in Poland and abroad.

He debuted in 1964 in Janusz Nasfeter’s The Wounded in the Forest and gained popularity and star status after appearing in Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes (1965) and Everything for Sale (1969), in the latter as himself (Daniel), rejecting the identification with Zbigniew Cybulski. Olbrychski also starred in several other films in the late 1960s, such as Julian Dziedzina’s The Boxer (Bokser, 1966) and Janusz Morgenstern’s Jowita (1967). His lead roles established him as a charismatic generational actor, known for his screen characters that were sometimes hot tempered, emotional yet intellectual, athletic, and energetic. In the early 1970s, he became the most popular Polish actor, once again being identified with Wajda’s films. His roles in Birchwood (1970), Landscape after Battle (1970), The Wedding (1973), and The Promised Land (1975) were much different than his previous films, displayed the range of his talent, and earned him critical acclaim as well. He also appeared in films directed by Kazimierz Kutz (Salt of the Black Earth, 1970), Krzysztof Zanussi (Family Life, 1971), and many others. Olbrychski sealed his popularity with Jerzy Hoffman’s adaptations of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical trilogy. His role as

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a color sergeant, Andrzej Kmicic, in The Deluge (1974) was perhaps the pinnacle of his career. He played a character that changes from a fun-loving, irresponsible young man into a national hero.

Olbrychski’s widespread popularity perhaps caused him during the Cinema of Distrust period, with the exception of Kung-fu (1980) directed by Janusz Kijowski, to remain outside its main realistic trend. His most important films at that time include Wajda’s nostalgic evocation of the past, The Maids of Wilko (1979), and Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel, 1979, Germany). In the 1980s, Olbrychski acted in several films made outside of Poland directed by Claude Lelouch (Bolero, aka Within Memory, 1981), Lordan Zafranovic (The Fall of Italy, 1981), and Margarethe von Trotta (Rosa Luxemburg, 1986), among others. On Polish screens he appeared infrequently in films

by Piotr Szulkin, Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki, and Krzysztof Kieślowski (Dekalog 3, 1988). Also in the 1990s, Olbrychski acted frequently in films made in Hungary, Russia, France, and Italy, directed by Lelouch and Nikita Mikhalkov (The Barber of Siberia, 1998), among others. Polish viewers saw him in a popular directorial debut by actress Krystyna Janda, Pip (1995), and, earlier in 1993, in two satirical comedies: Filip Bajon’s It’s Better to Be Beautiful and Rich and Radosław Piwowarski’s The Sequence of Feelings.

In the latter, where he stars as a famous aging actor who comes to a provincial theater in Silesia, he plays with his own star persona; his performance, a near mockery of “Olbrychski,” came as a refreshing turn in his career. In recent years, Olbrychski regained popularity in Poland starring in several big-budget adaptations of the national literary canon that were very well received by local audiences. He appeared in Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz (1999) and Revenge (2002), Hoffman’s With Fire and Sword (1999) and The Old Tale (2004), and Bajon’s Early Spring (2001).

ORDYŃSKI, RYSZARD (1878–1953). Respected theater and film director. After graduating from the philosophy department at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Ordyński became a well-traveled theater reviewer. He also worked as Max Reinhardt’s assistant in Berlin and directed plays for Deutsches Theater. In 1915 Ordyński moved to America where he worked as a stage director at the

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Metropolitan Opera. During his American stay, he became interested in cinema and collaborated with major studios as screenwriter, director, and actor. After his return to Poland in 1920, he worked for the theater and, since 1927, for the cinema. Among the several films he directed is the patriotic picture The Grave of the Unknown Soldier (Mogiła nieznanego żołnierza, 1927) about “Józef Piłsudski’s road to Poland” and Pan Tadeusz (1928), adapted from Adam Mickiewicz’s national book-length poem, which became the focal point of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of Polish independence. In 1931 Ordyński directed another popular patriotic picture, The Ten from the Pawiak Prison (Dziesięciu z Pawiaka), which told of struggles with the Russian tsarist regime. At the beginning of the 1930s he also participated in the production of multilingual films by Paramount studios near Paris. However, his films, such as The Mystery of a Doctor (Tajemnica lekarza, 1930) and Voice from the Heart (Głos serca, 1931), had little resonance in Poland. After 1937 Ordyński lived in France and wrote theater reviews for Polish papers. During World War II, he worked in Hollywood as an actor (often not credited) and as technical supervisor on Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be (1942).

In 1947 he returned to Warsaw where he worked for theater.

Other films: A Bit of Luck (Uśmiech losu, 1927), The Woman Who Laughs (Kobieta, która się śmieje, 1931), Dangerous Paradise (Niebezpieczny raj, 1931), The World without Borders (Świat bez granic, 1931), The Palace on Wheels (Pałac na kółkach, 1932), An American Quarrel (Amerykańska awantura, 1936).

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PASIKOWSKI, WŁADYSŁAW (1959–). Director-scriptwriter known for his action films made in the 1990s incorporating American models but with a distinctly Polish flavor. Pasikowski’s first theatrical film, Kroll (1991), which also began his cooperation with the cinematographer Paweł Edelman, presented a dark picture of the formerly taboo topic of the military and depicted a harsh, violent world reserved for equally violent and tough men with clear misogynist attitudes. A similar portrayal can be found in his subsequent films, The Pigs (Psy, 1992)

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and its sequel, The Pigs 2: The Last Blood (Psy 2: Ostatnia krew, 1994).

The Pigs, one of the most influential Polish films of the 1990s, introduced Franciszek (Franz) Maurer (played memorably by Bogusław Linda), a lieutenant in the Communist secret police who tries to survive in an “age of verifications” after the return of democracy. The Pigs 2, commercially one of the most successful Polish films of the 1990s (the seventh most popular film in the 1990s with more than 684,000 viewers), reinforced images from the first part and provided references to the Balkan Wars. Later films by Pasikowski also resembled the style of American action films. This was evident in films such as The War Demons according to Goya (Demony wojny według Goyi, 1998) and Reich (2001), the latter of which offered almost a parody of Pasikowski’s style. In recent years he directed The Cop (Glina, 2003–2004), a popular television crime series starring Jerzy Radziwiłowicz.

Other films: Bitter-Sweet (Słodko-gorzki, 1996), Operation Samum (Operacja Samum, 1999).

PASSENDORFER, JERZY (1923–2003). After graduating from the film school in Prague (FAMU), Passendorfer worked as assistant director and later, since his 1957 debut, The Case of Captain Martens (Sprawa kapitana Martensa), as director of films set mostly during World War II. His Answer to Violence (Zamach, 1958) belongs among the better-known films of the Polish School period. The film deals with the assassination of the commander of the SS and police forces in occupied Warsaw, Franz Kutchera, by a Home Army (AK) unit.

Passendorfer’s noteworthy accomplishments include films starring Wojciech Siemion about simple Polish soldiers and their passage to Berlin alongside the Red Army: Bathed in Fire (Skąpani w ogniu, 1964), Direction Berlin (Kierunek Berlin, 1969), and its sequel, The Last Days (Ostatnie dni, 1969). Passendorfer also made films about the partisan struggle during World War II. These include Scenes of Battle (Barwy walki, 1965), based on the book written by the minister of interior Mieczysław Moczar, and Day of Exculpation (Dzień oczyszczenia, 1969). Passendorfer also dealt with the violent postwar situation in Poland in films such as The Last Bridge (Zerwany most, 1962) and Operation “Brutus” (Akcja “Brutus,” 1970). His ventures into other genres were not as successful, with the exception of the realistic Kill the Black Sheep (Zabijcie czarną owcę, 1972) and the

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popular historical adventure television series Janosik (1973, bigscreen version in 1974).

Other films: The Signals (Sygnały, 1959), Shadows of the Past (Powrót, 1960), Sunday of Justice (Niedziela sprawiedliwości, 1965), Big Beat (Mocne uderzenie, 1966), Victory (Zwycięstwo, 1974), Seagulls (Mewy, 1986).

PAZURA, CEZARY (1962–). One of the most popular and prolific actors in the 1990s who was voted the best Polish actor in 1993, 1997, and 2003 by the readers of weekly Film. A 1986 graduate of the acting department of the Łódź Film School, Pazura’s breakthrough came with his roles in the films directed by Władysław Pasikowski: Sergeant Wiaderny in Kroll (1991) and young policeman Nowy in The Pigs (1992) and The Pigs 2 (1994), all films starring Bogusław Linda. At the beginning of the 1990s, Pazura was often typecast as a simple-minded policeman, security (UB) officer, and street-wise character. He appeared as the businessman-crook in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors: White (1994). Andrzej Wajda cast him well in the role of the ruthless secret police (UB) lieutenant Kosior in The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (1992) and as a primitive blackmailer in Holy Week (1996). Pazura strengthened his popularity starring in Juliusz Machulski’s box-office successes—the gangster comedy Kiler (1997) and its sequel, Kiler 2 (1999)—and in Marek Koterski’s bitter comedies Nothing Funny (1996) and I Love You (1999). He also appeared in Janusz Zaorski’s Happy New York (1997), playing an unhappy Polish migrant in New York. Pazura maintained popularity in recent years appearing in leading roles in films that were commonly ridiculed by Polish critics, but liked by audiences, as in the case of Olaf Lubaszenko’s films. He also played a lead role in Jacek Bromski’s popular comedy The Career of Nikoś Dyzma (2002).

PEARL IN THE CROWN, THE (1972). The second part of Kazimierz Kutz’s celebrated Silesian trilogy, made after Salt of the Black Earth (1970). The Pearl in the Crown, also scripted by Kutz, concerns the coal miners’ strike in the 1930s. The first sequences portray the harsh reality of the economic crisis, the closure of the mines, and the small coal pits run by unemployed miners. The miners try to prevent the closure of their mine, Zygmunt, by occupying

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it. When negotiations fail, they continue with a hunger strike. The film’s protagonist (Olgierd Łukaszewicz) remains with the strikers out of solidarity, although he would rather have stayed at home with his wife (Łucja Kowolik) and their two small sons. The strikers and their leader (Franciszek Pieczka) are supported by the Silesians on the ground and organized by Erwin (Jan Englert), the former insurgent in Salt of the Black Earth, now unemployed.

The Pearl in the Crown provides discourses on class solidarity, family ties, tradition, love of the family, and love of the land. The film also serves as a powerful love story; the intensity of its lyricism and eroticism is probably unparalleled in Polish cinema. As in Salt of the Black Earth, Kutz portrays Silesia, a region traditionally seen as colorless and almost inhuman, in a poetic folk-ballad manner.

Likewise, he glorifies the traditions and celebrates the patriarchal order with highly stylized images, symbolism, and mythologization of everyday rituals. He introduces authentic people playing themselves, speaking their own dialect, and celebrating their own customs. With the help of his cinematographer Stanisław Loth, Kutz also relies on contrast, this time between the harsh reality inside the mine (blackness, hunger strike) and the colorful reality on the ground (the picturesque crowd waiting for the strikers). The film received several international awards and the main prize at the Łagów Film Festival.

PERSPEKTYWA FILM STUDIO (STUDIO FILMOWE PERSPEKTYWA). Founded in 1978, Perspektywa belongs to a group of the most prominent Polish film studios. Managed from its origins by Janusz Morgenstern, one of the leading representatives of the Polish School generation, the studio has produced numerous films of different genres, among them works by Andrzej Wajda, Piotr Szulkin, Janusz Zaorski, Witold Leszczyński, Janusz Majewski, and Feliks Falk. The list of Perspektywa’s productions include several classic Polish films, such as Teddy Bear (1981, Stanisław Bareja), Konopielka (1982, Leszczyński), and Korczak (1990, Wajda). The studio has also been very successful in recent years producing, among others, films by Olaf Lubaszenko and several television films in the popular and critically acclaimed sequence Polish Holidays (Święta polskie). In 2005 the studio also produced the winner of the Festival of Polish Films, The Debt Collector, directed by Feliks Falk.

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PETELSKI, CZESŁAW (1922–1996) AND EWA PETELSKI (POLESKA, 1920–). A married couple working together as scriptwriters and directors on the majority of their films. In 1959 Czesław Petelski directed Damned Roads (aka The Depot of the Dead, Baza ludzi umarłych, 1959), one of the canonical films of the Polish School and part of its Black Realism trend. Set after the war in the Bieszczady Mountains (in southeastern Poland), the film offers a dark portrayal of brutal, rootless men working as logging-truck drivers. Together, the Petelskis directed a war film set during the Warsaw Uprising, A Sky of Stone (Kamienne niebo, 1959), which deals with the fate of a group of Warsaw dwellers buried in the cellar of a collapsed building. Their next film, The Artillery Sergeant Kaleń (Ogniomistrz Kaleń, 1961), describes the bloody postwar conflict involving Ukrainian nationalists, remnants of the Polish underground fighting the Communist government, and regular Polish troops. The film’s protagonist, Kaleń (Wiesław Gołas), is portrayed almost as a folk hero of this “cruel ballad.” Toward the end of the Polish School, the Petelskis also directed an undervalued Holocaust drama, The Beater (aka Manhunter, Naganiacz, 1964).

World War II features prominently in the Petelskis’ later films such as The Rowan Tree (Jarzębina czerwona, 1970). Like Jerzy Passendorfer’s war films, The Rowan Tree stresses the everyday aspect of war and the ordinary heroism of regular soldiers. The Petelskis never repeated the success of their first films, although they produced big-budget historical films such as Copernicus (Kopernik, 1973), partisan films such as Bołdyn (1981), and a lavish love story set against 1950s politics, The Stone Tablets (Kamienne tablice, 1983). Czesław Petelski also headed the film unit Iluzjon from 1963 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1987.

Select other films: Three Stories (Trzy opowieści, 1953, with Konrad Nałęcki), The Wrecks (Wraki, 1957), Black Wings (Czarne skrzydła, 1963), The Wooden Rosary (Drewniany róz˙ aniec, 1965), Don Gabriel (1966), Casimir the Great (Kazimierz wielki, 1976), Return Ticket (Bilet powrotny, 1978), The Birthday (Urodziny młodego Warszawiaka, 1980), Who Is This Man? (Kim jest ten człowiek, 1984), Bitter Love (Gorzka miłość, 1989, Czesław Petelski).

PIANIST, THE (PIANISTA, 2002). Roman Polański’s celebrated Holocaust drama based on the memoirs written by Jewish Polish

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composer and pianist Władysław Szpilman (1911–2000) and published for the first time in 1946. This Polish, French, and British coproduction (in English) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it won the Golden Palm. Among numerous awards that The Pianist later received are three Academy Awards for Best Director (Polański), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), and Best Actor (Adrien Brody). In addition, the film won eight Polish Film Awards “Eagles,” including best film, director, cinematographer (Paweł Edelman), set designer (Allan Starski), music (Wojciech Kilar), costume designer (Anna Sheppard), and editor (Jean-Marie Blondel). The film also won three BAFTA awards, seven French César Awards, and cinematographer Edelman won the European Film Award for Best Cinematography.

The Pianist opens with brief scenes introducing the twenty-eightyear-old Szpilman playing Chopin in the final broadcast of Polish Radio in September 1939. The film narrates the linear story of Szpilman’s survival in the Warsaw Ghetto, separation from his family at the Umschlagplatz, escape from the ghetto, hiding on the Aryan side, and his ordeal after the Warsaw Uprising in the city that was destroyed and desolated. The Pianist ends with postwar scenes portraying Szpilman resuming his work for Polish Radio and trying to learn about the fate of a German officer, one of many people who helped him to survive. In the film, Szpilman is not portrayed as a heroic figure; he is almost detached, overwhelmed by the reality that surrounds him. The Pianist, Polański’s second film made in Poland since his 1962 debut, Knife in the Water, also marks his first cinematic return to his own wartime childhood experiences in occupied Poland.

Szpilman’s story also provided an inspiration for Jerzy Zarzycki’s postwar project titled The Warsaw Robinson (Robinson Warszawski), which focused on the last stages of his (Rafalski’s in the film) survival. Mutilated by censors, Zarzycki’s film appeared in 1950 as Unvanquished City (Miasto nieujarzmione), obeying the rules of socialist realist cinema.

PIECZKA, FRANCISZEK (1928–). One of the best Polish actors, known for a variety of roles in several classic Polish films. Pieczka, whose career spans more than fifty years, appeared in approximately 130 Polish films and twenty-four television plays. After graduating

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from acting school in Warsaw (PWST) in 1954, Pieczka appeared in episodic roles in several Polish films beginning with Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955, not credited) and playing regular soldiers and plebeian characters in films such as Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Mother Joan of the Angels (1961) and Wojciech Has’s The Saragossa Manuscript (1965). In the second part of the 1960s, Pieczka became one of the bestknown Polish actors thanks to his role as Gustlik in the enormously popular television war series Four Tankmen and a Dog (1966–1967), directed by Konrad Nałęcki. He also received critical acclaim for his role in Henryk Kluba’s stylized film The Sun Rises Once a Day (1967). In Witold Leszczyński’s celebrated classic, The Life of Matthew (1968), he starred as an oversensitive protagonist who develops an unusual closeness to nature. Pieczka played strong supporting roles in several canonical Polish films of the 1970s, such as Kazimierz Kutz’s The Pearl in the Crown (1972), Wajda’s The Wedding (1973) and The Promised Land (1975), and Jerzy Hoffman’s The Deluge (1974). In 1976 Pieczka also played the lead role as a well-meaning manager of a huge industrial plant in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Scar (Blizna, 1976), for which he received the Best Actor award at the Festival of Polish Films.

Arguably Pieczka’s best performance in the 1980s was his role as a Jewish innkeeper in Kawalerowicz’s Austeria (1983). Also in the 1980s, he appeared in strong supporting roles in films directed by, among others, Leszczyński (Konopielka, 1981, and Axiliad, 1985) and Janusz Zaorski (The Mother of Kings, 1982/1987). Pieczka also belongs to the small group of Jan Jakub Kolski’s favorite actors; Pieczka appeared in the majority of Kolski’s films in supporting and leading roles. For example, he played the lead character in The Burial of a Potato (1991) and Johnnie the Aquarius (1993)—for the latter he received the Best Actor award at the Festival of Polish Films. In recent years, Pieczka has continued his collaboration with Kolski, appeared in Kawalerowicz’s epic adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis (2001), and starred in Leszczyński’s Requiem (2001), which was made in the spirit of The Life of Matthew.

PIESIEWICZ, KRZYSZTOF (1945–). Lawyer, politician, and scriptwriter whose name is closely linked with Krzysztof Kieślowski. As a respected defense lawyer known for his involvement in several high-

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profile political cases since 1982, Piesiewicz offered his firsthand knowledge about the mechanisms and abuses of law in post-1981 Poland for Kieślowski’s No End (1985). Later, he also coscripted Kieślowski’s other films: Decalogue (1988), A Short Film about Killing (1988), A Short Film about Love (1988), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), and the Three Colors Trilogy (1993–1994).

Before his death, Kieślowski was embarking on a new trilogy of films with Piesiewicz. They wrote the first part, Heaven (2002, Tom Tykwer), together; the next two parts, L’Enfer (2006, Danis Tanovic) and Hope (in production) were written by Piesiewicz after the director’s death.

Piesiewicz also collaborated with director Michał Rosa, which resulted in the production of Silence (Cisza, 2001), a film well received by the judges at the 2001 Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia.

PIGS, THE (PSY, 1992). One of the most important Polish films of the 1990s, which became a cult film for many young viewers in Poland.

Scriptwriter-director Władysław Pasikowski portrays Poland in a process of transition from one political system to another, in which all principles are shaken and everything is possible. The Polish reality of 1989–1990 in The Pigs is marked by verifications of the former members of the secret police (SB), by burned secret police files, and by open corruption. The film depicts a world in which colleagues from the former Soviet KGB, East German STASI, and Polish SB join forces to fight for control of the illegal, but lucrative, drug market. The film’s protagonist, Lieutenant Franciszek (Franz) Maurer (Bogusław Linda), fights for survival when his world collapses. Pasikowski draws heavily on the formula of American police/ gangster films. The viewer encounters “American” locations (luxurious interiors, rainy streets, underground parking lots, a deserted factory), excessive violence shown in extreme slow motion, vulgar language, and tough talk in the world of rough men played by some of the most popular Polish actors, including Marek Kondrat, Janusz Gajos, and Cezary Pazura. The film also shows a degraded world with clichéd female characters and celebrates Polish-style machismo.

The stylish cinematography by Paweł Edelman and Michał Lorenc’s music, which evokes Spaghetti Westerns and gangster classics, contribute a sense of melancholy to this male melodrama. It was voted best Polish film of 1992 by Film readers, and it received several

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awards at the Festival of Polish Films, including Best Director for Pasikowski, Best Actor for Linda, Best Supporting Actress for Agnieszka Jaskółka, Best Score for Lorenc, and Best Editing for Wanda Zeman and Zbigniew Niciński.

PIWOWARSKI, RADOSŁAW (1948–). Director and scriptwriter of all his films, known for several popular films and television productions. Piwowarski’s characteristic cinematic style had already emerged at the beginning of his career in two very successful television films: Blind Man’s Bluff (Ciuciubabka, 1977) and A Daughter or a Son (Córka albo syn, 1979). These introduced characters who were down-to-earth, likeable, and sometimes mildly grotesque and told stories that were lyrical, nostalgic, and bordering on the sentimental.

Piwowarski often dealt with coming-of-age problems and told stories set in small provincial towns against the backdrop of politics. After directing one of the most unusual Polish television series, John Heart (Jan Serce, 1982), about a sensitive Warsaw sewer maintenance worker (Kazimierz Kaczor), Piwowarski released his first theatrical film, Yesterday (1985), about the Beatles phenomenon in Poland.

Equally popular became Train to Hollywood (Pociąg do Hollywood, 1987), about a small-town female bartender’s (Katarzyna Figura) dream of becoming Marilyn Monroe. His next film, March Almonds (Marcowe migdały, 1990), referred to a turbulent year in Polish politics (1968) and told a coming-of-age story about Piwowarski’s own generation. His most successful film, The Sequence of Feelings (Kolejność uczuć, 1993), with Daniel Olbrychski as a famous aging actor in love with a teenager, was reminiscent of American screwball comedies of the 1940s and 1950s. It won the Festival of Polish Films and was also voted the best Polish film by readers of the weekly Film.

Piwowarski’s later theatrical films did not receive critical recognition and failed at the box office. He devoted himself to television productions, working as a director on several well-liked television series (scripted by others), such as The Family Złotopolski (Złotopolscy, 1997–2006) and For Better or Worse (Na dobre i na złe, 2005–2006).

His recent television film The Queen of Clouds (Królona chmur, 2003) reminded viewers about his talent and original style.

Select other films: My Mother’s Lovers (Kochankowie mojej mamy, 1986), Self-portrait with a Lover (Autoportret z kochanką,

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1996), The Dark Side of Venus (Ciemna strona Wenus, 1988), Small Station (Stacyjka, TV series, 2004).

PIWOWSKI, MAREK (1935–). Director, scriptwriter, and actor, known for his celebrated comedy The Cruise (Rejs, 1970). During his stay at the Łódź Film School, and after graduating in 1968, Piwowski produced a series of well-received short films such as Fire! Fire! Finally Something Is Going On (Poz˙ ar! Poz˙ ar! Coś nareszcie dzieje się, 1967), Fly-Swat (aka The Fly Catcher, Muchotłuk, 1967), and Psychodrama (1969). They were followed by equally popular shorts CorkScrew (Korkociąg, 1971) and Hair (1971). The Cruise, coscripted by Piwowski and Janusz Głowacki, instantly gained a cult film status in Poland. Piwowski’s next film, Foul Play (Przepraszam, czy tu biją?

1976), was a crime picture starring two boxing champions (Jerzy Kulej and Jan Szczepański) as two unconventional police inspectors who are not afraid to employ brutal, yet apparently successful, methods in their investigative work. In 1993 Piwowski directed The Kidnapping of Agata (Uprowadzenie Agaty), a film about a politician who abuses his power to get rid of his daughter’s lover, followed by two medium-length television films: Step (Krok, 1997) and Oscar (Oskar, 2005). Piwowski also appeared as an actor in several films, mostly episodically, with the exception of Krzysztof Zanussi’s Balance Sheet (Bilans kwartalny, 1975), in which he plays a strong supporting role.

POLAŃSKI, ROMAN (1933–). Internationally acclaimed film and theater director, screenwriter, actor, and film producer. Polański was born in Paris to a family of Polonized Jews who returned to Poland two years before World War II. He survived the war by escaping from the Kraków Ghetto and hiding in the Polish countryside (his mother died in a concentration camp). After the war, he studied at the Łódź Film School, graduating in 1957. His career started with a series of very well-received short films, including Two Men and a Wardrobe (Dwaj ludzie z szafą, 1958), When Angels Fall (Gdy spadają anioły, 1959), and Mammals (Ssaki, 1962). He was also acting in films, including Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955) and Innocent Sorcerers (1960) and Janusz Morgenstern’s See You Tomorrow (1960).

In 1962 Polański directed his first feature-length film, Knife in the

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Water (Nóz˙ w wodzie), for which he received the first Polish nomination for an Academy Award in 1963. Following the criticism of his film by the Communist authorities, he left Poland.

Polański’s films made outside of Poland include works made in England, France, and the United States. For Repulsion (1965), starring Catherine Deneuve, he won the Special Award and the FIPRESCI award at the Berlin Film Festival. He won that festival the next year with a grotesque drama that he directed in England, Cul-de-sac. His first American film, an adaptation of Ira Levin’s bestselling horror novel Rosemary’s Baby (1968), starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, brought him respect and popularity. In 1969, following the murder of his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, he left the United States. In 1974 he returned to America to direct another classic Hollywood film, Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson. After his conviction for statutory rape, he fled to France, where he directed a series of films, most of them with American involvement, for example The Tenant (Le locataire, 1976), Tess (1979), Frantic (1988), and The Ninth Gate (2000).

Polański’s artistic output, because of its diversity, manipulation of generic rules, and cosmopolitan nature, is not easily defined. His films break conventional formulas, are characterized by the strong presence of an authorial self, exhibit Polański’s personal thematic obsessions, including prevailing images of the violent and the grotesque, and masterfully manipulate the viewer’s emotions. In 2002 Polański returned to Poland to make The Pianist (Pianista), for which he won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Director.

Polański’s acting career, although often overshadowed by his directorial accomplishments, also deserves attention. He often acted in his own films, including performances in his first shorts Two Men and a Wardrobe and The Fat and the Lean (1961) and major roles in The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and The Tenant. He also acted in several films made by others, as in A Pure Formality (Una pura formalita, 1994, Giuseppe Tornatore), Dead Tired (Grosse fatigue, 1994, Michel Blanc), and Revenge (2002, Wajda). Several of Polański’s films received international acclaim, and the director was also honored with a number of awards at major film festivals, including lifetime achievement awards. Since 1991 Polański has been a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts. He also received

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several Polish honors, including an honorary doctorate from the Łódź Film School in 2000 and the Polish Film Award “Eagle” for Lifetime Achievement in 2003.

Other Films: Macbeth (1971), What? (1972), Pirates (1986), Bitter Moon (1992), Death and the Maiden (1994), Oliver Twist (2005). See also HOLOCAUST—REPRESENTATION. POLISH FEDERATION OF FILM CLUBS (POLSKA FEDERACJA DYSKUSYJNYCH KLUBÓW FILMOWYCH, PFDKF). The noteworthy film organization established in 1956.

With its heyday in the 1960s and the 1970s, PFDKF became vital in promoting art cinema through film retrospectives and seminars.

In addition, since 1973 PFDKF has been granting the prestigious Don Kichot Prize to the best Polish narrative or documentary film.

The list of awarded films includes The Pearl in the Crown (1973, Kazimierz Kutz), Through and Through (1974, Grzegorz Królikiewicz), Let Us Love (1975, Krzysztof Wojciechowski), Personnel (1976, Krzysztof Kieślowski), Man of Marble (1977, Andrzej Wajda), Top Dog (1978, Feliks Falk), The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979, Edward Żebrowski), Aria for an Athlete (1980, Filip Bajon), The Pilgrim (1981, Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki), Shivers (1982/1983, Wojciech Marczewski), Custody (1984, Wiesław Saniewski), No End (1985, Kieślowski), no award in 1986, The Mother of Kings (1987, Janusz Zaorski), The Unvanquished (1988, Marek Drążewski), Interrogation (1989, Ryszard Bugajski), Lava: The Story of Forefathers (1990, Tadeusz Konwicki), Developmentally Challenged (1991, Jacek Bławut), Birthplace (1992, Paweł Łoziński), Pograbek (1993, Jan Jakub Kolski), Crows (1994, Dorota Kędzierzawska), The Spinning Wheel of Time (1995, Andrzej Kondratiuk), Street Boys (1996, Bajon), Family Events (1997, Leszek Wosiewicz), no awards in 1998, 1999, and 2000, Debt (2001, Krzysztof Krauze), no awards in 2002, 2003, and 2004, The Day of the Wacko (2005, Marek Koterski).

Since the 1960s, PFDKF has been also publishing an important film periodical, Film na świecie (Film Abroad), initially under the title Kultura filmowa (Film Culture). Originally published as a monthly, since 1990 it has become an irregular journal (usually 1–3 issues per year). Andrzej Wajda is the honorary president of PFDKF.

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POLISH FILM AWARDS “EAGLES” (POLSKIE NAGRODY FILMOWE “ORŁY”). Annual film awards granted since 1999 by the members of the Polish Film Academy (Polska Akademia Filmowa). Similar to the American Academy Awards, Polish films are awarded in fifteen categories. The winners in the Best Film category have been so far: The History of Cinema Theater in Popielawy (Jan Jakub Kolski, 1999), Debt (Krzysztof Krauze, 2000), Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (Krzysztof Zanussi, 2001), Hi, Tereska (Robert Gliński, 2002), The Pianist (Roman Polański, 2003), Squint your Eyes (Zmruz˙ oczy, Andrzej Jakimowski, 2004), and The Wedding (Wesele, Wojciech Smarzowski, 2005). Every year the Polish Film Academy members also select the Best European Film shown on Polish screens and present the Lifetime Achievement award. The list of the Lifetime Achievement recipients includes Tadeusz Konwicki, Stanisław Różewicz, Andrzej Wajda, Wojciech J. Has, Roman Polański, Kazimierz Kutz, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Jerzy Hoffman, and Witold Sobociński.

POLISH FILM FESTIVAL. See FESTIVAL OF POLISH FILMS. POLISH FILM INSTITUTE (POLSKI INSTYTUT SZTUKI FILMOWEJ, PISF). The Polish Film Institute was founded in August of 2005 within the Ministry of Culture and replaced the State Cinema Committee (Komitet Kinematografii) established in 1987 and the Script, Production, and Distribution Agencies created in 1991.

The main goal of the institute, headed by Agnieszka Odorowicz, is to create conditions for the development of local film production and to promote Polish cinema in Poland and abroad. The institute’s mission is to support local cinema at all stages of film production by subsidizing the development of film projects and assisting during the processes of production, promotion, and distribution of films. As specified in the 2005 Act on Cinematography, the institute’s task is to support young filmmakers and art cinema, to increase the presence of Polish films at international film festivals, and to support the present film institutions, such as the National Film Archive.

POLISH FILMMAKERS ASSOCIATION (STOWARZYSZENIE FILMOWCÓW POLSKICH, SFP). With approximately twelve

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hundred members, the Polish Filmmakers Association is the main organization representing Polish film professionals. The association was founded in 1966 and headed until 1978 by its cofounder Jerzy Kawalerowicz. Andrzej Wajda, who replaced Kawalerowicz, resigned in December 1983 when the association was suspended for two years after the introduction of martial law. Janusz Majewski then led the association from 1983 to 1990. The association, since 1990 headed by Jacek Bromski, is also one of the main organizers of the annual Festival of Polish Films and participates in several other film events, including film retrospectives and seminars.

POLISH NEWSREEL (POLSKA KRONIKA FILMOWA, PKF). PKF was a documentary newsreel, approximately ten minutes long, usually shown before a main feature in Polish cinema theaters from 1944 to 1995. This “filmic newspaper,” which followed the documentary tradition of early actualities, focused on local and foreign events and often attempted to comment on political, social, and cultural phenomena. PKF had continued the tradition of the prewar Polish Telegraphic Agency (Polska Agencja Telegraficzna, PAT) established in 1918, which had the exclusive rights to film inside state buildings since 1927. The first edition of PKF appeared on 1 December 1944, produced by Czołówka; its first irregular editions from 1944 to 1949 were supervised by Jerzy Bossak. Since 1949 PKF was produced by the Documentary Film Studio. It had regular weekly editions in the first half of the 1950s and two weekly editions from 1958 to 1981. The newsreel, with the musical signal composed by Władysław Szpilman (see THE PIANIST), was appreciated by Polish audiences; many of its editions also received numerous international recognitions. Several famous documentary filmmakers were involved in its production. For example, the celebrated documentary film The Flood (Powódz´ , 1947), produced by Jerzy Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak, was first shown as a special edition of Polish Newsreel.

POLISH SCHOOL. The eruption of artistic energy and the emergence of the new wave of filmmakers in Poland after 1956 is usually described as the Polish School phenomenon. The term “Polish School” was coined as early as 1954 by the film critic and scholar Aleksander Jackiewicz, who expressed his desire to see a Polish

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school of filmmaking worthy of the great tradition of Polish art.

The disappointment with the Stalinist period, the urge to represent reality’s complex nature, and the desire to confront issues that had been taboo in Polish political and cultural life created a stimulating atmosphere for a new generation of filmmakers, known as the “generation of Columbuses” (Kolumbowie). The political changes introduced after the Polish October of 1956 enabled young filmmakers to move away from socialist realist cinema and, to a large extent, to build their films around their own experiences. For inspiration they turned to works written after 1946 by their contemporaries—Jerzy Andrzejewski, Kazimierz Brandys, Bohdan Czeszko, Józef Hen, Marek Hłasko, and Jerzy Stefan Stawiński.

The artistic formation known as the Polish School was open, multifaceted, and created by many authors (including directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, actors, composers, and set designers). Film historians often distinguish between the “romantic” tendency represented at its best in Andrzej Wajda’s films Kanal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), and Lotna (1959); the “rationalistic” tendency embodied in Andrzej Munk’s films Eroica (1958) and Bad Luck (1960); the “psychological-existential” trend present in the films of Wojciech J. Has, Stanisław Lenartowicz, and Jerzy Kawalerowicz; and the “plebeian” cinema of Kazimierz Kutz. However, unlike the tedious era of Stalinist cinema, the Polish School period is characterized by differing themes, incompatible poetics, edginess in terms of style and ideology, as well as sheer entertainment value. The multiplicity of aesthetic tendencies, the various authorial expressions, and the open character of the school make defining or summarizing it an arduous task. One has to take into account films set during or immediately after the war, which debate the Polish romantic mythology, and works that belong to different realms: historical epics such as The Teutonic Knights (1960, Aleksander Ford), comedy such as Ewa Wants to Sleep (1958, Tadeusz Chmielewski), war drama such as Free City (1958, Stanisław Różewicz), psychological drama such as The True End of the Great War (1957, Jerzy Kawalerowicz), metaphysical drama such as Mother Joan of the Angels (1961, Kawalerowicz), Holocaust drama such as White Bear (Biały niedźwiedź, 1959, Jerzy Zarzycki), “new wave experiments” such as The Last Day of Sum-

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mer (1958, Tadeusz Konwicki), “Easterns” such as Rancho Texas (1959, Wadim Berestowski), and others.

Starting in the mid-1950s, a split developed between young, emerging filmmakers trained at the Łódź Film School, who believed in a genuine depiction of vital national themes, and older filmmakers, including Aleksander Ford and Wanda Jakubowska, who opted for cinema imitating the Soviet epic models. The young filmmakers clearly favored the Italian neorealist approach, which offered them a chance to break with their predecessors and reflect the spirit of the de-Stalinization period. Neorealist influences are already discernible in some of the films made in 1954, including Kawalerowicz’s A Night of Remembrance and Under the Phrygian Star, and in a group of films known in Poland as Black Realism.

Realistic depictions of the post-Stalinist period did not constitute the main trend during the Polish School period. The primary concern remained history, World War II in particular. Wajda’s A Generation (Pokolenie, 1955), which tells a coming-of-age story set during the war, heralded the Polish School and introduced new actors who were to become familiar faces of the Polish School cinema: Tadeusz Janczar, Zbigniew Cybulski, Tadeusz Łomnicki, and Roman Polański. Wajda, a proponent of the Polish romantic tradition, dealt with national history in his most important works made during the Polish School period. For example, his breakthrough film, Kanal, concerns the final stage of the Warsaw Uprising and narrates the story of a Home Army (AK) unit that manages to escape German troops via the the city sewers. The Warsaw Uprising is also the central focus of the first part of Munk’s Eroica: Scherzo alla polacca, released eight months after Kanal.

The discourse on recent Polish history permeates a number of other films made during the Polish School period. Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds and Kutz’s Nobody Is Calling deal with the fate of the Home Army soldiers at a time when World War II was practically over but fighting continued between the Soviet-imposed Communists and the nationalist Home Army, the two warring factions in Poland.

Both films explore similar themes yet present them in a disparate manner. Ashes and Diamonds is generally regarded as the climax of the Polish School. The film introduces another tragic romantic hero, Maciek (Cybulski), torn between duty to the national cause and the

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yearning for a normal life, a prisoner of a fate that he is powerless to escape. Unlike Wajda, Kutz portrays surviving heroes who give up their romantic gestures in films such as Nobody Is Calling. Although sometimes classified with Munk as representative of the demythologizing trend in Polish cinema, Kutz focuses not on the national mythology but on the everyday and the plebeian.

The themes of the war and the occupation reoccur in a number of films, not necessarily works entangled in the national debate about the Polish romantic legacy. Frequently, these are reconstructions of wellknown military actions such as Lenartowicz’s Pills for Aurelia (1958) and Jerzy Passendorfer’s Answer to Violence (1958). The war also features prominently in the films directed by Witold Lesiewicz— The Deserter (1958), First Year (1960), and April (1961). Common character-soldiers appear in The Artillery Sergeant Kaleń (1961), directed by Ewa and Czesław Petelski, which describes the bloody postwar conflict involving Ukrainian nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), remnants of the Polish underground fighting the Communist government, and regular Polish troops. A small group of works is also set at the outbreak of World War II, such as Leonard Buczkowski’s The Submarine Eagle (1959), a film about the escape of an interned submarine; Różewicz’s Free City, a story of the heroism of the Polish postal workers on the first day of war in Gdańsk (Danzig); and Wajda’s Lotna, which stirred a heated national debate in Poland about the representation of the military effort in 1939. The war also serves as a point of departure for films focusing on the psychology of their characters. This is especially evident in some of the films of Różewicz (Three Women, 1957), Kawalerowicz (The True End of the Great War, 1957), and Konwicki (The Last Day of Summer, 1958, and All Souls’ Day, 1961).

To limit the Polish School to films dealing with World War II and realistic works portraying Poland during the de-Stalinization period is to neglect the most important aspect of the post-October cinema in Poland—its diversity. This period introduced animators who achieved international success in the world of animated films: Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica, among others. Children’s films that also targeted adult audiences—such as Janusz Nasfeter’s Small Dramas (1958) and Colored Stockings (1960)—received awards at international festivals. Also, the first films about the young generation

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that did not refer directly to politics or social problems were made, such as Wajda’s Innocent Sorcerers (1960). The year 1960 marked the production of the first postwar historical epic, an adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s The Teutonic Knights by Ford. Another film, the absurdist Ewa Wants to Sleep by Chmielewski, belonged to the group of the most successful Polish postwar comedies.

During the Polish School period, Kawalerowicz also produced two stylistically refined films: Night Train (aka Baltic Express, 1959) and, two years later, Mother Joan of the Angels. These two internationally known films received numerous awards, including a Silver Palm at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival for Mother Joan of the Angels. The first feature-length film by Polański, Knife in the Water (1962), offended political leaders and the film authorities because of its “cosmopolitan” and apolitical nature. The film’s success in the West (including the first Polish nomination for an Academy Award in 1963) was treated with suspicion in Poland and only increased the hostility toward its maker.

The Polish School began to lose its impetus at the beginning of the 1960s. Although political developments once again defined the Polish cinema, there were also nonpolitical contributions to this decline. In September 1961, Munk died tragically while making The Passenger. Polański migrated to France after making Knife in the Water, his only full-length film made in Poland. During the early 1960s, a group of young filmmakers emerged for whom the point of reference was no longer local history or other concerns associated with the Polish School. For example, the first films by Jerzy Skolimowski were similar to current international cinema and influenced

by Skolimowski’s own personal experiences. Several films made in the mid-1960s, however, returned to Polish history and the moral dilemmas of World War II. These films, including Konwicki’s Somersault (1965), debunked the Polish war mythology and focused on the impossibility of freeing oneself from the shadow of the war, as in Has’s Cyphers (1966) and Stanisław Jędryka’s Return to Earth (1967). The main preoccupations of the Polish School also returned in some of the films made in the 1970s, for instance, in the film Hubal (1973) by Bohdan Poręba. The real end of the Polish School, and the farewell to its poetics, was probably marked by Wajda’s The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (1992), a film that examined issues first explored in Ashes and Diamonds.

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PREISNER, ZBIGNIEW (1955–). Film composer who gained international attention and popularity for his haunting musical scores in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s later films beginning with No End (1985).

Preisner is particularly known for The Double Life of Veronique (1991) and the Three Colors Trilogy (1993–1994). Since 1977 he has become associated with the famous Kraków cabaret Piwnica pod Baranami (Cellar under the Rams). His film debut came in 1983 with Antoni Krauze’s Weather Forecast. Apart from providing music for Kieślowski, Preisner composed for Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europa, 1990, Olivier, Olivier, 1991, The Secret Garden, 1993), Louis Malle (Damage, 1992), Jean Becker (Elisa, 1995), Hans Peter Moland (Aberdeen, 2000), and Wojciech Marczewski (Weiser, 2000).

PROMISED LAND, THE (ZIEMIA OBIECANA, 1975). Andrzej Wajda’s classic film set in the fast-growing nineteenth-century industrial city of Łódź, an adaptation of Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s acclaimed epic novel. The film introduces three main characters: a Pole, Karol Borowiecki (Daniel Olbrychski); a Jew, Moryc Welt (Wojciech Pszoniak); and a German, Max Baum (Andrzej Seweryn), all of whom attempt to build a textile factory.

The film tells how the three young entrepreneurs try to establish themselves in Łódź, yet it is essentially the story of the city. Łódź, the land of promise for many, means destruction for others in this film. Wajda paints an almost Marxist image of the city—Moloch devouring its children. He follows Reymont’s portrayal of the end of the romantic era in the Polish territories, the loss of traditional values, and the triumphant march of uncouth and dynamic capitalism. Like Reymont, Wajda portrays Łódź as having energy, potential, wealth, and national and class diversity. He also deals with the plight of the remnants of the pauperized nobility, who were forced to move from their country manors—the bastions of traditionally understood Polishness—to newly developed industrial cities. The Promised Land was well received by critics and audiences alike. It received an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category and won the Festival of Polish Films and film festivals in Moscow, Valladolid, and Chicago. In 1996 The Promised Land was chosen as the best film in the history of Polish cinema in a popular plebiscite of the Polish monthly Film.

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PRÓSZYŃSKI, KAZIMIERZ (1875–1945). Polish scientist and inventor who created his own camera, the Pleograf, in 1896. In 1902 he employed the perfected Pleograf to produce the first Polish narrative film, a simple single-shot feature called The Return of a Merry Fellow (Powrót birbanta) featuring Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski.

Prószyński is also credited (with Bolesław Matuszewski) as the father of Polish documentary cinema. Between 1901 and 1903, he produced several short films in his Pleograf Company (Towarzystwo Udziałowe Pleograf). He died in Mauthausen concentration camp on 13 March 1945.

PSZONIAK, WOJCIECH (1942–). Actor, known for his theatrical and film performances in Poland and France. Pszoniak delivered his finest performances in the films directed by Andrzej Wajda. He starred in Wajda’s 1971 West German production, Pilatus and Others, and received acclaim for his role as an entrepreneurial Jew, Moryc Welt, in the celebrated The Promised Land (1975). For his role of Maximilien Robespierre in Wajda’s Polish-French coproduction Danton (1983), Pszoniak received several awards and critical praise.

He delivered an equally memorable performance in the Holocaust biopic Korczak (1990), starring as Dr. Janusz Korczak, a figure of great importance for both Polish and Jewish cultures, who refused to abandon “his orphans” and died with them in Treblinka. In 1996 Pszoniak played a strong supporting role in another Holocaust drama directed by Wajda, Holy Week.

Pszoniak appeared in about seventy films. At the beginning of his career he had lead roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s unusual historical drama Devil (1972/1988), Jan Rybkowski’s historical reconstruction The Nest (1974), Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s courtroom drama Convicted (1976), and Witold Leszczyński’s mediation on filmmaking Recollections (1978). Toward the end of the 1970s, he also appeared in Janusz Majewski’s The Gorgon Affair (1977), Edward Żebrowski’s The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979), Filip Bajon’s Aria for an Athlete (1979), and Piotr Szulkin’s Golem (1980). He delivered an excellent performance in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Austeria (1983). After his move to France in the 1980s, Pszoniak appeared, mostly in supporting roles, in a number of French and German films directed by Gerard Krawczyk, Claude Zidi, Etienne Perier, and

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Pierre Boutron. He also acted in Agnieszka Holland’s Angry Harvest (1985) and To Kill a Priest (1988). In the 1990s, and in recent years, while continuing his appearances in French films, Pszoniak started again to act in Polish films. For example, he starred in Henryk Dederko’s political satire Bajland (2000) as fictional presidential candidate Jan Rydel.

PUCHALSKI, EDWARD (1874–1942). One of the most prolific early film directors who produced a variety of films in Russia and Poland: melodramas, comedies, patriotic pictures, religious films, and literary adaptations. He started his career around 1912 in Poland but, like several filmmakers of his generation (for example Ryszard Bolesławski), he moved to Moscow in 1914. He became internationally popular for his more than twenty short comedies that he produced with actor Antoni Fertner. After Puchalski’s return to Poland in 1921, he directed The Year 1863 (Rok 1863, 1922), a depiction of the (anti-Russian) January Uprising of 1863 that was an adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel, which was followed by Bartek the Victor (Bartek zwycięzca, 1923), an adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novella about the struggles to preserve the Polish identity under German rule.

After 1923 Puchalski worked mostly for the film studio Sfinks, where he directed several melodramas belonging to the “Sfinks golden series,” such as The Unspeakable (O czym się nie mówi, 1924) and The Unthinkable (O czym się nie myśli, 1926). Among his Sfinks films is the box-office hit, starring Jadwiga Smosarska, The Leper (Trędowata, 1926, codirected with Józef Węgrzyn), an unsophisticated love story that goes beyond class borders. Equally popular among audiences were his two films from mid-1930s. Abbot Kordecki: The Defender of Częstochowa (Przeor Kordecki. Obrońca Częstochowy, 1934) referred to a much mythologized episode from the Polish-Swedish war in the mid-seventeenth century. Puchalski’s Under Your Protection (Pod twoją obronę, 1933) was one of the biggest box-office hits of the decade. Virtually directed by Józef Lejtes, the film offered the combination of a simple melodramatic plot and strong religious content.

Select other films: Ah, Those Pants (Ach, te spodnie, 1914), On the Clear Shore (Na jasnym brzegu, 1921), The Tragedy of Russia and Its

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Three Epochs (Tragedia Rosji i jej trzy epoki, 1921), In His Own Trap (We własne sidła, 1921), The Secret of the Medallion (Tajemnica medalionu, 1922), People Today (Ludzie dzisiejsi, 1928).

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RADZIWIŁOWICZ, JERZY (1950–). Prominent film and theater actor, the symbol of “Solidarity cinema,” best known for his lead roles in Andrzej Wajda’s influential political films Man of Marble (1977) and Man of Iron (1981). Radziwiłowicz is also a professor at the National Academy of Theater in Kraków, translator of French, and one of the leading figures of the renowned Old Theater (Teatr Stary) in Kraków (1972–1996) and National Theater (Teatr Narodowy) in Warsaw (since 1998). His dramatic roles onstage include those of Polish classics by Adam Mickiewicz, Stanisław Wyspiański, and Witold Gombrowicz directed by Konrad Swinarski and Andrzej Wajda, among others. After first appearing onstage in 1972, the year he graduated from acting school, Radziwiłowicz received international acclaim for his role in Wajda’s Man of Marble. He played Mateusz Birkut, an honest model Communist bricklayer at the Nowa Huta steelworks near Kraków, who is courted and exploited by the Stalinist authorities as a national hero. He continued the portrayal of Birkut in Wajda’s sequel, Man of Iron. Although Radziwiłowicz is a versatile actor, his role of Birkut overshadows his later Polish films. Krzysztof Kieślowski consciously typecast Radziwiłowicz in No End (1985) in the role of a person who is pure and dedicated to a cause. Waldemar Krzystek did likewise in Suspended (1987) by playing with the actor’s public image. Radziwiłowicz appeared in several films produced

by Poland’s top directors, including Kazimierz Kutz (Death as a Slice of Bread, 1994), Filip Bajon (Street Boys, 1996), and Władysław Pasikowski (television series The Cop, 2003–2004).

Radziwiłowicz also acted in several French films directed by JeanLuc Godard (Passion, 1982), Jacques Rivette (Secret Defense, 1998, and Histoire de Marie et Julien, 2003), and Michel Piccoli (La plage noire, 2001).

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ROSA, MICHAŁ (1963–). Film director and screenwriter. A 1992 graduate of the Katowice Film and Television School, Rosa started his career with the medium-length Hot Thursday (Gorący czwartek, 1993), which was a realistic depiction of young delinquent boys from the impoverished parts of Silesia, and the feature Paint (Farba, 1997), a road movie about young people searching for the meaning of life. Rosa’s name became associated with detailed, painstaking observations of everyday reality, adeptly captured on camera by his cinematographer Mieczysław Anweiler. His collaboration with screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz resulted in the production of Silence (Cisza, 2001), which was well received by the judges at the 2001 Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia (Best Director award).

Photographed by one of Poland’s new talents, Arkadiusz Tomiak, the film has abundant metaphorical images that stress the role of mystery and fate. Rosa’s recent film, What the Sun Saw (Co słonko widziało, 2006), recipient of the Special Jury Prize at the Festival of Polish Films, is another realistic portrayal of Silesia.

RÓŻEWICZ, STANISŁAW (1924–). A highly respected Polish filmmaker, Różewicz began his career as a second director on films directed by Jan Rybkowski, such as Warsaw Premiere (1950) and First Days (1951). In 1954 he directed his first film, the socialist realist Difficult Love (Trudna miłość). During the Polish School period, Różewicz directed a number of classic war dramas, such as Three Women (Trzy kobiety, 1957), the story of three women who are liberated from a prison camp; Free City (Wolne miasto, 1958), an account of the heroism of the Polish postal workers on the first day of World War II in Gdańsk (Danzig); and The Birth Certificate (Świadectwo urodzenia, 1961), a portrayal of the occupation through the eyes of a child. In 1967 Różewicz made one of his best-known films, Westerplatte (1967), which depicts the September 1939 defense of the Polish garrison at the Westerplatte peninsula near Gdańsk. The film reconstructs the one-week battle in a realistic manner, even incorporating newsreels to avoid romanticizing this habitually mythologized aspect of Polish history.

Like Three Women and The Birth Certificate, Różewicz also scripted several other films with his brother, the accomplished Polish poet and writer Tadeusz Różewicz (b. 1921). Among the films they

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wrote together are restrained psychological dramas such as A Place on Earth (Miejsce na ziemi, 1960), Voice from Beyond (Głos z tamtego świata, 1962), Lonely Together (Samotność we dwoje, 1969), and Echo (1964). In the 1970s, Różewicz directed historical films such as The Romantics (Romantyczni, 1970) and Passion (Pasja, 1978), for which he won the Festival of Polish Films. Różewicz returned once again to the reality of World War II in his Leaves Have Fallen (Opadły liście z drzew, 1975) and Lynx (Ryś, 1981).

Różewicz’s 1985 film A Woman with a Hat (Kobieta w kapeluszu), a subtle morality play about a young actress who lives an unfulfilled dream of becoming successful, won the Festival of Polish Films. Apart from unquestionable directorial accomplishments, Różewicz is also the founder and first head of the distinguished film unit (later film studio) Tor (1967–1968 and 1972–1980). In 2001 he received the Lifetime Achievement award granted by the Polish Film Academy.

Other films: Hell and Heaven (Piekło i niebo, 1966), The Glass Ball (Szklana kula, 1972), The Wicked Gate (Drzwi w murze, 1974), Mrs. Latter’s Pension (Pensja pani Latter, 1982), Devil (Diabeł, TV, 1985), An Angel in a Wardrobe (Anioł w szafie, 1988), The Nighttime Guest (Nocny gość, 1990).

RYBCZYŃSKI, ZBIGNIEW (1949–). Director of experimental animated films and music videos, cinematographer. After graduating from the Łódź Film School in 1973, Rybczyński worked as a cinematographer on documentary films with directors such as Andrzej Barański and Wojciech Wiszniewski (Wanda Gościmińska—The Textile Worker, 1975) and on one feature film, the classic Dancing Hawk (1978) by Grzegorz Królikiewicz. In the 1970s, Rybczyński also produced some memorable experimental films for the SE-MAFOR studio, including New Book (Nowa ksiąz´ ka, 1975). His later experimental Tango (1980) received several festival awards, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1983, the first Oscar for a Polish production. After migrating to the United States in 1983, Rybczyński made a number of acclaimed music videos (including one for John Lennon’s “Imagine” in 1986) and several distinguished films, among them Steps (1987), The Fourth Dimension (1988), The Orchestra (1990, Emmy Award for special effects), and Kafka (1992). After his 1994–2001 stay in Germany where he lec-

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tured and worked on new projects, Rybczyński continues his career in the United States.

RYBKOWSKI, JAN (1912–1987). Film director, set designer, head of the film unit Rytm (1955–1968), and teacher at the Łódź Film School. His debut, the occupation drama House in the Wilderness (Dom na pustkowiu, 1949), was mutilated by the censor. It was followed by a biopic about the nineteenth-century Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko, called Warsaw Premiere (Warszawska premiera, 1951), and a group of socialist realist films including First Days (Pierwsze dni, 1951) and The Bus Leaves at 6:20 (Autobus odjez˙ dz˙ a 6.20, 1954). Rybkowski was more successful with a socialist realist comedy, A Matter to Settle (Sprawa do załatwienia, 1953, codirected with Jan Fethke), and another film about the war, the critically underestimated The Hours of Hope (Godziny nadziei, 1955).

The war also features prominently in his later films, for example in Tonight the City Will Die (Dziś w nocy umrze miasto, 1961), about the annihilation of Dresden; Ascension Day (Wniebowstąpienie, 1969), a Holocaust narrative; and When Love Was a Crime (Kiedy miłość była zbrodnią, 1968), a Polish and West German coproduction about forbidden love.

The prolific Rybkowski worked within a variety of genres. He made a number of successful comedies, including a series of films starring Tadeusz Fijewski, beginning with The Hat of Mr. Anatol (Kapelusz pana Anatola, 1957). He also directed two versions of Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz’s prewar satirical novel Nikodem Dyzma (1956), starring Adolf Dymsza, and a well-liked television series, The Career of Nikodem Dyzma (Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy, 1980), with a memorable performance by Roman Wilhemi. Adaptations of the Polish literary canon are among the most important films in Rybkowski’s career, including Peasants (Chłopi, 1973, also a television series in 1972), based on the Polish Nobel laureate Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s epic novel.

Other films: Mr. Anatol Seeks a Million (Pan Anatol szuka miliona, 1958), The Inspection of Mr. Anatol (Inspekcja pana Anatola, 1959), The Last Gunshot (Ostatni strzał, 1959), Meeting at the “Bajka” Café (Spotkanie w “Bajce,” 1962), Truly Yesterday (Naprawdę wczoraj, 1963), Way of Life (Sposób bycia, 1966), Polish Album

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(Album polski, 1970), The Nest (Gniazdo, 1974), The Dulski Family (Dulscy, 1975), The Line (Granica, 1978), Marynia (1983).

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SALT OF THE BLACK EARTH (SÓL ZIEMI CZARNEJ, 1970).

Celebrated film by Kazimierz Kutz about his native Upper Silesia.

Scripted by Kutz, with photography by Wiesław Zdort and music by Wojciech Kilar, the film introduces authentic places and real people with local dialects and modes of thinking. It also continues Kutz’s interest with the plebeian character that he developed during the Polish School period. The film deals with the 1920 uprising against the German rule of Silesia. The story concerns the Basista family: the patriarchal father, the silent mother and sisters, and the seven miner brothers. The Basista family house serves as a bastion of Polishness and traditional rituals concerning family life, work, and love for the region. The youngest son, Gabryel (Olgierd Łukaszewicz), and his coming-of-age story remain at the center of the film, which depicts his political and sexual initiation, his fascination with a German nurse, and his irresponsible behavior as an insurgent in the uprising when, in a stolen German uniform, he moves into enemy territory to see the nurse. Although the film is set during the actual political event, surprisingly it neglects politics in favor of creating a poetic image of the province. In folk-ballad form, Kutz shows grayish images of industrial Silesia—coal mines, piles of waste coal, steelworks, and railway tracks—contrasted with the reddish color of miners’ brick houses. Kutz also juxtaposes the images of industrial Silesia with the pastoral vision of Poland and the pragmatism of the Silesians with the traditional Polish romanticism. Polish critics compared the symbolism and choreographed movements of actors in Kutz’s film with those of Sergei Paradzhanov and Miklós Jancsó. Kutz’s film, the winner of the Łagów Film Festival, forms the Silesian Trilogy with The Pearl in the Crown (1972) and Beads of One Rosary (1980).

SAMOSIUK, ZYGMUNT (1939–1983). Cinematographer who worked on thirty-two films, several of them classic examples of

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Polish cinema. Trained at the Łódź Film School (diploma in 1965), Samosiuk started his career working on several documentary films directed by Janusz Kidawa and later by Marek Piwowski (Psychodrama, 1969, and Cork-Screw, 1971). He gained renown for the first feature films he photographed for Andrzej Wajda: Hunting Flies (1969), Landscape after Battle (1970), and Birchwood (1970).

The latter, known for its cadaverous palette of colors, owes its inspiration to the Polish art nouveau painter Jacek Malczewski in its depiction of the struggle between love and death. Samosiuk also excelled in films requiring quasi-documentary depictions of reality.

For example, he worked closely with Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki on Record of Crime (1974), Convicted (1976), and Wherever You Are, Mr. President (1978) and with Janusz Morgenstern on Kill That Love (1972).

Samosiuk also worked with other established film directors. With Janusz Majewski, he created stylish evocations of the past in The Gorgon Affair (1977) and The Lesson of a Dead Language (1979). In Austeria (1983), he worked with director Jerzy Kawalerowicz to produce a nostalgic account of the lost Jewish world. In Piotr Szulkin’s films, such as Golem (1980) and War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981/1983), he was responsible for the cold beauty of their painterly images. Samosiuk received several awards for his contribution to cinema, including prizes at the Festival of Polish Films for Record of Crime, The Gorgon Affair, and Wherever You Are, Mr. President.

SANIEWSKI, WIESŁAW (1948–). Writer, director, and producer Wiesław Saniewski has not won many critical fans in Poland, although his films have been consistently well received and awarded abroad, especially in the United States. After studying art history, journalism, and mathematics at the University of Wrocław, Saniewski started his career as a film critic (he is the author of three books of film criticism). After graduating from the screenwriting department of the Łódź Film School in 1980, he directed his first feature film, The Freelancer (Wolny strzelec, 1981), which was released in 1988. In Poland he is best known for his 1985 film Custody (Nadzór), a dark and powerful prison film set in a women’s penitentiary. The film traces the life of Klara (Ewa Błaszczyk), who is arrested at her wedding in 1967, accused of misappropriating money, and sentenced

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to life in prison, which is then changed to twenty-five years. The film focuses on the protagonist’s struggles for dignity and also deals with the issue of manipulation and the psychology of female prisoners. With the exception of the psychological drama The Touched (Dotknięci, 1988), labeled by some critics as the Polish version of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, other films by Saniewski were not successful locally. Films such as The Stranger Must Fly (Obcy musi fruwać, 1993) and The Rainy Soldier (Deszczowy ˙zołnierz, 1996) received awards at film festivals in Phoenix, Charleston, and Houston, among others, yet were ignored by local film audiences and critics.

Other films: The Season of Dead Birds (aka The Stalking Season, Sezon na baz˙ anty, 1986), Legal Justice (Bezmiar sprawiedliwości, 2006).

SASS, BARBARA (BARBARA SASS-ZDORT, BARBARA ZDORT, 1936–). After working since 1960 as an assistant director on films by Andrzej Wajda (Samson, 1961), Wojciech J. Has (The Saragossa Manuscript, 1964), and Jerzy Skolimowski (The Barrier, 1966), Sass directed her breakthrough film in 1980—Without Love (Bez miłości). Following the success of this film, she developed a body of work characterized by thematic unity (she is also a scriptwriter) and by a simple documentary-like visual style; her husband, Wiesław Zdort, always participated as a cinematographer. Sass presented a feminist perspective and confronted issues largely ignored in overtly political Polish cinema: the plight of women and gender relations. Her early works, such as Without Love, The Debutante (Debiutantka, 1981), The Shout (Krzyk, 1982), The Girls from Nowolipki (Dziewczęta z Nowolipek, 1985), and its sequel, Crab Apple Tree (Rajska jabłoń, 1985), portrayed young women struggling to achieve their goals in spite of political and social pressures. In the 1990s, Sass completed five films, including perhaps her best works: An Immoral Story (Historia niemoralna, 1990) and Temptation (Pokuszenie, 1995). An Immoral Story comments on the creative process of filmmaking. Featuring the star of Sass’s early films, Dorota Stalińska, the film tells a fictional story about an actress and reflects on being an artist (actress/filmmaker) at the same time. Temptation, a film set in Stalinist times, was inspired by the factual experience of the Polish Roman Catholic primate Stefan Wyszyński. The film tells the story of a young nun (Magdalena Cielecka) who is transferred from a

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prison to a remote location where a high-ranked Catholic priest is being held and the attempts by the secret police to take advantage of their relationship.

Other films: In the Cage (W klatce, 1988), Spider Women (Pajęczarki, 1993), Nothing but Fear (Tylko strach, 1993), Like a Drug (Jak narkotyk, 1999). ŚCIBOR-RYLSKI, ALEKSANDER (1928–1983). Chiefly known as the scriptwriter of Andrzej Wajda’s films Man of Marble (1977) and Man of Iron (1981), Ścibor-Rylski was also a director of popular films, playwright, prose writer, and the literary director of the film units Rytm (1955–1965) and Pryzmat (1972–1978). The first script he produced for Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Shadow (1956), was followed by scripts for Stanisław Lenartowicz (Pills for Aurelia, 1958), Witold Lesiewicz (Year One, 1960), Stanisław Bareja (Touch of the Night, 1961), and Wajda (Ashes, 1965), among others. In the 1960s, Ścibor-Rylski also directed a series of action-oriented films based on his own scripts. He started with a marital tragicomedy, Their Everyday Life (Ich dzień powszedni, 1963), starring Zbigniew Cybulski, Aleksandra Śląska, and Pola Raksa. His “Eastern,” Wolves’ Echoes (Wilcze echa, 1968), a transplant of the Western genre, became popular among audiences, as was his earlier suspense drama set toward the end of the war, The Murderer Leaves a Trail (Morderca zostawia ślad, 1967). In the 1970s, Ścibor-Rylski returned to scripting films for others, among them Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s quasi-documentary crime film Leprosy (Trąd, 1971) and Jan Rybkowski’s historical film The Nest (1974). The documentary film by Andrzej Kotkowski and Jerzy Sztwiertnia, The Man from a Drawer: Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski (Człowiek z szuflady: Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski, 1993), provides insights into his life.

Other films (as director): Late Afternoon (Póz´ ne popołudnie, 1964), Tomorrow Mexico (Jutro Meksyk, 1965), Neighbors (Sąsiedzi, 1969).

SE-MA-FOR (STUDIO MAŁYCH FORM FILMOWYCH SEMA-FOR; SHORT FILM STUDIO SEMAFOR). Established in 1947 in Łódź, SE-MA-FOR is the oldest Polish film studio producing animated films, mostly for children and young audiences. Since its first film, Zenon Wasilewski’s Under the Reign of King Krakus

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(Za króla Krakusa, 1947), the studio produced more than fourteen hundred films, including eight hundred puppet films, as well as a number of experimental works. They received numerous international awards, including the 1983 Academy Award for Zbigniew Rybczyński’s Tango. During its long history, the studio attracted several well-known filmmakers, including Roman Polański, Janusz Majewski, and Filip Bajon, who started their careers there with short films. The studio also produced several works by accomplished makers of animated films such as Daniel Szczechura, Stefan Schabenbeck, and Piotr Dumała. SE-MA-FOR is also renowned for its classic animated children’s series such as The Adventures of Teddy Bear Colargol (Przygody misia Colargola) and The Magic Pencil (Zaczarowany ołówek).

SEWERYN, ANDRZEJ (1946–). Respected film and theater actor, living since 1980 in France and later associated with the Comédie Française. From 1984 to 1988, Seweryn was also a member of the Peter Brook theater troupe. His first major role in cinema was in Jan Rybkowski’s Polish Album (1970), two years after graduating from the Warsaw State Acting School (PWST). He achieved recognition later for his starring role as Maks Baum in Andrzej Wajda’s The Promised Land (1975). At that time he also appeared in strong supporting roles in Nights and Days (1975, Jerzy Antczak) and Leaves Have Fallen (1975, Stanisław Różewicz). The late 1970s brought him several important roles in films directed by Rybkowski (The Line, 1978) and Jerzy Domaradzki (The Beast, 1979), but above all in other films by Wajda. He played the greedy opportunist Rościszewski in Rough Treatment (1978), the overambitious conductor of a provincial orchestra in The Orchestra Conductor (1980), the security service (SB) captain Wirski in Man of Iron (1981), and Bourdon in Danton (1983). In several films made during the Cinema of Distrust period, he played generational characters, for example in Sylwester Chęciński’s Roman and Magda (1978), Janusz Kijowski’s Kung-fu (1980), and Janusz Zaorski’s Child’s Questions (1981). Seweryn became known not only as a talented actor but also as a hardworking perfectionist.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Seweryn played several strong supporting roles in films made mostly in France, including Marco Belocchio’s La

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condanna (1990), Regis Wargnier’s Indochina (Indochine, 1992), and Claude Berri’s Lucie Aubrac (1997). He also acted in Schindler’s List (1993, Steven Spielberg) and Total Eclipse (1995, Agnieszka Holland).

Recent years have brought him acclaim in Poland for his appearances in several prestigious adaptations, such as With Fire and Sword (1999, Jerzy Hoffman) and Pan Tadeusz (1999) and Revenge (2002), both directed by Wajda. His role as Primate Stefan Wyszyński in Teresa Kotlarczyk’s The Primate: Three Years out of the Millenium (2000) was also praised. The readers of weekly Film voted him the best Polish actor in 2000. In 2006 he made his directorial debut with the contemporary psychological drama Who Never Lived (Kto nigdy nie ˙zył, 2006).

SFINKS (SPHINX) STUDIO (TOWARZYSTWO UDZIAŁOWE SFINKS). Established in 1909 and headed by Aleksander Hertz, film studio Sfinks dominated the film industry in prewar Poland. In 1915 Sfinks merged with another Warsaw studio, Kosmofilm, run

by Henryk Finkelstein. The new Sfinks production and distribution company established a virtual monopoly and produced several patriotic pictures that reflected the spirit of the times, such as The Secrets of the Tsarist Warsaw Police (Ochrana warszawska i jej tajemnice, 1916). Before the end of World War II, the studio, which relied heavily on its own version of the star system, was immersed in a crisis.

Although Sfinks lost its two biggest stars, Pola Negri and Mia Mara (later known as Lya Mara), who moved to Germany in 1917, the early 1920s also belonged to Hertz and his continuing use of a strategy that recognized the commercial appeal of stars. At the beginning of the 1920s, Hertz launched the career of his new star, Jadwiga Smosarska, with a series of melodramas known as the “Sfinks golden series,” such as The Tram Stop Mystery (Tajemnica przystanku tramwajowego, 1922) and The Slave of Love (Niewolnica miłości, 1923), both directed by Jan Kucharski, the latter with Stanisław Szebego and Adam Zagórski. Sfinks dominated mainstream Polish cinema with its combination of patriotic and melodramatic features: the utilization of national themes and mythologies, the exploitative treatment of “educational” topics, and borrowings from Hollywood (sensationalism, dynamic action, stars). The studio lasted until 1936, despite Hertz’s premature death in 1928 at the age of forty-nine. Finkelstein replaced Hertz as the head of Sfinks and followed his line.

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SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING, A (KRÓTKI FILM O ZABIJANIU, 1988). The extended theatrical version of the fifth part of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s acclaimed television series Decalogue (1988). The film tells the story of a young drifter, Jacek Lazar (Mirosław Baka), who commits the callous, brutal murder of a taxi driver (Jan Tesarz), and despite the spirited defense by a young lawyer (Krzysztof Globisz), he is sentenced to death for his crime and hanged. Kieślowski’s film presents three distinct viewpoints and crosscuts between the sociopathic murderer, the taxi driver who later becomes his victim, and the idealistic lawyer whose first case is defending the killer. Kieślowski brings into focus small, gritty, realistic details. He stresses the graphic, dreadful aspect of both the murder of the taxi driver and the killing authorized by the state. The long sequence during which the taxi driver is killed leaves nothing to the imagination. By also depicting the execution of Jacek with all the terrifying details, Kieślowski almost equates the two killings. Like the gloomy events portrayed in the film, the capital city of Warsaw, where the film is set, is depicted as a repellent, depressing place: gray, brutal, and peopled by alienated characters. The greenish filters used by cinematographer Sławomir Idziak not only dehumanize and distort the images of Warsaw but also leave some diffused colors in the center of the frame. A Short Film about Killing received the FIPRESCI Prize and the Jury Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, earned the Best European Film award (“Felix”), and received the Grand Prix at the Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia with A Short Film About Love (1988), the theatrical version of Decalogue 6.

SIEMION, WOJCIECH (1928–). Character actor, known for numerous strong plebeian characters in Polish cinema. Siemion is also a respected stage actor and director and a stand-up comedian. After his 1951 debut in Jan Fethke’s The Crew (Załoga), he played several episodic roles in films such as An Adventure at Marienstadt (1954).

He also appeared in strong supporting roles in several influential Polish School films such as Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958) and Bad Luck (1960) and gained popularity and critical acclaim thanks to Jerzy Passendorfer’s Answer to Violence (1958) and, in particular, Stanisław Różewicz’s The Birth Certificate (1961). In the first part of Różewicz’s film, which portrayed September 1939 through the perspective of a child, Siemion introduced an almost archetypal character in Polish

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cinema: a simple soldier entangled in the mesh of history. He almost repeated his role from The Birth Certificate in Passendorfer’s later films: Bathed in Fire (1964), Direction Berlin (1969), and its sequel, The Last Days (1969). His portrayal of a regular soldier, infantry corporal Naróg, brought him critical recognition and popularity. In the 1970s, he continued his career appearing in, among others, supporting roles in Stanisław Bareja’s comedies and in several popular television films.

SIENKIEWICZ, HENRYK (1846–1916). Perhaps the most popular Polish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905 for Quo Vadis. Films based on Sienkiewicz’s historical epics that were originally written to “console the hearts” of Poles reinforced images of the heroic Polish past, chiefly The Teutonic Knights (Krzyz˙ acy, 1960), directed by Aleksander Ford, and the trilogy Pan Michael (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969), The Deluge (Potop, 1974), and With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1999), all directed by Jerzy Hoffman. They were also the most popular Polish films. Vast panoramas, epic scopes, historical adventure stories utilizing Polish history, and, above all, Sienkiewicz’s name proved to be enough to attract millions to these adaptations. They were eagerly awaited by Polish audiences for whom this writer and the characters populating his historical novels were (and are) household names. Sienkiewicz’s works, considered “cinematic” by critics, have been adapted for the screen since the beginning of the twentieth century, some of them several times, for example, The Deluge (1912, 1914, and 1974), In Desert and Wilderness (W pustyni i w puszczy, 1973, 2001), and Quo Vadis (four times in France—1909, 1913, 1924, and 1951—and in 2001 by Jerzy Kawalerowicz in Poland). Other works by Sienkiewicz adapted for the screen include, among others, Charcoal Sketches (Szkice węglem, 1912, 1957), Hania (1917, 1936, 1939 version never released, 1984), and The Połaniecki Family (Rodzina Połanieckich, 1978, TV series, 1984). See also ADAPTATIONS. SILESIA FILM UNIT (ZESPÓŁ FILMOWY “ŚLĄSK”). Established in 1972 in Katowice, Silesia was the only film unit outside of Warsaw. The production company was founded by Kazimierz Kutz, who headed it until 1978, when he was replaced by poet Ernest Bryll (1978–1983). Ryszard Kłyś and Feliks Netz (1974–1979) and Michał

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Komar (1979–1983) served as literary directors. Silesia produced sixty-three films (including television films and television series), among them several noted works such as Through and Through (1973), directed by Grzegorz Królikiewicz, and Hospital under the Hourglass (1973), directed by Wojciech J. Has. The list of films also includes popular television series The Career of Nikodem Dyzma (1980, Jan Rybkowski) and critically acclaimed Ash Wednesday (Popielec, 1982, released 1984, Ryszard Ber). The studio was terminated by the authorities in 1983.

SKOLIMOWSKI, JERZY (1936–). Actor, scriptwriter, and director (also poet, writer, and boxer), Skolimowski is among the bestknown representatives of Third Polish Cinema. He started his career as coscriptwriter of Andrzej Wajda’s Innocent Sorcerers (Niewinni czarodzieje, 1960) and Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (Nóz˙ w wodzie, 1962). He became known after directing his generational trilogy—Identification Marks: None (Rysopis, 1965), Walkover (Walkower, 1965), and The Barrier (Bariera, 1966)—which introduced a nonconformist protagonist, Andrzej Leszczyc, played in the first two films by the director himself, who refused to accept the post-Stalinist conformity. Skolimowski’s films had a style similar to the new wave trends in European cinema of the 1960s. They were open, documentary-like constructs, shot on location without artificial lighting, frequently improvised on the set, and characterized by their reliance on long takes. This style was already evidenced in Skolimowski’s diploma film made at the Łódź Film School, Identification Marks: None, which was produced from a number of student filmic études made since the second year of his studies. This film served as the essence of authorial cinema: Skolimowski was the director, scriptwriter, and actor of the film, which featured his then wife, Elżbieta Czyżewska, and his fellow students and had several references to the director’s life.

His next film, Walkover, continued to follow the story of Leszczyc, now a thirty-year-old boxer living on his modest boxing prizes.

The most elaborate is the third part of the trilogy, The Barrier, with Jan Nowicki as Skolimowski’s alter ego and featuring Krzysztof Komeda’s music. The poetic stylization and ornate symbolism in the film refer to Polish history and culture.

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Skolimowski’s next project, Hands Up (Ręce do góry, 1967), one of the first films to deal with Stalinism and therefore banned until 1985, focused on the postwar generation that quickly gave up its ideals and turned to a middle-class existence and aspirations. Unable to continue his career in Poland, Skolimowski left the country. He went on to make a number of films abroad, including The Shout (1978, United Kingdom), Moonlighting (1982, United Kingdom), Success is the Best Revenge (1984, United Kingdom), The Lightship (1985, United States), and Torrents of Spring (1989, France/Italy). In 1991 he directed 30 Door Key (Ferdydurke), a Polish-English-French coproduction based on a novel by the celebrated Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. Apart from starring in several of his own films, Skolimowski also acted in some mainstream films, including White Nights (1985), Big Shots (1987), and Mars Attacks! (1996).

Other films: Deep End (1970), The Adventures of Gerard (1970), King, Queen, Knave (1971). See also CENSORSHIP. SMOSARSKA, JADWIGA (1898–1971). Star of prewar Polish cinema, as well as successful Warsaw theatrical actress, Smosarska was voted the most popular actress several times by film viewers in Poland. Smosarska became Sfinks’s leading star in the 1920s after Pola Negri’s departure for Germany. She started her career by playing supporting roles in propagandist patriotic pictures dealing with the Polish-Soviet war, such as Miracle on the Vistula (1921), directed by Ryszard Bolesławski. She achieved fame later, appearing in a number of melodramas produced by Sfinks, such as The Tram Stop Mystery (Tajemnica przystanku tramwajowego, 1922, Jan Kucharski) and The Slave of Love (Niewolnica miłości, 1923, Jan Kucharski, Stanisław Szebego, Adam Zagórski). Smosarska specialized in characters that embodied a number of clichéd Polish female virtues. Her protagonists were patriotically minded, romantic, well bred, and beautiful, yet suffering the pangs of unhappy, often tragic, love. The peak of her career was the box-office hit of the 1920s, an unsophisticated love story that goes beyond class borders, The Leper (1926), directed by Edward Puchalski and Józef Węgrzyn, adapted from the best-selling novel by Helena Mniszek.

Smosarska remained one of the major stars in the 1930s. She appeared in an early Polish attempt to produce a talking picture, To

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Siberia (1930), directed by Henryk Szaro, where she played a Polish noblewoman in love with a patriotic student who is later imprisoned

by Russians. Smosarska continued her career with another patriotic picture directed by Szaro, The Year 1914 (Rok 1914, 1932), but was thriving in other genres as well. For example, she starred in prestigious historical films such as Barbara Radziwiłłówna (1936), directed

by Józef Lejtes. She was also successful in comedies, for example Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934), where director Juliusz Gardan paired her with Eugeniusz Bodo, and social dramas such as Mieczysław Krawicz’s I Lied (1937). The war halted her career. In 1939 she managed to leave Poland and settle in the United States where she stayed until 1970. She returned to Poland one year before her death.

SOBOCIŃSKI, PIOTR (1958–2001). Cinematographer, son of Witold Sobociński. A 1982 graduate of the Department of Cinematography at the Łódź Film School, Sobociński started his career as a camera operator working with directors such as Feliks Falk (There Was Jazz, 1981/1984) and Wojciech J. Has (Uninteresting Story, 1982). He made his first films as a cinematographer in the mid-1980s, among them Filip Bajon’s The Magnate (1987). He also worked on two parts (2 and 9) of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue (1988). Further collaboration with Kieślowski on Three Colors: Red brought Sobociński international acclaim and an Oscar nomination. In 1995 he worked on the multinational coproduction The Seventh Room (La settima stanza), directed by Márta Mészáros, for which he received the top prize, the Golden Frog, at the Camerimage film festival.

Later he worked on several big-budget Hollywood films, including Marvin’s Room (1996, Jerry Zaks), Ransom (1996, Ron Howard), and Twilight (1998, Robert Benton). He died at the age of forty-three in Vancouver, Canada, during the production of Trapped (2002, Luis Mandoki). This and another film released after Sobociński’s death, Hearts in Atlantis (2001, Scott Hicks), are dedicated to him.

SOBOCIŃSKI, WITOLD (1929–). One of the most esteemed Polish cinematographers. After graduating from the Łódź Film School in 1955, Sobociński worked for television (1955–1959) and the studio Czołówka (1959–1964). In the mid-1960s, he worked as a camera operator on The Pharaoh (1966, Jerzy Kawalerowicz) and Ciphers

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(1966, Wojciech J. Has). His debut as a cinematographer came with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Hands Up (1967, released in 1985). Later he also collaborated with Skolimowski on his films made abroad, The Adventures of Gerard (1970) and Torrents of Spring (1989).

Sobociński, however, became internationally known for his work on Andrzej Wajda’s classic films, including Everything for Sale (1969), The Wedding (1973), and The Promised Land (1975). In the 1970s, he also photographed Has’s Hospital under the Hourglass (1973), Andrzej Żuławski’s The Third Part of the Night (1972), and Edward Żebrowski’s The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979).

Sobociński also worked abroad. For example, he collaborated with Roman Polański on Pirates (1986) and Frantic (1988). He also photographed The Catamount Killing (1974) and several other films made outside of Poland by Krzysztof Zanussi, with whom he had made Family Life (1971). In the 1950s, Sobociński was a drummer in the first jazz group that emerged in Poland, Melomani (Music Lovers), headed by another cinematographer trained at Łódź, Jerzy “Duduś” Matuszkiewicz. In 1981 Feliks Falk made a film about this group, There Was Jazz, photographed by Sobociński and with him on-screen (as himself). In recent years Sobociński worked on two films directed by his fellow cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik: The Complaint (1991) and The Gates of Europe (1999). For the latter he won the Festival of Polish Films and the Polish Film Award “Eagle.”

Sobociński has also been a lecturer at the Łódź Film School. In 1994 he received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Camerimage film festival. He is cinematographer Piotr Sobociński’s father.

SOCIALIST REALIST CINEMA. In Polish history, “Stalinism” is a term that refers to the postwar period beginning in 1949 and ending in October 1956. The Polish version of socialist realism was outlined in a speech delivered in December 1947 by the Communist leader Bolesław Bierut. In November 1949, the so-called congress of filmmakers met at Wisła to enforce the doctrine of socialist realism. The doctrine demanded the adherence to the Communist party line, the necessary portrayal of the class struggle (the struggle between old and new), the emphasis on class-based images, the rewriting of history from the Marxist perspective, and the elimination of “reactionary bourgeois” ideology. As in the Soviet model, reality in Polish arts was

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portrayed “as it should be,” with clear divisions between the forces of progress, personified by a positive hero, a model to be emulated, and the dark forces of the past, embodied by a cunning opponent of the new, a model to be wary of. Polish cinema, like other arts, was treated as an instrument in the political struggle. Only thirty-four feature films were made in Poland between 1949 and 1955, among them thirty-one that followed the socialist realist formula. They all shared thematic and stylistic affinities, conveyed the same didactic messages, and created similar protagonists. The socialist realist authors subdued their distinctive personalities because the true author was the state.

The dominant theme of socialist realist films, that of the class struggle, was developed, for instance, in Two Brigades (Dwie brygady, 1950), made by the students of the Łódź Film School and supervised

by Eugeniusz Cękalski, and Bright Fields (Jasne łany, 1947), also by Cękalski. Both films were replete with socialist realist clichés and stereotypes and contained explicit propagandist messages. These and several other socialist realist films were badly received by both the public and the critics. For example, Maria Kaniewska’s Not Far from Warsaw (Niedaleko Warszawy, 1954) was voted by some critics the worst Polish film ever made.

In the mid-1950s, some Polish filmmakers managed to retreat from the socialist realist dogma and make realistic films in the spirit of Italian neorealism. The impact of neorealism is discernible in, for instance, Aleksander Ford’s Five Boys from Barska Street (1954) and the most accomplished work of that period, Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s diptych A Night of Remembrance and Under the Phrygian Star, both films made in 1954. One of the attempts to produce a politically correct yet popular film was An Adventure at Marienstadt (1954), directed by Leonard Buczkowski.

The socialist realist period ended in October 1956, but its thematic preoccupations, as well as its way of presenting the world, reappeared later in a number of Polish films, some of them artistically accomplished works and not just blatant propaganda. For several scholars, Andrzej Munk’s Man on the Track (1957) became the first film to overcome the shortcomings of socialist realism.

STALINISM—REPRESENTATION. One of the first attempts to examine the Stalinist period was Janusz Morgenstern’s film Back

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to Life Again (1965). Another film referring to those years, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Hands Up, was produced in 1967 and banned until 1985. Due to strict political censorship, the question of the legacy of Polish Stalinism remained virtually untouched until the mid-1970s.

At the beginning of the 1970s, a number of documentary films tried to unveil the Stalinist past. Wojciech Wiszniewski’s stylized documentary films about the Stalinist work competition—The Story of a Man Who Produced 552 Percent of the Norm (1973), Wanda Gościmińska, the Textile Worker (1975), and Carpenter (1976)— were banned from distribution and not released until 1981. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Bricklayer (1973), released in 1981, also dealt with the exemplary worker of the Stalinist era.

One of Andrzej Wajda’s best-known works, Man of Marble (1977), became a breakthrough narrative film that denounced Stalinism and retold the 1950s. The life story of an honest, exemplary worker, Mateusz Birkut (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), uncovered on the screen by a young filmmaker, Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), revealed the oppressive nature of Stalinism and inspired a number of Polish films made during the brief Solidarity period. For example, in 1981 these included Shivers by Wojciech Marczewski, The Haunted (released in 1983) by Andrzej Barański, There Was Jazz (released in 1984) by Feliks Falk, The Big Run (released in 1987) by Jerzy Domaradzki, and television film Shilly-Shally (released in 1984)

by Filip Bajon. In 1982, after the introduction of martial law, two prominent films were finished and promptly shelved by the authorities: The Mother of Kings (released in 1987) by Janusz Zaorski and Interrogation (released in 1989) by Ryszard Bugajski. The same happened to a medium-length film, Sunday Pranks, directed by Robert Gliński, finished in 1983 and released in 1988.

The majority of these films denounced the Polish version of the Stalinist system and followed the poetics of Man of Marble. Because of the 1980s censorship practices in Poland, nobody openly criticized the Soviet involvement in Polish politics. For example, Shivers, a coming-of-age story set in the 1950s, dealt with institutionalized indoctrination and manipulation. The film told the story of a young teenage boy who is sent to a scouts’ camp after Stalin’s death and falls under the spell of the Communist ideology despite the fact that his father is a political prisoner. Interrogation described

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the imprisonment and torture of an innocent young woman, wrongly charged by the Stalinist secret police. Given the similarities between the Stalinist period and the situation after the introduction of equally oppressive martial law and before the transitional year of 1989, it was inevitable that films about Stalinism would be almost impossible to make. In Suspended (1987), Waldemar Krzystek told the story of a former Home Army (AK) member who is sentenced to death but escapes from prison, moves to a provincial town, and hides for several years in the cellar of the house belonging to his wife, whom he had secretly married during the war. To stress the link between his film and Man of Marble, Krzystek cast Janda and Radziwiłowicz in the main roles.

After 1989 history became the domain of documentary rather than narrative cinema. A great number of documentary films made in Poland examined the Stalinist mentality, hypocrisy, and indoctrination. However, the Stalinist past was portrayed in several narrative films, such as Wajda’s The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (1992), Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s The Case of Pekosiński (1993), Krzysztof Zanussi’s In Full Gallop (1996), Kazimierz Kutz’s Colonel Kwiatkowski (1996), Barbara Sass’s Temptation (1996), Filip Bajon’s Street Boys (1996), and Leszek Wosiewicz’s Family Events (1997).

As if to illustrate the burden of history, the protagonist of The Case of Pekosiński was a hunchback. The Stalinist past also returned in intimate and psychological dramas set in the harsh political climate of the 1950s (Temptation), semiautobiographical narratives (In Full Gallop, Street Boys, Family Events), and comedies (Colonel Kwiatkowski). Wajda’s The Ring with a Crowned Eagle discussed issues the director first addressed in Ashes and Diamonds (1958) and introduced a young officer from the Warsaw Uprising, Marcin, who attempted to take care of his surviving soldiers and secure their future in Soviet-occupied postwar Poland.

The cinematic images of Stalinism have been created in Poland predominantly by younger filmmakers such as Gliński who, unlike Wajda and Kutz, do not know Stalinism firsthand, having been being born in the late 1940s and the 1950s. These filmmakers relied heavily on socialist realist cinema aesthetics and the kitsch iconography of that period. In their films, flashbacks into the Stalinist past were usually constructed of stylized images employing a similar color palette

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(usually gray or blue, with elements of red for banners and posters).

To heighten their verisimilitude, they often incorporated actual newsreels and other documentary materials into their narratives and set the action in places of confinement such as prisons, internment sites, hiding places, and schools and scouts’ camps.

STARSKI, ALLAN (1943–). Production designer, art director, and set decorator who won an Oscar award for Best Art Direction for his work on Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993). Starski has been working as a set designer since 1973. He received acclaim for his work on Andrzej Wajda’s films, including his classic Man of Marble (1977), The Maids of Wilko (1979), Man of Iron (1981), and Danton (1983). In the 1980s, he also worked with other Polish directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski (No End, 1985) and Janusz Zaorski (Baritone, 1985, and Bodensee, 1986). In the 1990s, Starski continued his collaboration with Wajda on his Holocaust films, Korczak (1990) and Holy Week (1996), and on an epic historical adaptation, Pan Tadeusz (1999). He also worked with Agnieszka Holland on Europa, Europa (1991) and Washington Square (1997) and received several awards for his work on Roman Polański’s The Pianist (2002). He is the son of screenwriter Ludwik Starski.

STARSKI, LUDWIK (1903–1984). Screenwriter and prolific author of lyrics to several popular Polish songs. Starski scripted a number of prewar films beginning in 1934 that were directed by Michał Waszyński (Happy Days, 1936), Leon Trystan (Two Days in Paradise, 1936, and Upstairs, 1937), and Mieczysław Krawicz (Jadzia, 1936, and Paweł and Gaweł, 1938). With Jan Fethke, he coscripted a popular musical comedy, The Forgotten Melody (1938), directed by Konrad Tom and Fethke. For this and other films he also provided lyrics to songs composed by Henryk Wars that are popular in Poland to this day.

Starski also scripted some of the most popular postwar Polish films directed by Leonard Buczkowski. These include Forbidden Songs (1947), Treasure (1949), and the classic socialist realist comedy An Adventure at Marienstadt (1954). In the 1950s, Starski wrote the script for Aleksander Ford’s Holocaust drama Border Street (1949, with Fethke), Jan Rybkowski’s satire Nikodem Dyzma (1956), and Fethke’s comedy Irena, Go Home! (1955). He produced his last

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script in 1978 for another musical comedy, Hello, Fred the Beard (Janusz Rzeszewski and Mieczysław Jahoda). In addition to writing, Starski headed film units Warszawa (1948–1949) and Iluzjon (1955–1963). He is the father of set designer Allan Starski.

START. The Society for the Promotion of Film Art (Stowarzyszenie Propagandy Filmu Artystycznego, START) became an important part of the Polish critical and, later, filmmaking scene before 1939. Established in Warsaw in 1930 by, among others, film historian Jerzy Toeplitz and filmmakers Wanda Jakubowska, Eugeniusz Cękalski, Jerzy Zarzycki, Aleksander Ford, and Stanisław Wohl, this dynamic cine club promoted ambitious, artistic cinema through screenings, lectures, and seminars, as well as articles published in almost all of the major Polish journals. Officially known since 1931 as the Society of Film Art Devotees (Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Filmu Artystycznego), the START members began their careers by attacking commercial Polish productions while promoting art cinema. Regarding cinema as more than just entertainment, they were united by “the struggle for films for the public good,” which was the START slogan from 1932. After the disintegration of the START group in 1935, its former members attempted to make films that reflected their interest in socially committed cinema. In 1937 some of the START members, including Ford, Cękalski, and Wohl, established the Cooperative of Film Authors (Spółdzielnia Autorów Filmowych, SAF). Their two productions, The Ghosts (Strachy, 1938), directed by Cękalski and Karol Szołowski, and The People of the Vistula (1938), directed by Ford and Zarzycki, were among the finest achievements in prewar Polish cinema. After World War II, some START members, headed

by Ford, entered Poland as members of the film unit Czołówka, which was affiliated with the Polish army from the Soviet Union.

They immediately seized power, imposed their vision of cinema, which was in line with that of the Communist authorities, and practically controlled the nationalized post-1945 Polish film industry, both as decision makers and filmmakers.

STAWIŃSKI, JERZY STEFAN (1921–). Scriptwriter responsible for some of the best films of the Polish School period, director of popular films, and writer. Some of the canonical works by Andrzej Wajda

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and Andrzej Munk are based on Stawiński’s scripts. This coauthor of the Polish School’s success drew on his firsthand experiences as a soldier in the September campaign of 1939 against the invading Germans. He spent time in a POW camp, from which he successfully escaped, committed himself to underground political activities, participated in the Warsaw Uprising, and, after its collapse, was interned in another POW camp. Reflecting Stawiński’s personal experiences described in his novels and short stories published since 1952, Wajda’s Kanal (1957) and Munk’s Eroica (1958) and Bad Luck (1960) bring to light the unrepresented fate of the Home Army (AK) members. Stawiński also scripted several other notable films produced during this period, such as Man on the Track (1957, Munk), Deserter (1958, Witold Lesiewicz), Answer to Violence (1958, Jerzy Passendorfer), and The Teutonic Knights (1960, Aleksander Ford).

In 1964 Stawiński made his directorial debut, No More Divorces (Rozwodów nie będzie, 1964), followed by a series of psychological comedies, including Penguin (Pingwin, 1965) and Matilda’s Birthday (Urodziny Matyldy, 1975). Later in his scripts, for example in The Action near the Arsenal (1978, Jan Łomnicki) and The Birthday (1980, Ewa and Czesław Petelski), he returned to World War II and the Warsaw Uprising, but he also scripted historical films such as the popular television series Balzac’s Great Love (Wielka miłość Balzaka, 1973, Wojciech Solarz). Twice he returned to his earlier characters, continuing the stories of Bad Luck in Citizen P. (Obywatel Piszczyk, 1989, Andrzej Kotkowski) and the first part of Eroica in Kazimierz Kutz’s The Terrible Dream of Dzidziuś Górkiewicz (1993). He also scripted Kutz’s successful Colonel Kwiatkowski (1996). In addition, during his multifaceted career Stawiński acted as a literary director of several film units: Kamera (1957–1965), Panorama (1972–1974), and Iluzjon (1977–1981).

Other films (as director): Christmas Eve (Wieczór przedświąteczny, 1966), Who Believes in Storks? (Kto wierzy w bociany, 1971, with Helena Amiradżibi).

STEINWURZEL, SEWERYN (1898–1983). Steinwurzel is generally regarded as the best Polish cinematographer before World War II. The son of a respected owner of a Warsaw photographic studio, Steinwurzel quickly gained a reputation in the mid-1920s as an

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innovative cinematographer working on films in Yiddish and Polish directed by Bruno Bredschneider, Zygmunt Turkow, and Henryk Szaro and by directing his only film, The Rivals (Rywale, 1925).

Among more than forty films that he photographed were some of the best examples of prewar Polish cinema, including classics by Aleksander Ford (The Legion of the Street, 1932), Józef Lejtes (The Line, 1938), Juliusz Gardan (The Leper, 1936), and Leon Trystan/Joseph Green (A Letter to Mother, 1938). Steinwurzel was praised by critics for his professionalism, technical expertise, and artistic leanings. After the outbreak of World War II, he found himself in the territories occupied by the Soviets. In 1941 he joined the newly formed Polish army led by General Władysław Anders and served in its film unit as a camera operator and editor. After 1947 Steinwurzel settled in Brazil, where he worked in the film industry as a constructor and technologist. He moved to Israel in 1975, where he spent the last years of his life.

STUHR, JERZY (1947–). An accomplished actor, director, and scriptwriter, Stuhr became the emblematic Polish actor in the second part of the 1970s linked with the Cinema of Distrust. Known for his feel for everyday language, he created a panorama of characters ranging from uprooted careerists to the passionate and sincere ordinary characters in films directed by, among others, Feliks Falk (Top Dog, 1978, and Chance, 1979), Krzysztof Kieślowski (The Calm, 1976/1980, and Camera Buff, 1979), Juliusz Machulski (Sex Mission, 1984, and Déjà Vu, 1989), and Andrzej Wajda (Rough Treatment, 1978). Later, although he appeared in several different films, his best-known roles were also in the works directed by Kieślowski (Decalogue 10, 1988, and Three Colors: White, 1994), Falk (The Hero of the Year, 1987, a sequel to Top Dog), and Machulski (Kiler, 1997, and its sequel, Kiler 2, 1999). Stuhr is also a celebrated theatrical actor associated with the famous Teatr Stary (Old Theater) in Kraków. Between 1990 and 1996, and from 2002 until the present, he has been serving as the chancellor of the Kraków State Acting Academy (PWST).

In 1994 Stuhr began his directorial career with The List of Adulteresses (aka List of Lovers, Spis cudzołoz˙ nic), the story of a middleaged academic who recollects his old girlfriends and women from

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the past. The film was also scripted by Stuhr and had him in the leading role—a pattern that can be observed in his later films. Critics often see a continuation of Kieślowski’s cinema in the films of Stuhr (who was one of his favorite actors). In Love Stories (Historie miłosne), the 1997 winner of the Festival of Polish Films, Stuhr presents four parallel stories with four different protagonists (all played by Stuhr). The film, dedicated to Kieślowski, resembles a morality play permeated with the very metaphysical ingredients that were so characteristic of Kieślowski’s last films. In A Week in the Life of a Man (Tydzień z z˙ ycia męz˙ czyzny, 1999) Stuhr casts himself as a public prosecutor eager to prosecute others, yet in private life he is equally guilty. The black-and-white film The Big Animal (Duz˙ e zwierzę, 2000), based on a script written by Kieślowski in 1973, is a poetic tale about tolerance and personal freedom. It tells the story of a simple office worker who, despite problems with his neighbors and the authorities, takes care of a camel abandoned by a wandering circus. Tomorrow’s Weather (Pogoda na jutro, 2003), Stuhr’s satire on post-Communist reality, deals with a Solidarity activist who disappeared from everyday life and became a monk isolated from the outside world. His accidental return seventeen years later to a changed political reality and his attempts to make peace with his resentful family are the sources of this bitter comedy.

SZAFLARSKA, DANUTA (1915–). Popular and esteemed actress, whose career in film and theater spans more than sixty years. Szaflarska graduated from an acting school in Warsaw in 1939. After the war, she appeared in the first Polish productions, such as Forbidden Songs (1947) and Treasure (1949), both directed by Leonard Buczkowski.

During the Polish School period, she played in Kazimierz Kutz’s People from the Train (1961), Stanisław Różewicz’s Voice from Beyond (1962), and Stanisław Jędryka’s The Impossible Goodbye (1962). In the 1970s and the 1980s, she played mostly in theater with a few exceptions, such as Tadeusz Konwicki’s The Valley of Issa (1982). Szaflarska received the Best Supporting Actress award at the Festival of Polish Films for Dorota Kędzierzawska’s Devils, Devils (1991) and Filip Zylber’s Farewell to Marią (Poz˙ egnanie z Marią, 1993). In recent years she has often played mothers of middle-aged protagonists, for example in A Week in the Life of a Man (1999, Jerzy

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Stuhr) and in the television film Yellow Scarf (2000, Janusz Morgenstern), and grandmothers, for example in Jerzy Wójcik’s The Complaint (1991). Her other performances include roles in Faustyna (1994, Jerzy Łukaszewicz), The Executor (Egzekutor, 1999, Zylber), and The Queen of Clouds (2003, TV, Radosław Piwowarski).

SZAPOŁOWSKA, GRAŻYNA (1953–). One of the most popular of contemporary Polish actresses voted the best Polish actress in 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1999 by readers of the popular weekly Film.

Following her film debut in 1974, she appeared in several supporting roles, usually typecast as a sex symbol. Her breakthrough film proved to be the 1982 Hungarian production directed by Karoly Makk, Another Way, which dealt with Stalinist politics and lesbian love. In the 1980s, Szapołowska played major roles in films directed by Wiesław Saniewski (Custody, 1985), Filip Bajon (The Magnate, 1987), and Andrzej Barański (Taboo, 1987). International audiences became familiar with her thanks to the leading roles in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films; she appeared as the grieving wife Urszula in No End (1985) and as the attractive artist-weaver Magda in Decalogue 6 and A Short Film about Love, both films made in 1988. For A Short Film about Love she received acting awards at the Festival of Polish Films and at the Chicago Film Festival. Also in 1988, she appeared in another well-received Hungarian production, István Szabó’s Hanussen. At the beginning of the 1990s, Szapołowska played in several foreign, mostly Italian, productions. She maintained her popularity in Poland with films such as Leszek Wosiewicz’s Family Events (1997) and Andrzej Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz, for which she received the Polish Film Award “Eagle.” In recent years, she played in films such as Warszawa (2003), directed by Dariusz Gajewski, and Just You Love Me (Tylko mnie kochaj, 2006), directed by Ryszard Zatorski.

SZARO, HENRYK (1900–1942). Film and theatrical director Henryk Szaro belonged to a group of the most important prewar Polish film directors. A student of Vsevolod Meyerhold, Szaro first made a wellreceived film in Yiddish, One of 36 (Lamedwownik, 1925). Later he also directed another Yiddish classic, The Wedding Vow (Tkijes kaf, 1937). Adaptations of Stefan Żeromski’s novels are among his best-known films: Early Spring (Przedwiośnie, 1928) and The Story

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of Sin (Dzieje grzechu, 1933). Equally well received, and later often imitated, was a classic example of the patriotic genre, To Siberia (Na Sybir, 1930), with Adam Brodzisz and Jadwiga Smosarska. This partly sound film offered an illustration of patriotic tales combined with images of the peaceful Polish countryside. Szaro’s next film, The Year 1914 (Rok 1914, 1932), belonged to the same genre. Until 1939 he continued making popular films, such as Three Troublemakers (Trójka hultajska, 1937), a musical comedy featuring Henryk Wars’s music, and Krystyna’s Lie (Kłamstwo Krystyny, 1939), a melodrama starring Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski and Elżbieta Barszczewska. Szaro was killed in 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Other films: Rivals (Rywale, 1925), Red Jester (Czerwony błazen, 1926), The Call of the Sea (Zew morza, 1927), A Wild Girl (Dzikuska, 1928), A Strong Man (Mocny człowiek, 1929), Mr. Twardowski (Pan Twardowski, 1936), Nobleman Michorowski (Ordynat Michorowski, 1937).

SZCZECHURA, DANIEL (1930–). Eminent maker of animated films, Szczechura graduated from the Warsaw University (1958, art history) and the Łódź Film School (1962, cinematography). In the 1960s, he began making films at the SE-MA-FOR film studio.

Inspired by Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk’s animated films, Szczechura produced several known works that were thinly veiled allusions to the absurdities of the Polish People’s Republic. Despite their complex nature, films such as The Machine (Maszyna, 1961), The Letter (Litera, 1962), A Chair (Fotel, 1963), and Hobby (1968) were often analyzed as metaphors for living in a totalitarian system.

For example, Szczechura’s Hobby was commented upon as a political film about enslavement and liberation, as well as a chilling tale about female possessiveness. His later films also got critical acclaim, for example The Voyage (Podróz˙ , 1970), King Popiel (O królu Popielu, 1974), and Mirage (Fatamorgana, 1981). Szczechura received several international awards for his films, including the Grand Prix at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival for Hobby and several prizes at the Kraków Film Festival.

SZULKIN, PIOTR (1950–). Piotr Szulkin began his career with several short television films, such as Working Women (Kobiety

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pracujące, 1978), and gained prominence for a series of painfully contemporary science fiction films produced at the beginning of the 1980s. His dystopian Golem (1980), based on Gustav Meyrink’s writings and the Golem legend, describes the problem of dehumanization and portrays an animal-like existence in a futuristic postnuclear world. Golem’s cold beauty of painterly images (cinematography by Zygmunt Samosiuk) is repeated in Szulkin’s next film, War of the Worlds: Next Century (Wojna światów: Następne stulecie, 1981, released in 1983). Dedicated to H. G. Wells and Orson Welles, the film depicts another futuristic society during the landing of the Martians. Due to obvious parallels between the film’s images and its Polish political context, it was banned after the introduction of martial law. The issues of manipulation by the “system” appeared also in Szulkin’s next films: O-bi, O-ba: End of Civilization (O-bi, o-ba. Koniec cywilizacji, 1984) and Ga, Ga: Glory to the Heroes (Ga, ga. Chwała bohaterom, 1986). In his later film, Femina (1991), Szulkin mocked the emptiness of political and religious rituals and debunked the ritual aspect of Polish culture and its martyrlike character.

Other films: Ubu, the King (Ubu Król, 2003).

–T–

TELEVISION FILMS. Although the first experimental television studio opened in Warsaw in 1952, and the first films were produced there in 1954, television became more popular in the 1960s. The number of television sets grew from approximately five hundred thousand in 1960 (when the first television production company was formed), to more than three million in 1968 and more than five million in 1972.

In 1965 Polish viewers watched the first locally made television series, Barbara and Jan (Barbara i Jan, seven episodes), directed by Hieronim Przybył and Jerzy Ziarnik, followed by Stanisław Bareja’s crime series Captain Sowa Investigates (eight episodes, 1965), starring Wiesław Gołas. The most popular 1965 television series, however, was Civil War (Wojna domowa, fifteen episodes), directed by Jerzy Gruza. In 1967 Janusz Majewski directed the first television

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film, Avatar, or the Exchange of Souls, part of a popular series of films called Strange Stories (Opowieści niesamowite, thirteen episodes, 1967–1968). The late 1960s were dominated by the two most popular Polish television series ever made, Four Tankmen and a Dog (Czterej pancerni i pies, twenty-one episodes, 1966–1967), directed

by Konrad Nałęcki, and More Than Life at Stake (eighteen episodes, 1967–1968), directed by Janusz Morgenstern and Andrzej Konic.

The former, based on Janusz Przymanowski’s novel (he was also the coscriptwriter of the film) and featuring future stars of Polish cinema including Janusz Gajos, Roman Wilhelmi, and Franciszek Pieczka, was an adventure war film featuring the tank Rudy and its crew on their road to Poland from the Soviet Union. The latter, also set during the war, offered an equally cartoonish, simplified, and stereotypical version of history. The film narrated the story of Hans Kloss (Stanisław Mikulski), a Polish superspy dressed in a German uniform. The popularity of these two television series prompted their makers to release theatrical versions. Subsequent television series, for example Peasants (1973) by Jan Rybkowski, were frequently made with eventual theatrical release in mind. This practice was first started by Jerzy Antczak, the maker of the historical film Countess Cosel (1968). Antczak later produced several distinguished television productions, such as Nights and Days (thirteen episodes, 1977), and became known for numerous television plays.

In the late 1960s, television films were produced by established filmmakers and recent graduates from the Łódź Film School. Television became a training ground for a number of young filmmakers who often started their careers by producing medium-length television films. For example, Krzysztof Zanussi attracted international attention with Death of a Provincial (1966) and two television films made in 1968, Face to Face and Pass Mark. In 1971 he produced Next Door, one of the finest Polish television films starring Maja Komorowska and Zbigniew Zapasiewicz. Other notable directors, such as Agnieszka Holland, Janusz Zaorski, and Edward Żebrowski, also took that route. Furthermore, a number of established filmmakers, including Andrzej Wajda, occasionally made television films, some of them with a theatrical release in mind, as was the case with Wajda’s television film Birchwood (1970). Often two versions of one film were produced (television and big screen), sometimes made by two

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different directors. For example, the theatrical version of Pan Michael (aka Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969) was directed by Jerzy Hoffman, and the television series, titled The Adventures of Mr. Michael (Przygody pana Michała, 1969), by Paweł Komorowski. The 1970s also marked the production of other distinguished television films, such as those directed by Janusz Kondratiuk (Marriageable Girls, 1972), Andrzej Kondratiuk (The Ascended, 1973), and Krzysztof Kieślowski (The Calm (1976/1980).

In the 1970s, television series often dealt with the realm of the managerial class and Communist politics. They ranged from the reflective pictures of factory managers presented in the very well-received series Directors (six episodes, 1975, Zbigniew Chmielewski), to the popular humorous depiction of life during the Edward Gierek period in The Forty-Year-Old (Czterdziestolatek, twenty-one episodes, 1974–1976, Jerzy Gruza). Other television films also dealt with similar issues, for example The Most Important Day of Life (Najwaz˙ niejszy dzień ˙zycia, nine episodes, 1974, Andrzej Konic, Sylwester Szyszko, and Ryszard Ber), Identification Marks (Znaki szczególne, six episodes, 1976, Roman Załuski), and The Sign on Earth (Ślad na ziemi, seven episodes, 1978, Chmielewski). Popular among audiences were attempts to uncover the past such as Columbuses (five episodes, 1970) and The Polish Ways (ten parts, 1976), both directed by Morgenstern, dealing with the Warsaw Uprising and the fate of the Home Army (AK) members. Adaptations of the Polish literary canon also proved to be popular, for example Jan Rybkowski’s Peasants (thirteen episodes, 1972) and Ryszard Ber’s The Doll (Lalka, nine episodes, 1977), as well as historical films such as Wojciech Solarz’s Balzak’s Great Love (Wielka miłość Balzaka, seven episodes, 1973).

In 1980 Rybkowski produced the popular television series The Career of Nikodem Dyzma, starring Roman Wilhelmi. Also in 1980, Jan Łomnicki started his acclaimed series The House (seven episodes), dealing with the fates of inhabitants of a Warsaw apartment building from 1945 to the 1960s. He added five more episodes in 1982 and 1987. In 1981 Jerzy Sztwiertnia directed a historical series, The Longest War of Modern Europe (Najdłuz˙ sza wojna nowoczesnej Europy, thirteen episodes, 1981), and another director, Radosław Piwowarski, completed the popular, unusual melodrama titled John Heart (ten episodes, 1982). After the introduction of

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martial law in December 1981, some directors tried in a thinly veiled manner to poke fun at the absurdities of the Polish People’s Republic, for example Stanisław Bareja in Alternatywy 4 (Alternative Street, No. 4, nine episodes, 1983, premiere in 1986/1987).

Krzysztof Szmagier’s crime series 07 Report! (07 zgłoś się! twenty-one episodes, 1976–1988) was also very popular. The most important event, however, was Kieślowski’s ten-part Decalogue (1988), loosely inspired by the Ten Commandments. Arguably, one of the best television films produced in the 1980s was Magdalena Łazarkiewicz’s The Touch (1986).

In the 1990s, with the decline of existing film studios, Polish Television also became the leading producer of theatrical films. For example, in 1995, state-run television participated in the production of almost all feature films in Poland and acted as the sole producer of four. Three films were produced by the private television network Canal+. Certain acclaimed filmmakers, such as Andrzej Barański and Jan Jakub Kolski, made all their films with the help of state television.

The first Polish television soap opera, In the Labirynth (W labiryncie, 1988–1990), was produced by Paweł Karpiński. Zanussi’s Weekend Stories (seven episodes, 1995–1996), close in spirit to Decalogue, proved to be popular among audiences. Perhaps the most popular crime series at that time was The Extradition (1995–1996, 1998), directed by Wojciech Wójcik, with Marek Kondrat starring as Warsaw police inspector Halski. Perhaps the most artistically important television project in recent years is a series of loosely linked films designed by screenwriter Grzegorz Łoszewski and grouped under the title Polish Holidays (Polskie święta). Prior to 2006, twelve fine television films were produced (usually lasting more than an hour), directed by some established and new directors, including Janusz Kondratiuk (The Night of Santa Claus, 2000), Janusz Morgenstern (Yellow Scarf, 2000), Radosław Piwowarski (The Queen of Clouds, 2003), and Sylwester Chęciński (The Uhlans Have Arrived, 2005).

TEUTONIC KNIGHTS, THE (KRZYŻACY, 1960). Historical epic film directed by Aleksander Ford, a faithful adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel of the same title, published for the first time in 1900. The film, scripted by Ford and Jerzy Stefan Stawiński, deals

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with the 1410 defeat of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen (who fell on the battlefield), by the Polish-Lithuanian forces, led by King Władysław Jagiełło.

The Battle of Grunwald (aka Tannenberg), one of the biggest medieval armed encounters, marked the decline of the powerful order, which never recovered from the defeat. Ford’s widescreen film in Eastmancolor, the first of its kind in Poland (cinematography by Mieczysław Jahoda), was released exactly on the 550th anniversary of the battle. It combined a melodramatic love story with dynamic action sequences, set against the backdrop of the military and political conflict. Featuring popular actors such as Urszula Modrzyńska (Jagienka), Mieczysław Kalenik (Zbyszko), Grażyna Staniszewska (Danusia), and Andrzej Szalawski (Jurand), the film had fourteen million viewers in the first four years of its release and was exported to forty-six countries. According to figures from 2000, The Teutonic Knights remains the most popular film ever screened in Poland, with 33.3 million viewers.

THEMERSON, FRANCISZKA (1907–1988) AND STEFAN THEMERSON (1910–1988). Experimental filmmakers, promotors of avant-garde cinema, writers, and publishers. The Themersons created seven experimental films between 1930 and 1945, of which only three survive—The Adventure of a Good Citizen (Przygoda człowieka poczciwego, 1937), made in Poland, and two films produced in England: Calling Mr. Smith (1943) and The Eye and the Ear (1945).

Their first films, The Pharmacy (Apteka, 1930) and Europe (Europa, 1932), which consisted of photomontages or “photograms in motion” (their term), set the tone for their future works. Their best-known work, Calling Mr. Smith, was intended as anti-Fascist propaganda.

In 1937 they left for Paris and in 1940, for London. From 1948 to 1979, the Themersons ran the Gaberbocchus Press in London. They influenced future generations of animated and avant-garde filmmakers in Poland. See also ANIMATION. THIRD POLISH CINEMA (TRZECIE KINO POLSKIE). The term “Third Polish Cinema” was coined by some Polish critics in the mid1960s to stress another generational change occurring in Polish cinema. For them, “the third generation” consisted of filmmakers raised,

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sometimes even born, in postwar Poland, whose political initiation was not the war and its aftermath, but rather the events of the Polish October (1956) and the Władysław Gomułka years of “small stabilization” (1960s). After the “first generation”—the postwar generation represented by, among others, Wanda Jakubowska and Aleksander Ford—and the Polish School (second) generation, the late 1960s marked the emergence of filmmakers for whom philosophical reflections on culture rather than national history and politics were of prime importance. These were filmmakers preoccupied with reality, sceptical about the world, suspicious of the national romantic tradition, and interested in personal cinema. Although used extensively, the term “Third Polish Cinema” has little explanatory power. It covers disparate film poetics and distinct directorial personalities, such as Jerzy Skolimowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Edward Żebrowski, Janusz Majewski, Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Witold Leszczyński, and several others.

THREE COLORS TRILOGY (1993–1994). Three Colors: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu, 1993), Three Colors: White (Trois couleurs: Blanc, 1994), and Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge, 1994), a major cinematic achievement of the 1990s, is a trilogy inspired by the French tricolor flag, directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. The trilogy premiered at major European film festivals—Blue in Venice in September 1993, White in Berlin in February 1994, and Red in Cannes in May 1994— and won numerous awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for Blue. At the same festival, the Best Actress award was given to Juliette Binoche and the Best Cinematography award to Sławomir Idziak. White received the Silver Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival (Best Director category). Although Red received no award at the Cannes International Film Festival (the grand prize, the Palme d’Or, was given to Quentin Tarantino for his Pulp Fiction), it received numerous other awards, including three Academy Award nominations in 1995 (direction, screenplay, and cinematography), four BAFTA nominations (direction, screenplay, actress, and non-Englishlanguage film), and several festival awards.

Kieślowski produced the trilogy with a group of his frequent collaborators: coscriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, composer Zbigniew Preisner, and cinematographers Sławomir Idziak (Blue), Edward Kłosiński (White), and Piotr Sobociński (Red). Although

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carefully designed as a trilogy and released as such within a short span of time, the three French-Polish-Swiss productions can be viewed separately, as Kieślowski indicated on several occasions.

The Three Colors Trilogy is often cited as possessing several features of international art cinema. It is ostensibly self-reflexive and self-referential. As in Decalogue (1988) and The Double Life of Veronique (1991), characters appear and reappear and the director portrays many chance scenes with no apparent link to the story, rejects causal narrative, and peoples his films with familiar supporting characters. The same tendency toward mannerism is evident in the cinematography and mise-en-scène, including the extensive use of the films’ key colors to stress each main theme and the reliance on mirror images, filters, and views through windows and doors.

Kieślowski’s trilogy was sometimes criticized by Polish scholars and critics for abandoning realistic social observations, which characterized his early films.

THROUGH AND THROUGH (AKA CLEAR THROUGH, NA WYLOT, 1973). Through and Through is among the most original Polish films. It is almost unanimously praised by Polish critics, neglected by local audiences, and virtually unknown outside Poland. Its director and scriptwriter, Grzegorz Królikiewicz, based his provocative documentary-like Through and Through on a well-publicized murder case in pre-1939 Poland. The Malisz couple, unemployed, alienated from society, and desperate to change their miserable conditions, murdered a postman and the elderly couple who witnessed their deed. Królikiewicz shows the ugliness and despair of the characters, played by Franciszek Trzeciak and Anna Nieborowska, and the revolting reality that surrounds them; he is not afraid to portray the repulsive physicality of the murder, an animal-like attack that shocks the unprepared viewer. Atypical camera movement (cinematography by Bogdan Dziworski), bizarre angles, merciless close-ups that disfigure the protagonists, images that are difficult to decipher, and bizarre sound effects help intensify the emotional aspect of the film. Królikiewicz’s critical works, especially his examination of the off-screen space, are reflected in the techniques used in Through and Through: rudimentary dialogues, experimental soundtrack, unusual camera angles, and an uncommon composition of frame. For example, in the murder scene

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the viewer sees one of the images upside down, with the victim’s blood flowing from the bottom to the top of the screen.

TOEPLITZ, JERZY (1909–1995). A prominent member of the START group in the 1930s, Jerzy Toeplitz became a renowned film critic, scholar, and film administrator after 1945. He served as the first head of the Łódź Film School from 1949 to 1952, and once again from 1957 to 1968. He lost his job as a result of the antiSemitic campaign in 1968. He left for Australia in 1970 and worked as a consultant for the Interim Council for the National Film and Television Training School. From 1972 to 1973, he taught at La Trobe University in Melbourne. In 1973 he became the director of the Sydney Film School (AFTRS) until 1979. For his service in Australia he received the Award of Officer of the Order of Australia and Australian Film Institute Longford Life Achievement Award. The Sydney Film School Library bears his name (Jerzy Toeplitz Library).

In 1995 he received the doctorate honoris causa from the Łódź Film School. He is the author of several books, including his edited volumes on the history of Polish cinema.

TOM, KONRAD (KONRAD RUNOWIECKI, 1887–1957). Popular prewar actor, film director, and scriptwriter, Tom was also a well-known musical theater and cabaret singer associated with the Old Band (Stara Banda), Qui pro Quo, and other trendy Warsaw cabarets. Between 1918 and 1924, he directed three films, among them An Unfaithful Wife (Kiedy kobieta zdradza męz˙ a, 1924), based on Béla Balázs’s novel. During the next ten years he was active as a screenwriter, actor, and the author of dialogues and lyrics. His better-known scripts include Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934, Juliusz Gardan), Antek, the Police Chief (1935, Michał Waszyński), and The Baltic Rhapsody (1935, Leonard Buczkowski). In the mid-1930s, he established himself as the master of musical comedy with two films: Love Schemes (Manewry miłosne, 1935, codirected by Jan Nowina-Przybylski) and Ada! Don’t Do That! (Ada! To nie wypada! 1936). Together with Jan Fethke, he directed another classic prewar musical comedy in 1938, The Forgotten Melody (Zapomniana melodia), with Aleksander Żabczyński and Helena Grossówna.

The music, including popular prewar songs, was composed for these

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three films by Henryk Wars. In 1938 Tom directed his only film in Yiddish, Little Mother (Mamele, 1938, with Joseph Green). During the war he served in General Władysław Anders’s Second Polish Army Corps. In 1947 he migrated to the United States, and he died in Los Angeles.

Other films (as director): The Profiteers (Rozporek i ska, 1918), Consul Pomeranc (Konsul Pomeranc, 1920), Little Sailor (Mały marynarz, 1936, with Jan Nowina-Przybylski), The Little Prince (Ksiąz˙ ątko, 1937), The Warsaw Parade (Parada Warszawy, 1937), Prince Joseph’s Uhlan (Ułan księcia Józefa, 1937).

TOR FILM STUDIO (STUDIO FILMOWE TOR). One of the most distinguished film producers in Poland. Founded in 1967 as a film unit (a film studio since 1989), Tor was originally managed by one of the most respected Polish School directors, Stanisław Różewicz, and drew a number of prominent directors such as Andrzej Wajda (who later headed his own film unit X), Janusz Majewski, and Krzysztof Zanussi—Tor’s manager since 1979. The studio produced more than ninety feature films and several television films. The studio produced the majority of films directed by Zanussi and all the films directed by Różewicz since 1968. Its list of distinguished directors is extensive and includes Krzysztof Kieślowski, whose best-known works since Personnel (1975) were produced (or coproduced) by Tor, and Wojciech Marczewski, who made all his films there. Other directors include Janusz Majewski, Edward Żebrowski, Antoni Krauze, and Filip Bajon. The studio’s list of notable films is equally impressive and includes several winners of the Festival of Polish Films, such as Camouflage (1977), Passion (1978, Różewicz), Camera Buff (1979), The Woman in the Hat (1985, Różewicz), A Short Film about Killing and A Short Film about Love (1988, Kieślowski), Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (1990, Marczewski), The Sequence of Feelings (1993, Radosław Piwowarski), Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000, Zanussi), and The Welts (Pręgi, 2004, Magdalena Piekorz). The studio won several international film festivals for a number of films, including Kieślowski’s Three Colors Trilogy (1993–1994) and Zanussi’s Year of the Quiet Sun (1985).

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TRYSTAN, LEON (CHAIM LEJB WAGMAN, 1899–1941).

An actor turned critic and then filmmaker, Trystan attempted to develop a coherent film theory in his articles by referring to the French Impressionist avant-garde theory of Louis Delluc and Jean Epstein. In his works published between 1922 and 1924, Trystan propagated poetic cinema: cinema that is avant-garde, “photogenic,” and influenced by the concept of “film as music.” As a filmmaker, Trystan made seven feature films between 1926 and 1938. In the first two, made in 1927, Szamota’s Lover (Kochanka Szamoty) and The Mutiny of Blood and Iron (Bunt krwi i z˙ elaza), he tried to follow his theoretical premises; he combined melodrama with “photogenic” scenes that enhanced the atmosphere and created suspense. The later three films were commercial undertakings, including a popular musical comedy, Upstairs (Piętro wyz˙ ej, 1937), starring Eugeniusz Bodo. His last film was made in 1938 in Yiddish and codirected with Joseph Green—A Letter to Mother (A brivele der mamen)—which had its premiere in the United States after the war.

Other films: Imprisoned Souls (Dusze w niewoli, 1930), Two Days in Paradise (Dwa dni w raju, 1936).

TRZOS-RASTAWIECKI, ANDRZEJ (ANDRZEJ TRZOS, 1933–).

Scriptwriter and director of documentary and feature films, Trzos-Rastawiecki established himself in the 1960s as a maker of documentary and television films. His first theatrical work, Leprosy (Trąd, 1971), originated a series of films offering an almost documentary-like experience. Trzos-Rastawiecki became known for his quasi-documentary examination of the sociological and psychological circumstances leading to crime in Record of Crime (Zapis zbrodni, 1974), in which he referred to an actual murder case, and Convicted (Skazany, 1976), featuring Wojciech Pszoniak. The 1978 film Wherever You Are, Mr. President (Gdziekolwiek jesteś panie prezydencie, 1978) featured Tadeusz Łomnicki in the role of the legendary prewar Warsaw president Stefan Starzyński, who perished without trace after his arrest in September 1939 by the invading Germans, and incorporated archival footage into blackand-white photography by cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk.

In recent years, Trzos-Rastawiecki has directed documentary films

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as well as television series: The Archivist (Archiwista, 1995) and Marshall Piłsudski (Marszałek Piłsudski, 2001), the latter starring Zbigniew Zapasiewicz.

Other films: I Am Against (Jestem przeciw, 1985), After the Fall (Po upadku, 1990).

TYM, STANISŁAW (1937–). Popular actor, scriptwriter, columnist, and stand-up comic, best known for his collaboration with Stanisław Bareja. Tym scripted and acted in cult films directed by Bareja such as What Will You Do with Me when You Catch Me (1978) and Teddy Bear (1980). In 1992 he scripted and starred in Sylwester Chęciński’s comedy about the introduction of martial law, Controlled Conversations. He is also remembered for his role in another cult film, Marek Piwowski’s The Cruise (1970). In 2007 Tym directed and starred in Lynx (Ryś), a sequel to Teddy Bear.

TYSZKIEWICZ, BEATA (1938–). Film actress, often labeled the “grande dame of Polish cinema,” Tyszkiewicz appeared in more than one hundred films and several television series. Her debut came in 1957 with the costume adaptation Revenge (Zemsta, 1957), directed

by Antoni Bohdziewicz and Bohdan Korzeniewski, where she starred alongside the legends of Polish theater Jacek Woszczerowicz and Jan Kurnakowicz. At the beginning of the 1960s, she appeared in several lead roles, for example in Jan Rybkowski’s Tonight the City Will Die (1961) as a young German woman in bombarded Dresden and in his Truly Yesterday (1963) as an art history student. She also starred in Jan Batory’s Visit of a President (1961) and Meeting with a Spy (1964) and in Aleksander Ford’s The First Day of Freedom (1964).

She also played a strong supporting role as a young partisan nurse in Tadeusz Konwicki’s All Souls’ Day (1961).

Tyszkiewicz’s aristocratic background and her beauty and freshness proved to be ideally suited for historical costume films. She shone in such films made in Poland and abroad. For example, she starred in Leonard Buczkowski’s Maria and Napoleon (1966) and excelled in Wojciech J. Has’s epic adaptation of The Doll (1968), where she played an aristocratic young lady, Countess Izabela Łęcka.

She was cast in a similar role in a Russian film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, A Nest of Gentry (1969), and in Wojciech Solarz’s

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television costume melodrama Balzak’s Great Love (Wielka miłość Balzaka, 1973, Polish-French coproduction).

Tyszkiewicz also appeared in films directed by Andrzej Wajda, such as the historical epic Ashes (1965) and the self-reflexive Everything for Sale (1969), in the latter as Beata, the film director’s wife (she was Wajda’s wife in real life from 1967 to 1968). In addition, she acted in several films made abroad in Hungary, Belgium, Bulgaria, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, and Russia. She had lead roles in Jan Zeman’s The Devil’s Smile (1987, Czechoslovakia) and Igor Gostev’s European Story (1984, Soviet Union). In Poland she appeared in Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s Dancing Hawk (1978) as Wiesława, the city wife of the ambitious villager Toporny, and had strong supporting roles in Juliusz Machulski’s films made in the 1980s: Sex Mission (1984), Va banque II (1985), and King-Size (1987). Since 1990 she has appeared in more than twenty-five films and several television series playing various roles. For example, she played an earthy provincial woman in Wojciech Nowak’s merciless satire Death of the Kidsmaker (Smierć dziecioroba, 1991) and Berta Sonnenbruch (the professor’s wife) in Zbigniew Kamiński’s adaptation of Leon Kruczkowski’s drama Germans (Niemcy, 1996), for which she received an acting award at the Festival of Polish Films.

–W–

WAJDA, ANDRZEJ (1926–). Arguably the most prominent Polish film director whose distinguished career spans more than five decades of cinema. Graduate of the Łódź Film School in 1953 (diploma in 1960), he began by assisting Aleksander Ford on his Five Boys from Barska Street (1953). Wajda’s first feature film, A Generation (Pokolenie, 1955), a coming-of-age story set during World War II, was shot mostly on location with young, then unknown actors: Tadeusz Janczar, Zbigniew Cybulski, Tadeusz Łomnicki, and Roman Polański. Wajda, a proponent of the Polish romantic tradition, often portrayed protagonists who are caught by the oppressive forces of history and function as its unfortunate victims. Kanal (Kanał, 1957), the second part of his war trilogy, concerned the final stage of the Warsaw

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Uprising. His next film, the world cinema classic and landmark of the Polish School, Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, 1958), introduced another tragic romantic hero, Maciek (Cybulski), torn between duty to the national cause and the yearning for a normal life.

After directing Lotna (1959), another war film, this time about the September 1939 campaign, Wajda tried to broaden his oeuvre. In 1960 he made a film about the young generation, Innocent Sorcerers (Niewinni czarodzieje), which introduced a new lyrical tone to his films. At the beginning of the 1960s, after the Holocaust drama Samson (1961), he began making films abroad, such as Siberian Lady Macbeth (aka Fury Is a Woman, Sibirska Ledi Makbet, 1962), produced in Yugoslavia. In 1965 Wajda adapted Stefan Żeromski’s novel Ashes (Popioły, 1965), set in Napoleonic times, which portrays the fate of the young Polish legionnaires. This almost four-hour-long black-and-white film generated one of the most intense debates in Poland. The year 1969 marked the release of Wajda’s most personal film, Everything for Sale (Wszystko na sprzedaz˙ ), following the tragic death of his Ashes and Diamonds star, Cybulski. Although the film deals with Cybulski’s legend, it is not so much a film about the actor as it is about Wajda, his actors, his other films, and the uncertainty of the future of his artistic career.

The majority of Wajda’s films are adaptations of the Polish national literary canon. At the beginning of the 1970s, he produced a number of important adaptations revolving around characters’ psychology rather than the historical and political contexts. Among them are Landscape after Battle (Krajobraz po bitwie, 1970), based on Tadeusz Borowski’s short stories, and Birchwood (Brzezina, 1970), an adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s short story, both films starring Daniel Olbrychski, Wajda’s favorite actor in the 1970s. In 1973 Wajda made The Wedding (Wesele, 1973), an adaptation of the canonical Polish drama by Stanisław Wyspiański and a film abundant with national symbolism and references to Polish mythology, history, and national complexes. Another film, The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana, 1975), based on Władysław Stanisław Reymont’s novel about the birth of Polish capitalism in Łódź, is one of the most treasured films in Poland. The 1979 film The Maids of Wilko (Panny z Wilka), another adaptation of Iwaszkiewicz’s prose, introduces a forty-yearold protagonist (Olbrychski) who moves to the village of Wilko to

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revive happy memories from his first visit there before World War I. The erotic and moody photography (by Edward Kłosiński) evokes a Chekhovian atmosphere.

In the late 1970s, Wajda played a crucial role in the Cinema of Distrust. One of his most celebrated works, Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1977), a pioneer film about Stalinism in Poland featuring Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, became an inspiration for a number of younger filmmakers associated with his film unit X. Its sequel, Man of Iron (Człowiek z ˙zelaza, 1981), won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Another film made during the same period, Rough Treatment (aka Without Anesthesia, Bez znieczulenia, 1978), depicted the professional and personal downfall of a middleaged journalist (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz). Coscripted by Wajda and Agnieszka Holland, Rough Treatment dealt with a Communist-style “conspiracy theory.”

Like many other Polish films, Wajda’s Danton (1983), a complex historical drama about the French Revolution of 1789, was read by viewers in Poland as an allegorical reference to the country’s political situation. Although Wajda has produced several films since Danton, the majority of them received mixed reviews. He revisited issues first explored in Ashes and Diamonds in his 1992 film The Ring with a Crowned Eagle (Pierścionek z orłem w koronie). Among his muchdiscussed recent films are Holocaust dramas—Korczak (1990) and Holy Week (Wielki tydzień, 1996). Korczak portrays a figure of great importance for both Polish and Jewish cultures, a famous writer, a well-known physician, and a devoted pedagogue who died in the gas chamber of Treblinka with two hundred of “his orphans” from a Jewish orphanage. As if unharmed by some negative responses to Korczak (or perhaps because of them), in Holy Week Wajda returned once again to an examination of Polish-Jewish relations and focused on the Polish experience of the Holocaust. In recent years, Wajda has won back his audiences with faithful adaptations of the Polish literary canon: Pan Tadeusz (1999) and Revenge (Zemsta, 2002). With more than six million viewers, Pan Tadeusz, an adaptation of Adam Mickiewicz’s book-length poem, is one of the most popular films screened in Poland after 1989.

During his long career Wajda received numerous awards. The list includes the Academy Lifetime Achievement award in 2000, three

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nominations for Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category (The Promised Land, The Maids of Wilko, and Man of Iron), awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice film festivals, and several honorary doctoral degrees. Wajda also headed the Polish Filmmakers Association from 1978 to 1983.

Other films: Roly Poly (Przekładaniec, TV, 1968), Gates of Paradise (Bramy raju, 1968), Hunting Flies (Polowanie na muchy, 1969), Pilatus and Others (Pilatus und Andere, 1971), The Shadow Line (Smuga cienia, 1976), The Orchestra Conductor (Dyrygent, 1980), A Love in Germany (Eine Liebe in Deutchland/Miłość w Niemczech, 1983), A Chronicle of Amorous Accidents (Kronika wypadków miłosnych, 1985), Nastasia (Nastazja, 1994), Miss Nobody (Panna nikt, 1996), Franciszek Kłos’ Death Sentence (Wyrok na Franciszka Kłosa, TV, 2000).

WAJDA’S FILM SCHOOL. See ANDRZEJ WAJDA MASTER SCHOOL OF FILM DIRECTING. WARS, HENRYK (HENRYK WARSZAWSKI, 1902–1977). Born into a Jewish musical family, Wars graduated from the Music Conservatory in Warsaw in 1925. He established himself in the late 1920s as the author of widely popular Warsaw cabaret songs. In 1930 he composed music for his first film, the patriotic picture To Siberia, directed

by Henryk Szaro. Before the outbreak of World War II, this highly regarded film composer provided musical scores for forty-seven films.

Wars composed music for, among others, Józef Lejtes’s General Pankratov’s Daughter (1934), Juliusz Gardan’s Is Lucyna a Girl?

(1934), and Michał Waszyński’s Antek, the Police Chief (1935), The Heroes of Siberia (1936), and The Quack (1937). He also composed music and popular songs for the classic prewar musical comedy The Forgotten Melody (1938), directed by Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke.

Wars’s numerous prewar hits include one of the best-loved Polish songs, “Love Will Forgive You Everything” (“Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy”), performed by Hanka Ordonówna in the 1933 film The Masked Spy (Szpieg w masce), directed by Mieczysław Krawicz.

After World War II, Wars settled in the United States where, credited as Henry Vars, he composed music for several Hollywood films from 1951 to 1971.

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WARSAW FILM STUDIO. See DOCUMENTARY AND FEATURE FILM STUDIO. WASZYŃSKI, MICHAŁ (MICHAŁ WAKS, 1904–1965). Prolific film director Waszyński, who made as many as thirty-nine films from his 1929 debut Under the Banner of Love (Pod banderą miłości) to the 1939 film The Tramps (Włóczęgi), is responsible for some of the most representative Polish works of the 1930s. For example, his The Quack (Znachor, 1937) remains for many the symbol of Polish popular cinema in the 1930s. The story concerns a well-known surgeon, Rafał Wilczur (Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski), who loses his memory, lives as a tramp for many years, and, eventually, settles in a village and helps the locals as a quack doctor. Later, due to some happy coincidences, he regains his memory as well as his previous social standing and material status. The popularity of this film helped Waszyński to produce an equally popular sequel, Professor Wilczur (Profesor Wilczur, 1938). Waszyński is also responsible for one of the best-known examples of the flourishing Yiddish cinema in Poland—The Dybbuk (Der Dibuk, 1937).

Before his debut film, Waszyński received a high-quality training in Russia, Poland, and Germany where he worked as an assistant to F. W. Murnau. This background, in addition to Waszyński’s indisputable talent and organizational skills, was apparent in several of his films from different genres. Although he made a successful patriotic picture, The Heroes of Siberia (Bohaterowie Sybiru, 1936), he excelled mostly in melodramas and comedies. For example, one of his first films, the melodrama The Cult of the Body (Kult ciała, 1930, Polish-Austrian coproduction), received international praise. In 1938 he directed seven melodramas, among them Anguish (Gehenna), A Mother’s Heart (Serce matki), and Women on the Edge (Kobiety nad przepaścią). Waszyński is also well known for comedies. He directed several popular comedies starring Adolf Dymsza, including classic works such as Antek, the Police Chief (Antek policmajster, 1935), often considered the best prewar Polish comedy, ABC of Love (ABC miłości, 1935), Wacuś (1935), and Dodek at the Front (Dodek na froncie, 1936). He also made musical comedies featuring Eugeniusz Bodo with music by Henryk Wars, such as His Excellency, the Shop Assistant (Jego ekscelencja subiekt, 1933), The Bard of Warsaw (Pieśniarz Warszawy, 1934), and His Excellency, the Chauffeur (Jaśnie pan szofer, 1935).

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During World War II, Waszyński produced several documentary films working for the Polish army of General Władysław Anders.

After the war, he settled in Italy and later in Spain. He directed two feature films in Italy and acted as an assistant director on Orson Welles’s Othello (1952). He also worked as an art director on Roman Holiday (1953, William Wyler) and as associate producer on two films directed by Anthony Mann (El Cid, 1961, and The Fall of the Roman Empire, 1964) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (The Barefoot Contessa, 1954, and The Quiet American, 1958).

Other films: A Dangerous Love Affair (Niebezpieczny romans, 1930), Nameless Heroes (Bezimienni bohaterowie, 1931), A Seduced Woman (Uwiedziona, 1931), The Sound of the Desert (Głos pustyni, 1932), One Hundred Meters of Love (Sto metrów miłości, 1932), The Twelve Chairs (Dwanaście krzeseł, 1933, Polish-Czech coproduction, codirected by Martin Frič), District Attorney Alicja Horn (Prokurator Alicja Horn, 1933), The Toy (Zabawka, 1933), What My Husband Does at Night (Co mój mąz˙ robi w nocy, 1934), The Black Pearl (Czarna perła, 1933), He Loves, He Likes, He Respects (Kocha, lubi, szanuje, 1934), The Reservists’ Parade (Parada rezerwistów, 1934), The Young Lady from the Post Office (Panienka z poste-restante, 1935, with Jan Nowina-Przybylski), Happy Days (Będzie lepiej, 1936), Bolek and Lolek (Bolek i Lolek, 1936), Daddy is Getting Married (Papa się ˙zeni, 1936), 30 Carats of Happiness (30 karatów szczęścia, 1936), A Second Youth (Druga młodość, 1938), The Last Brigade (Ostatnia brygada, 1938), Rena (1938), At the End of the Road (U kresu drogi, 1939), The Three Hearts (Trzy serca, 1939), The Great Road (Wielka droga, 1946).

WEBER, KURT (1928–). Cinematographer and teacher at the Łódź Film School from 1953 to 1969. Weber started his career working on the socialist realist film Two Brigades (Dwie brygady, 1950, Eugeniusz Cękalski). Among his better-known films made during the Polish School period are Damned Roads (1959), directed by Czesław Petelski, and A Sky of Stone (1959), directed by Ewa and Czesław Petelski. Weber’s talent for capturing realistic detail is also evident in Kazimierz Kutz’s People from the Train (1961) and Tadeusz Konwicki’s All Souls’ Day (1961) and Somersault (1965). Later Weber also worked with Stanisław Różewicz (Hell and Heaven, 1966), Janusz Majewski (The

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Lodger, 1967), and Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski (The Murderer Leaves a Trail, 1967). In 1969 Weber immigrated to Israel and also worked on several films produced in the former West Germany.

WILHELMI, ROMAN (1936–1991). Film and television actor. A 1958 graduate of the Warsaw acting school (PWST), Wilhelmi debuted in film with an episodic role in Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958, uncredited), followed by several supporting roles in the 1960s.

He appeared in, among others, The Teutonic Knights (1960, Aleksander Ford), Tonight the City Will Die (1961, Jan Rybkowski), and Westerplatte (1967, Stanisław Różewicz). He became popular thanks to his role in the television series Four Tankmen and a Dog (1966–1967, Konrad Nałęcki). Wilhelmi received critical praise later for his roles in Walerian Borowczyk’s The Story of Sin (1975) and Janusz Majewski’s Hotel Pacific (1975), in both films playing manipulative, sadistic characters. For the latter film he was awarded at the Festival of Polish Films. After an important role in another film by Majewski, The Gorgon Affair (1977), and Andrzej Wajda’s Rough Treatment (1978), Wilhelmi excelled by playing a strong supporting role in Filip Bajon’s Aria for an Athlete (1979) and starring as a sensitive radio talk show host in Tomasz Zygadło’s The Moth (1980), for which he received awards at the Festival of Polish Films and the Moscow Film Festival. Arguably, his crowning achievement was the title role as a simpleton, Nikodem Dyzma, and his rise to power in a popular television series, The Career of Nikodem Dyzma (1980), directed by Jan Rybkowski. Also in 1980, Wilhelmi played the leading role in the psychological drama Smaller Sky, directed by Janusz Morgenstern, followed by starring roles in Piotr Szulkin’s War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981/1983), Zygadło’s Revenge (1982), and Wojciech Wójcik’s Private Investigation (1986). His last screen appearance was a strong supporting role in Andrzej Żuławski’s French film Blue Note (1991).

WISZNIEWSKI, WOJCIECH (1946–1981). Innovative filmmaker who produced several acclaimed films in the 1970s belonging to the brand of Polish documentary cinema that was labeled by critics “creative documentary” (dokument kreacyjny). Like some of his fellow filmmakers, such as Grzegorz Królikiewicz, Wiszniewski

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incorporated techniques of fictional cinema into his documentary works and became known for his easily recognizable visual style.

Before his untimely death, he produced several award-winning films, most of which, due to their political nature, were banned from distribution and not released until 1981. His best-known works include two stylized documentary films about the Stalinist period: The Story of a Man Who Produced 552 Percent of the Norm (Opowieść o człowieku, który wykonał 552% normy, 1973) and Wanda Gościmińska, the Textile Worker (Wanda Gościmińska—włókniarka, 1975), which portrayed the life of Stakhanovites and examined the Stalinist work competition. In 1975 he made one of the masterpieces of Polish documentary, The First Textbook (Elementarz, 1976), a philosophical essay on the nature of patriotism. His other films were equally successful: Carpenter (Stolarz, 1976, recipient of the Grand Prix at the festival in Oberhausen) and A Foreman on the Farm (Sztygar na zagrodzie, 1978). Wiszniewski also directed one fictional film, the medium-length tragicomedy The Story of a Certain Love (Historia pewnej miłości, 1974), which, due to its dark portrayal of everyday life, was released in 1981. The lead actor of this film, Andrzej Mellin, produced a documentary film in 1985, Lunatic—The Film about Wojciech Wiszniewski (Szajbus—Film o Wojtku Wiszniewskim), which provides an insight into the life and work of Wiszniewski.

WOJCIECHOWSKI, KRZYSZTOF (1939–). Author of educational films, television films and programs, documentary and feature films, Wojciechowski became known for his early documentary classic He Left on a Bright, Sunny Day (Wyszedł w jasny, pogodny dzień, 1971) and has produced more than thirty documentary films. Since his work as the second director on Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s Through and Through (Na wylot, 1973), Wojciechowski has produced a series of unique narrative films. Let Us Love (Kochajmy się, 1974) and The Corner of Brzeska and Capri Streets (Róg Brzeskiej i Capri, 1979) show his concern with portraying reality—he employs a cast of nonprofessional actors and offers an almost “ethnographic experience” concerned with, respectively, the developing village and the impoverished workingclass Warsaw suburb. In 1997 he made The Story of Prophet Elijah of Wierszalin (Historia o proroku Eliaszu z Wierszalina), another “ethnographic film” set before the war in the Polish eastern provinces.

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Other films: Antics (Antyki, 1978), The Law Is the Law (Prawo jest prawem, 1982), Fetish (Fetysz, 1984).

WÓJCIK, JERZY (1930–). Accomplished cinematographer whose name is synonymous with some of the best-known achievements of the Polish School. He worked as a camera operator on Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal (1957) and as a cinematographer on Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958). He also photographed Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958) as well as Kazimierz Kutz’s Cross of Valor (1959) and Nobody Is Calling (1960), where he and Kutz challenged the dominant aesthetics of Polish films. In addition, Wójcik contributed photography to the classics directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz—Mother Joan of the Angels (1961) and The Pharaoh (1966)—and Jerzy Hoffman’s The Deluge (1974). Beginning with Westerplatte (1967), Wójcik started a long-term collaboration with Stanisław Różewicz and photographed films such as Leaves Have Fallen (1975), Lynx (1981), and A Woman with a Hat (1985).

Wójcik also scripted and directed two films: The Complaint (Skarga, 1991), which referred to the brutally suppressed strikes in the Szczecin shipyard in 1970, and The Gates of Europe (Wrota Europy, 1999), set during the Polish-Soviet war in 1920. Both films were photographed by Witold Sobociński. In addition, he directed several television theater plays. Since 1984 Wójcik has been teaching the art of cinematography at the Łódź Film School, where he has also acted as an artistic supervisor on a number of student films.

WÓJCIK, WOJCIECH (JERZY WOJCIECH WÓJCIK, 1943–).

Director and scriptwriter specializing in crime films. After graduating in 1967 from the Łódź Film School, Wójcik worked for several years as assistant to the director or second director on seventeen films beginning with Kazimierz Kutz’s Robbery (1967/1969) and including Salt of the Black Earth (1970, Kutz), The Wicked Gate (1974, Stanisław Różewicz), and Death of a President (1977, Jerzy Kawalerowicz).

Although at the beginning of his directorial career he made a psychological drama, Window (Okno, 1981/1983), and a postwar drama, Alone among His Own (Sam pośród swoich, 1985), his action film Karate Polish Style (Karate po polsku, 1983) set the pattern for his later works.

They were mostly action-oriented crime films that incorporated the

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style of American cinema to describe unglamorous Polish reality. In Private Investigation (Prywatne śledztwo, 1987), Roman Wilhelmi played a character seeking revenge after his family was killed by a drunken truck driver. It was followed by a crime comedy, To Kill at the End (Zabić na końcu, 1990), and a psychological crime drama, Three Days without Conviction (Trzy dni bez wyroku, 1991). Wójcik’s most popular film was the television crime series The Extradition (Ekstradycja, 1995–1996, 1998), with Marek Kondrat starring as a stereotypically hard-bitten Warsaw police inspector named Olgierd Halski who fights international drug gangs. Apart from other crime films, such as Bermuda Triangle (Trójkąt Bermudzki, 1988) and The Last Mission (Ostatnia misja, 2000), Wójcik also directed a political drama set in the 1960s, There and Back (Tam i z powrotem, 2002). The film, winning Wójcik Best Director at the Festival of Polish Films, tells the story of a Polish physician (Janusz Gajos) who uses desperate measures to be reunited with his English wife and daughter.

Other films: No Mercy (Bez litości, 2002), The Pack (Sfora, TV series, 2002), The Forgerers: Return of the Pack (Fałszerze. Powrót sfory, TV series, 2006).

WOMEN. In the context of Polish cinema it is not easy to discuss issues such as feminist cinema, women’s cinema, and the representation of women. Anyone willing to provide a more comprehensive study has to support textual analyses with the knowledge of Polish politics and culture and has to be familiar with the issues of representation specific to the Polish context. Until recently, Polish female filmmakers and critics alike were reluctant to embrace feminist ideas.

They distanced themselves from feminism and gender issues. Since films dealing with gender issues, relationships, and children were traditionally regarded as “unserious” in the history-obsessed Polish context, local filmmakers, regardless of their gender, aspired to produce “serious” films narrating stories of vital national importance.

The mythology of the Polish Mother, developed during the period of Poland’s partition, has permeated Polish culture. This traditional national emblem of femininity celebrates subordination of private desires for patriotic and religious causes and promotes heroic sacrifice for/of children at the altar of national needs. Such heroines, present throughout the history of Polish cinema, can be found

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particularly in several patriotic pictures of the interwar period, such as The Year 1863 (1922, Edward Puchalski), Hurricane (1928, Józef Lejtes), and To Siberia (1930, Henryk Szaro), the latter starring Jadwiga Smosarska.

Out of almost 370 films made in Poland before 1939, only a small number were made by female directors. The name of Nina Niovilla (Antonina Elżbieta Petrykiewicz, aka Nina von Petry) should be mentioned in this context. She directed six films between 1918 and 1923, mostly patriotic pictures and melodramas. She also acted as a scriptwriter, actress, and film producer. The treatment of women in Polish prewar melodramas oscillated between presenting them as femme fatales in the tradition of Pola Negri’s silent features made for the Sfinks studio and as vulnerable figures at the mercy of the environment. Several filmmakers excelled in depicting female screen characters, among them Lejtes, who was known for his skillful portrayals in films such as The Girls from Nowolipki (1937) and Line (1938).

During the socialist realist period, films such as An Adventure at Marienstadt (1954) portrayed “new women” working in fields traditionally reserved for men, like heavy industry and construction sites. Their career choices were opposed by their families and, sometimes, by their male superiors. The Communist model propagated the masculinization of “new women” (women driving tractors, working in coal mines, etc.). In the world of ascetic socialist realist films there was no time for family, privacy, intimacy, and love. Enhanced production equaled private success; professional advancement, “class instinct,” and strong belief in the new ideology were akin to securing somebody’s love.

Unlike the socialist realist characters, who were immune to sex and unwilling to give up production for love, female protagonists during the Polish School period were multidimensional, torn between duty to the nation and private aspirations, and often interested only in personal issues. For example, Urszula Modrzyńska, the socialist realist star in A Generation (1955, Andrzej Wajda), displayed different qualities in Rainy July (1958, Leonard Buczkowski). Lucyna Winnicka in Night Train (1959, Jerzy Kawalerowicz), Teresa Iżewska in Kanal (1957, Wajda), and several other actresses portrayed characters who were experienced, sexual, and competing with men. Such female characters were also present in

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later Polish films. During the Solidarity period, a number of female screen protagonists struggled with the Communist system. An aspiring filmmaker, Agnieszka, in Wajda’s Man of Marble (1977), played by Krystyna Janda, became one of the icons of the Polish cinema in the 1970s. Janda’s character was new to Polish cinema: strong, free, sexual, and challenging to the political system. In the sequel, Man of Iron (1981), after Agnieszka married the son of a Stakhanovite hero of her film (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz), her dramatic role was finished—she became a Polish Mother with no life of her own. After the collapse of Communism, several Polish filmmakers resorted to female stereotypes, particularly in action films such as Władysław Pasikowski’s Kroll (1991) and The Pigs (1992).

Bordering on misogyny, these films offered masculine spectacles celebrating Polish-style machismo and portrayed a degraded world with voiceless, blatantly sexual, clichéd female characters.

A focus on relationships, family ties, and discussions of topics marginalized by previous Polish cinema can be found in several films made by “women behind the camera.” During the early stages of postwar Polish cinema, female filmmakers such as Anna Sokołowska and Maria Kaniewska specialized in films for children. Exceptions were rare, but included Wanda Jakubowska who in 1948 made her landmark war film about female solidarity in Auschwitz, The Last Stage (1948). In the 1980s, Barbara Sass made a series of films featuring well-depicted female characters. During the same period, Agnieszka Holland, arguably the best-known Polish female filmmaker, started her career with powerful films such as A Woman Alone (1981/1988). In recent years, several women directors successfully established themselves in the Polish film industry, among them Dorota Kędzierzawska, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz, Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, and Teresa Kotlarczyk. Interestingly, some of them strongly object to being labeled “feminist filmmakers,” although often they deal with gender issues from the feminist perspective.

WOSIEWICZ, LESZEK (1953–). Writer-director Wosiewicz began his career in 1980 with a psychological thriller called The Taste of Water (Smak wody). His next film, the medium-length The Vigil of 1981 (Wigilia ’81), was the first work dealing with the introduction of martial law in Poland. Wosiewicz’s breakthrough film, the

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underappreciated Kornblumenblau (1989), introduced a different look at World War II and wartime sufferings close to the spirit of the laconic prose of Tadeusz Borowski. The film worked against the romantic tradition that permeated Polish literature and film— its focus was not on the psychology but on the physiology of the dehumanized hero who survives in the concentration camp by instinct. Wosiewicz also emphasized the grotesque nature of history in Scurvy (Cynga, 1993), a film about the fate of Poles who, after September 1939, found themselves in Soviet-occupied territories and were deported to Siberia. With their stress on the grotesque, absurdist aspect of history, Scurvy and Kornblumenblau shared many characteristics with Agnieszka Holland’s Europa, Europa (1991). Wosiewicz’s next film, Family Events (Kroniki rodzinne), produced in 1997, narrated a coming-of-age story set in a small town during the period of Stalinism. His recent film, The Crossroads Café (Rozdroz˙ e café, 2005), intriguingly narrates the story of a group of young people committing a senseless, brutal murder during a bank robbery. Wosiewicz, who teaches at the Katowice Film and Television School, is also known for his documentary films, such as the award-winning The Case of Herman Stoker (Przypadek Hermana Palacza, 1986) and Breaking the Silence (Przełamując ciszę, 2002).

WYWERKA, ALBERT (1894–1945). One of the leading Polish cinematographers during the interwar period, Wywerka began his career in 1919 photographing Eugeniusz Modzelewski’s film The Lackey (Lokaj) and Nina Niovilla’s Tamara. Later he worked with the best-known prewar directors, among them Józef Lejtes, Michał Waszyński, Jan Nowina-Przybylski, Edward Puchalski, Leonard Buczkowski, Konrad Tom, and Juliusz Gardan. Among approximately sixty-five films that he photographed are several classic examples of early Polish cinema. They include comedies with Adolf Dymsza such as Antek, the Police Chief (1935) and Dodek at the Front (1936), both directed by Waszyński; musical comedies including Ada! Don’t Do That! (1936, Tom) and Miss Minister Is Dancing (1937, Gardan); as well as patriotic pictures such as Daredevils (1928, Buczkowski), The Heroes of Siberia (1936, Waszyński), and Kościuszko at Racławice (1938, Lejtes). Wywerka’s filmography also

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contains other examples of the prewar canon, for example NowinaPrzybylski’s The Boor (1931) and The Vagabond (1933), Waszyński’s The Dybbuk (1937) and The Quack (1937, photographed with Zbigniew Gniazdowski), as well as several other films.

–X–

X FILM UNIT (ZESPÓŁ FILMOWY “X”). One of seven new film units founded in 1972 in Poland. The film unit X, with Andrzej Wajda as the artistic director, Bolesław Michałek as the literary director, and Barbara Pec-Ślesicka as the production manager, was instrumental during the Cinema of Distrust period. Several young filmmakers started their careers under Wajda’s artistic supervision, among them Ryszard Bugajski, Jerzy Domaradzki, Feliks Falk, and Agnieszka Holland.

The X Film Unit produced several classic Polish films, such as Falk’s Top Dog (1978), Holland’s A Woman Alone (1981), and Wajda’s own films such as The Promised Land (1975), Man of Marble (1977), and Man of Iron (1981). Like other artistic organizations, the unit was disbanded after the introduction of martial law in December of 1981.

Accused of oppositional activities, Wajda was removed as the head of unit X in April 1983, together with his close collaborators.

–Y–

YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN (ROK SPOKOJNEGO SŁOŃCA, 1985).

The classic Polish film of the mid-1980s, Krzysztof Zanussi’s Year of the Quiet Sun portrays an impossible love between two lonely middle-aged people: an American soldier named Norman (Scott Wilson), who was a former prisoner of a German POW camp, and Polish war widow Emilia (Maja Komorowska). Their chance meeting after the war in a small town deserted by the Germans, now part of the Polish Regained Lands, offers them an opportunity to overcome the burden of the past. Emilia, however, does not follow her heart and decides to stay in Poland. The lovers are united only after death in a symbolic

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last scene showing them dancing at Monument Valley. Zanussi’s reconstruction of the postwar period is devoid of optimism. The small Polish town is portrayed as a drab, sinister place—Sławomir Idziak’s camera captures inhospitable, chilly landscapes and brownish images of an unfriendly town, as if providing a bitter comment on the “year of the sun.” Despite its careful balance between melodrama, psychological drama, and formal beauty, Zanussi’s film was not very well received in Poland due to its mood of despair, its uncommitted portrayal of the postwar reality, and the presentation of the postwar situation as the end of the world instead of the beginning of a new one. Its success at the 1984 Venice Film Festival (Golden Lion) only raised suspicions that the award was politically motivated.

YIDDISH CINEMA IN POLAND. A significant number of films made in Poland before 1939 were productions in Yiddish, the language of more than ten million Jews living in Eastern Europe and in Jewish diasporas in the United States. In multinational prewar Poland, the Jewish minority speaking Yiddish as its first language comprised 8.7 percent of the whole population. In the capital city of Warsaw, the center of Polish film production, Jews accounted for about 38 percent of the population in 1914, as much as 50 percent in 1917, 26.9 percent in 1921, and 28.4 percent in 1931.

The first Yiddish films known to have been produced in Poland appeared in 1911, such as The Cruel Father (Der wilder fater, Marek Arnsztejn). In 1913, out of sixteen films, six were productions in Yiddish, based mostly on popular plays by Jakub Gordin, such as Stranger (Der umbakanter) and God’s Punishment (Gots sztrof), directed by Nachum Lipowski and Abraham Izak Kamiński, respectively. Warsaw became the center of Yiddish cinema during World War I with such production companies as Siła (Power), founded by Mordkhe Towbin, and Kosmofilm, headed by Samuel Ginzberg and Henryk Finkelstein. Films in Yiddish had been popular in the 1920s, especially works produced by Leo Forbert’s studio, Leo-Film, and photographed by Forbert’s cousin, Seweryn Steinwurzel. Forbert’s production The Wedding Vow (Tkijes kaf, 1924), directed by Zygmunt Turkow, was praised by critics. Jewish films and themes were also appreciated by Poles and other nationalities living in prewar Poland, who enjoyed their exoticism, reliance on

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metaphysics, and social themes, such as the Jewish participation in Polish history and the problem of assimilation. Among these films is Jonas Turkow’s In the Polish Woods (In di pojlisze welder, 1929), which tells a story about Polish-Jewish unity during the January Uprising of 1863 against tsarist Russia, and Henryk Szaro’s debut film, One of 36 (Lamedwownik, 1925).

The Yiddish cinema thrived in the late 1930s. These were films made in Poland but primarily fashioned for the American market.

The first sound film in Yiddish, For Sins (Al chet), directed by Aleksander Marten, was made as late as 1936. A Polish-born American, Joseph Green, became known for a number of films produced in Poland that depicted Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Green’s works include his well-received musical comedy Yiddle with His Fiddle (Yidl mitn fidl, 1936) and The Purim Player (Purimszpiler, 1937), both codirected with Jan Nowina-Przybylski, and A Little Letter to Mother (A brivele der mamen, 1938), codirected with Leon Trystan.

One of the best-known examples of the flourishing Yiddish cinema in Poland is the Yiddish classic The Dybbuk (Der Dibuk, 1937), directed by Michał Waszyński. Ten films in Yiddish were made in Poland between 1936 and 1939. Their strength lies in their reliance on Jewish folklore and metaphysics and the flair of authenticity in the portrayal of the Jewish shtetl life in Poland.

After World War II, the film cooperative Kinor was reestablished in 1947 by some of the surviving members of the Jewish filmmaking community who started to make films in Yiddish with the help of facilities provided by Film Polski. Shaul Goskind, Natan Gross, Adolf Forbert, and two comic actors, Israel Schumacher and Shimon Dzigan, who returned to Poland in 1948, attempted to document Jewish life in Poland. In 1947 Goskind produced a documentary, We Are Still Alive (Mir, lebngeblibene), and in 1948 the first postwar narrative film in Yiddish, Our Children (Unzere kinder), both directed by Natan Gross. After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the implementation of Stalinist rules in cinema in 1949, the majority of Kinor members immigrated to Israel. In the 1970s, three films in Yiddish were produced by Polish Television, all of them filmed stage performances by the State Jewish Theater in Warsaw: The Comedians (Komediantn, 1978) and The Dybbuk (Der Dibuk, 1979), both directed by Stefan Szlachtycz, and Stars on the Roof

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(Sztern ojfn dach, 1979), directed by Jerzy Gruza. See also HOLOCAUST—REPRESENTATION.

–Z– ŻABCZYŃSKI, ALEKSANDER (1900–1958). Actor popular during the interwar period. Coming from a military background, Żabczyński completed a military school and for a short period served as an officer in the Polish army. Later he studied law at the University of Warsaw and acting at film director Nina Nionilla’s private school. After 1930 he became associated with several Warsaw cabarets and known for his successful screen appearances as a romantic lead in musical comedies.

He first appeared on-screen during the silent period in Henryk Szaro’s Red Jester (1926), but thanks to his singing talent and on-screen charm, his career flourished with the advent of sound. He became one of the undisputed stars of popular Polish film before 1945, appearing in twenty-six films made by some of the best-known Polish directors.

For example, he played in Love Schemes (1935, Jan Nowina-Przybylski and Konrad Tom), Miss Minister Is Dancing (1937, Juliusz Gardan), and The Forgotten Melody (1938, Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke). He is also remembered for several musical hits that he performed on-screen, especially in The Forgotten Melody, with music composed by Henryk Wars to the lyrics of Ludwik Starski. Żabczyński fought as a lieutenant during the September campaign of 1939 and then, until the end of the war, in the Polish army in the west (he was wounded in the Battle of Monte Cassino). He returned to Poland in 1947 and became associated with Warsaw theaters but never appeared on-screen in postwar films.

ZAMACHOWSKI, ZBIGNIEW (1961–). Prolific, talented, and versatile theatrical and film actor, whose main specialty is ordinary characters struggling under the pressure of politics. For international audiences Zamachowski is perhaps best known for his vibrant performances in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 10 (1988) and, in particular, in Three Colors: White (1994). In the latter, he played Karol, a prizewinning Polish hairdresser living in Paris who goes through a bitter

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divorce with his French wife, Dominique. Since his debut, the lead role in the 1981 road movie Big Picnic (Wielka majówka, Krzysztof Rogulski), Zamachowski has appeared in more than eighty films and was voted the best Polish actor in 1994 and 2001 in a popular plebiscite conducted by the magazine Film. He played in several Polish films made at the beginning of the 1990s, including Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak (1990), Wojciech Marczewski’s Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (1990), and the lead role in Bogusław Linda’s directorial debut, Seychelles (1990).

Zamachowski’s popularity was sealed in Kazimierz Kutz’s tragicomic films The Turned Back (1994) and Colonel Kwiatkowski (1996). One of his best performances is in the role of a simple worker in The Turned Back who is sent as a Communist informer to a Solidarity demonstration and returns as a changed man. In recent years Zamachowski appeared in diverse films, such as the historical epic With Fire and Sword (1999, Jerzy Hoffman) in which he played Colonel Wołodyjowski, the gritty, realistic Hi, Tereska (2001, Robert Gliński) in a strong supporting role as a handicapped man, and the suspense drama Station (Stacja, 2001, Piotr Wereśniak). Critics in Poland praised his lead roles in Andrzej Jakimowski’s slow-paced drama Squint Your Eyes (Zmruz˙ oczy, 2003) and in the postmodernist comedy Body (Ciało, 2003) directed by Tomasz Konecki and Andrzej Saramonowicz. Equally well received were his strong supporting roles in Teresa Kotlarczyk’s The Primate: Three Years out of the Millennium (Prymas. Trzy lata z tysiąclecia, 2000) and Ryszard Brylski’s White Soup (Żurek, 2003). In 2006 he received the Best Actor award at the Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia for his lead role in Sylwester Chęciński’s The Uhlans Have Arrived.

ZANUSSI, KRZYSZTOF (1939–). Zanussi’s unusual road to filmmaking is clearly reflected in his films. After years of studying physics and philosophy while making amateur films, he enrolled in the Łódź Film School. He attracted international attention with his medium-length diploma film, Death of a Provincial (Śmierć prowincjała, 1966), and a series of short television films such as Face to Face (Twarzą w twarz, 1968), Pass Mark (Zaliczenie, 1968), and Mountains at Dusk (Góry o zmierzchu, 1970). These films contain a number of thematic features characteristic of his later films:

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the mystery of death, the conflict between the individual and society, existential problems, and moral choices. Zanussi’s “Bergmanesque themes” and his austere, noncommittal style became his trademark.

The leading representative of Third Polish Cinema, Zanussi (also the writer or cowriter of all of his scripts) created his reputation as an auteur interested in specific characters known as “zannusoids”—young intellectuals questioning the corrupt world. Several members of the Polish intelligentsia identified with the protagonist of the philosophical essay Illumination (Iluminacja, 1973), which concerned ten years in the life of a young physicist, and later praised the parable on politics presented in Camouflage (Barwy ochronne, 1977), an allegory for the corrupt nature of the Communist system. Zanussi started to function as a representative of “intellectual cinema,” a cosmopolitan Pole at home everywhere. He made his films with a small circle of collaborators, including composer Wojciech Kilar, the author of music for all of Zanussi’s films; cinematographers Sławomir Idziak, Witold Sobociński, and Edward Kłosiński; coscreenwriter Edward Żebrowski; and actors Maja Komorowska and Zbigniew Zapasiewicz.

Zanussi’s breakthrough film, The Structure of Crystals (Struktura kryształu, 1969), was followed by the psychological drama Family Life (Życie rodzinne, 1971), starring his favorite actress, Komorowska. She also appeared in his other films, such as the classic Polish television production Next Door (Za ścianą, 1971), and in one of Zanussi’s finest films, Balance Sheet (aka A Woman’s Decision, Bilans kwartalny, 1975), a story about a woman involved in a short-lived extramarital affair. In his two films released in 1980, Zanussi also deals with the issues of corruption, moral compromise, and moral choices. His Contract (Kontrakt) satirizes both the Communist nouveaux riches and the corrupt Polish intelligentsia. The Constant Factor (Constans) introduces a young idealist protagonist who wants to live honestly, which proves difficult in a depraved Communist reality.

The Catamount Killing, made in 1974, began a series of films that Zanussi made abroad periodically. Two of them, Imperative (1982) and Paradigm (1985), stand out from the rest and are on the level of Zanussi’s Polish productions like Spiral (Spirala, 1978), starring Jan Nowicki. The latter continues Zanussi’s earlier meditations on the intimacy of death. The theme of death returns also in one of Zanussi’s recent films, Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (Życie jako choroba

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śmiertelna przenoszona drogą płciową, 2000), the winner of the Moscow Film Festival with Zapasiewicz’s memorable performance.

Zanussi’s Year of the Quiet Sun (Rok spokojnego słońca, 1985), the winner of the 1984 Venice Film Festival, portrays an impossible love between lonely middle-aged people, an American soldier and a Polish war widow. This now classic Polish film portrays the mood of despair and inhospitable chilly landscapes in postwar Poland and is devoid of the optimism present in a number of Polish films on the same subject. The 1990s were very productive for Zanussi.

In 1992 he directed a multinational production, The Silent Touch (Dotknięcie ręki, 1992), about a young musicologist from Kraków (Lothaire Bluteau) who brings an old, eccentric Western composer (Max von Sydow) back to life with his instinctive metaphysical knowledge. Zanussi also made a successful series of television films, including Weekend Stories (Opowieści weekendowe, seven one-hour episodes, 1995–1996), and films ranging from a hagiography of the saint Maksymilian Kolbe—Life for Life (Życie za ˙zycie, 1990)—to an almost nostalgic political satire, In Full Gallop (Cwał, 1996).

The latter, the winner of the Festival of Polish Films, is a semiautobiographical film set in the Stalinist period that introduces an aging female protagonist (Komorowska) who is proud, yet willing to compromise—a Catholic at heart and a Communist on the surface.

Although Zanussi’s films made in recent years do not provoke the same disputes and controversies as his earlier works, he still plays a very important role in Polish cultural life. Not only is he a film director and scriptwriter, but he is also a stage and opera director, film professor at the Katowice Film and Television School, teacher at several universities in Poland and abroad, columnist, head of the film studio Tor since 1979, and a member of several international professional organizations. His most recently released film, Persona Non Grata (2005), with Zapasiewicz, Jerzy Stuhr, Nikita Mikhalkov, and Andrzej Chyra, was very well received at the Festival of Polish Films and received four Polish Film Awards “Eagles.”

Other films: Ways in the Night (Wege in der Nacht, TV, 1979), From a Far Country: Pope John Paul II (1981), The Temptation (Versuchung, TV, 1982), The Unapproachable (Die Unerreichbare, TV, 1982), Bluebeard (Blaubart, TV, 1984), Wherever You Are (Gdzieśkolwiek jest, jeśliś jest . . . , 1988), Inventory (Stan posiadania

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(1989), Long Conversation with a Bird (Das Lange Despracht mit dem Vogel, 1990), The Brother of Our God (Brat naszego Boga, 1997), Supplement (Suplement, 2002).

ZAORSKI, JANUSZ (1947–). Film director, artistic director of the film studio Dom since 1988, and also, in the first part of the 1990s, media decision maker as the head of the State Cinema Committee (Komitet Kinematografii, 1991–1993) and head of the National Council for Radio and Television (Komitet ds. Radia i Telewizji, 1994–1995). After graduating in 1969 from the Łódź Film School, Zaorski debuted with a well-received realistic picture of the young generation, Escape as Near as Possible (Uciec jak najbliz˙ ej, 1972).

In the following years he produced a body of works characterized by different generic affiliations and stylistic approaches. His satirical Social Advancement (Awans, 1974), based on Janusz Redliński’s novel, was followed by a psychological drama, A Room with a View of the Sea (Pokój z widokiem na morze, 1978). During the Cinema of Distrust period, Zaorski produced what are arguably his best-known films: Child’s Questions (Dziecinne pytania, 1981) and, in particular, The Mother of Kings (Matka królów, finished in 1982, released in 1987). Child’s Questions tells the story of six university friends, their political initiation in 1968, and their adult battleground—the Gierek era. The Mother of Kings is a saga covering more than twenty years of Polish history about a working-class family led by a hardworking, widowed mother, Łucja Król (Magda Teresa Wójcik). When released, the film won the Festival of Polish Films and was awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival (see STALINISM). In the 1980s, Zaorski directed several popular films including Baritone (Baryton, 1985), starring Zbigniew Zapasiewicz; Bodensee (Jezioro Bodeńskie, 1986), the winner of the Locarno Film Festival, an adaptation of Stanisław Dygat’s novel; and Soccer Poker (Piłkarski poker, 1989), popular among Polish viewers. His best-known film from the 1990s, Happy New York (Szczęśliwego Nowego Jorku, 1997), about six miserable Polish migrants in New York, was an adaptation of another satirical novel by Redliński.

Other films: The Caprices of Lazarus (Kaprysy Łazarza, TV, 1973), Give Us Our Daily Bread (Chleba naszego powszedniego, 1974), Partita for a Woodwind (Partita na instrument drewniany,

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1978), Maidens and Widows (Panny i wdowy, 1991), Hacker (Haker, 2002), Saved by a Miracle (Cudownie ocalony, TV, 2004), The Tree Doctor (Lekarz drzew, TV, 2005).

ZAPASIEWICZ, ZBIGNIEW (1934–). Accomplished theatrical and film actor, best known for his screen performances in Krzysztof Zanussi’s films. After completing the State Acting School in Warsaw (PWST) in 1956, Zapasiewicz acted in Warsaw theaters. Beginning in 1963, he started to appear in episodic roles in several films, including Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Barrier (1966), in which he played a blind man. Zanussi’s highly regarded television drama, Next Door (1971), where he starred with another favorite actor of Zanussi, Maja Komorowska, proved to be Zapasiewicz’s breakthrough film. Although he is a versatile actor, his screen persona became associated with the role of an academic professor (docent), the character he played in Next Door. He played such a character, the cynical Professor Szelestowski, in Zanussi’s Camouflage (1977), for which he received the Best Actor award at the Festival of Polish Films. The same award and the Polish Film Award “Eagle” were given to him recently for another role in Zanussi’s film Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000), where he played a terminally ill character, Tomasz Berg. Also acclaimed was his performance in Zanussi’s bitter political satire Persona Non Grata (2005), where he starred as a Polish ambassador in Uruguay grieving over the sudden death of his wife.

Zapasiewicz also played several lead roles in films directed by Edward Żebrowski, such as Deliverance (1972) and The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979). He is also known for his tour de force performance in the role of a disillusioned journalist in one of the seminal films of the Cinema of Distrust period—Andrzej Wajda’s Rough Treatment (1978). He also played supporting roles in Wajda’s other films, for example, as ruthless factory owner Kessler in The Promised Land (1975). Polish viewers appreciated Zapasiewicz’s role as an opera singer in Janusz Zaorski’s Baritone (1985), as well as his portrayal of Marshall Józef Piłsudski in Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s television series Marshall Piłsudski (eight one-hour episodes, 2001). International audiences watched him in episodic roles in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films: as head of the examining board in A Short Film about Killing (1988) and as a Communist apparatchik in Blind Chance (1981/1987).

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ZDORT, BARBARA (BARBARA SASS-ZDORT). See SASS, BARBARA. ZDORT, WIESŁAW (1931–). Cinematographer, who is known chiefly for his work with Kazimierz Kutz and Barbara Sass (his wife).

Zdort graduated in 1956 from the Łódź Film School, and he worked as an assistant to the camera operator on Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds (1958) and Andrzej Munk’s Eroica (1958) and as camera operator on Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Night Train (1959) and Wajda’s Samson (1961). His career as a cinematographer began with Kutz’s Wild Horses (1962); later he photographed some of Kutz’s finest films, including Salt of the Black Earth (1970), Beads of One Rosary (1980), The Turned Back (1994), and Death as a Slice of Bread (1994). Also, he photographed all the films directed by Sass, including her Without Love (1980), The Shout (1982), and Temptation (1995). Zdort’s filmography also consists of works directed by Henryk Kluba (Skinny and Others, 1967), Janusz Majewski (Jealousy and Medicine, 1973), Wojciech Marczewski (Nightmares, 1979), and Krzysztof Kieślowski (Decalogue 1, 1988). Since 1987 Zdort has been teaching cinematography at the Łódź Film School.

ZEBRA FILM STUDIO (STUDIO FILMOWE ZEBRA). One of the most successful film studios. Since its foundation in 1988, the studio has been headed by Juliusz Machulski and is responsible for approximately thirty films and four television series. Among the most popular are the films directed by Machulski himself, such as Kiler (1997) and Vinci (2004), and by Władysław Pasikowski, such as Kroll (1991) and The Pigs (1992). The list of prominent directors working for Zebra also includes Krzysztof Krauze (Debt, 1999, and My Nikifor, 2004), Marek Koterski (The Day of the Wacko, 2002), Jerzy Stuhr (Love Stories, 1997, Tomorrow’s Weather, 2003), and Jacek Bromski (Seen but Not Heard, 1996). Several films produced

by Zebra won the Festival of Polish Films and received awards at international film festivals. ŻEBROWSKI, EDWARD (EDWARD BERNSTEIN, 1935–). Respected scriptwriter and director, who started his career in the late 1960s as a close collaborator of Krzysztof Zanussi. With Zanussi, he

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coscripted several films (including Zanussi’s television classic Next Door in 1975). Part of Third Polish Cinema, Żebrowski started his directorial career with Deliverance (Ocalenie, 1972), a film focusing on a scientist (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) whose busy routine is interrupted when he contracts a fatal illness, forcing him to reflect on his life. In his next film, The Hospital of Transfiguration (Szpital przemienienia, 1979), Żebrowski continued his examination of a character facing dramatic choices. Set in September 1939, the film tells a story about the killing of patients in a mental asylum by the Germans. His next film, In Broad Daylight (W biały dzień, 1980), examined the issues of political terrorism and fanaticism. Żebrowski also codirected two films in West Germany with Zanussi: Die Nachdienst (1975) and Unerreichbare (1982). Krzysztof Kieślowski acknowledged Żebrowski as “script consultant” on his famous Three Colors Trilogy—they also worked closely together on Kieślowski’s earlier projects, although his contribution was not credited. ŻEBROWSKI, MICHAŁ (1972–). Popular actor who received acclaim in 1999 for his starring roles in adaptations of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword, directed by Jerzy Hoffman, and Adam Mickiewicz’s national poem Pan Tadeusz, directed by Andrzej Wajda. Żebrowski continued appearing in prestigious adaptations, such as Marek Brodzki’s fantasy film Wiedz´ min (2001) and Hoffman’s pseudohistorical The Old Tale (2003). Recently, he has successfully broadened his oeuvre by playing, for example, a psychologically disturbed man in Magdalena Piekorz’s award-winning The Welts (Pręgi, 2004) and a struggling priest in Andrzej Seweryn’s directorial debut, Who Never Lived (2006).

ZIELIŃSKI, JERZY (1950–). A 1974 graduate of the Łódź Film School, cinematographer Zieliński received praise in the late 1970s for his work on several critically acclaimed short films, including Zbigniew Rybczyński’s New Book (1975) and Wojciech Wiszniewski’s The First Textbook (1976) and Foreman on the Farm (1978). His stylish photography of Filip Bajon’s first films, Aria for an Athlete (1979), Inspection at the Scene of the Crime, 1901 (1981), and Daimler-Benz Limousine (1981), was commended by critics. Zieliński also photographed Wojciech Marczewski’s The Housekeeper (1979),

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Shivers (1981), and Escape from the “Freedom” Cinema (1990). He began working abroad in the 1980s in Great Britain and the United States, photographing Agnieszka Holland’s Washington Square (1997) and The Third Miracle (1999), among other films. ŻUŁAWSKI ANDRZEJ (1940–). Director, scriptwriter of almost all his films, poet, fiction writer, and film reviewer. The multitalented Żuławski started his career as Andrzej Wajda’s assistant on Samson (1961) and second director on Ashes (1965). His directorial debut came in 1967 with two short television films, and he received critical acclaim for his first theatrical film, The Third Part of the Night (Trzecia część nocy, 1972), based on the novel written by his father, Mirosław Żuławski. The film, often considered as a polemic of the Polish School’s main thematic concerns, is set during World War II in occupied Poland and concerns people used by the Germans during their experiments on typhoid. The film is replete with shocking images, symbolism, stylized dialogues, and expressionistic acting.

The mannerisms, violent imagery, exhilarating camera movement, and nonconformity of the early films of Żuławski surprised and shocked both viewers and film authorities. Due to its accumulation of shocking imagery, Żuławski’s next film, Devil (Diabeł, 1972), was not released until 1988. The two-year-long production of On the Silver Globe (Na srebrnym globie), Żuławski’s lavish science fiction film, was stopped by the authorities in 1977 for going over budget (a reconstructed version of this film was premiered by the director in 1989). As a consequence, Żuławski decided to move permanently to France where he directed, among others, Possession (1981), The Public Woman (La femme publique, 1984), Mad Love (L’Amour braque, 1985), Boris Godunov (1990), Blue Note (La note bleue, 1991), and Fidelity (La fidélité, 2000). In 1996 Żuławski returned briefly to Poland to direct She-Shaman (Szamanka), which was nicknamed by Polish critics the “Last Tango in Warsaw.”

ZYGADŁO, TOMASZ (1947–). Film and theater director Tomasz Zygadło made award-winning documentary films such as Elementary School (Szkoła podstawowa, 1971) and Microphone for Everybody (Mikrofon dla wszystkich, 1976). He became one of the recognizable directors during the Cinema of Distrust period. He directed feature

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films such as The Riddle (Rebus, 1977) and The Moth (Ćma, 1980), the latter with a memorable performance by Roman Wilhelmi, and appeared as an actor in films made by his colleagues, for example in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Personnel (1975) and The Scar (1976).

Other films: Revenge (Odwet, 1982), Child’s Scenes of Provincial Life (Sceny dziecięce z ˙zycia prowincji, 1985), The Death of John L. (Śmierć Johna L., 1987).

Appendix A: Fifty Biggest Box-Office Hits on Polish Screens from 1945 to 2000

(Year indicates when the film was released on Polish screens.)

1. The Teutonic Knights (Krzyz˙ acy, 1960, Aleksander Ford), 33,315,695 viewers 2. In Desert and Wilderness (W pustyni i w puszczy, 1973, Władysław Ślesicki), 30,089,874 3. The Deluge (Potop, 2 parts, 1974, Jerzy Hoffman), 27,615,921 4. Winnetou (1966, Yugoslavia–West Germany), 23,010,125 5. Nights and Days (Noce i dnie, 1975, Jerzy Antczak), 22,350,078 6. Enter the Dragon (1982, United States), 17,267,500 7. Forbidden Songs (Zakazane piosenki, 1947, Leonard Buczkowski), 15,235,445 8. Mr. Kleks’s Academy (Akademia pana Kleksa, 2 parts, 1984, children’s film, Krzysztof Gradowski), 14,094,014 9. Shaolin Temple (1985, Hong Kong), 12,781,103 10. Sex Mission (Seksmisja, 1984, Juliusz Machulski), 11,164,329 11. Pan Michael (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969, Jerzy Hoffman), 10,934,458 12. The Quiet Don (1958, 3 parts, Soviet Union), 10,467,490 13. Fanfan la tulipe (1953, France), 10,311,485 14. War and Peace (1960, United States), 9,863,472 15. The Leper (Trędowata, 1976, Jerzy Hoffman), 9,834,145 16. The Pharaoh (Faraon, 1966, Jerzy Kawalerowicz), 9,453,934 17. Love It or Leave It (Kochaj albo rzuć, 1977, Sylwester Chęciński), 9,384,135 18. Treasure (Skarb, 1949, Leonard Buczkowski), 9,312,596 19. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1984, United States), 8,880,922 20. Big Deal (Nie ma mocnych, 1974, Sylwester Chęciński), 8,695,942 219

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21. The Travels of Mr. Kleks (Podróz˙ e pana Kleksa, 2 parts, 1986, children’s film, Krzysztof Gradowski), 8,678,791 22. How I Started World War II (3 parts, 1970, Tadeusz Chmielewski), 8,485,163 23. The Great Journey of Bolek and Lolek (Wielka podróz˙ Bolka i Lolka, 1977, children’s film, Władysław Nehrebecki and Stanisław Dülz), 8,442,005 24. Four Tankmen and a Dog (Czterej pancerni i pies, 4 parts, 1968, Konrad Nałęcki), 8,343,912 25. Argument about Basia (Awantura o Basię, 1959, children’s film, Maria Kaniewska), 8,234,616 26. Border Street (Ulica graniczna, 1949, Aleksander Ford), 8,012,859 27. Devil’s Ravine (Czarci ˙zleb, 1950, Aldo Vergano and Tadeusz Kański), 8,012,748 28. The Story of Sin (Dzieje grzechu, 1975, Walerian Borowczyk), 7,972,988 29. Hubal (1973, Bohdan Poręba), 7,964,982 30. The Last Stage (Ostatni etap, 1948, Wanda Jakubowska), 7,862,655 31. Gone with the Wind (1963, United States), 7,748,956 32. The Godfather (1974, United States), 7,731,490 33. Ashes (Popioły, 1965, Andrzej Wajda), 7,707,170 34. Old Surehand (1968, Yugoslavia–West Germany), 7,542,248 35. Cleopatra (1970, United States), 7,355,507 36. The Red and the Black (1957, France), 7,323,167 37. The Promised Land (Ziemia obiecana, 1975, Andrzej Wajda), 7,312,407 38. Irena, Go Home! (Irena do domu! 1955, Jan Fethke), 7,236,090 39. Rio Bravo (1962, United States), 7,202,607 40. The Devil from Seventh Grade (Szatan z VII klasy, 1960, children’s film, Maria Kaniewska), 7,150,948 41. With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1999, Jerzy Hoffman), 7,150,948 42. Deserters (C. K. Dezerterzy, 1986, Janusz Majewski), 7,090,274 43. Jaws (1976, United States), 7,087,127 44. Quest for Fire (1983, Canada), 7,026,336 45. The Three Musketeers (1956, France), 6,971,860

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46. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985, United States), 6,908,637 47. Les misérables (1952, France), 6,896,681 48. The Wages of Fear (1955, France), 6,549,630 49. The Quack (Znachor, 1982, Jerzy Hoffman), 6,485,388 50. Love Story (1972, United States), 6,378,012 Source: Krzysztof Kucharski, Kino plus. Film i dystrybucja kinowa w Polsce w latach, 1990–2000 (Toruń: Oficyna Wydawnicza Kucharski, 2002), 388.

Appendix B: Twenty Best Polish Television Films

(Plebiscite organized in 2001 by the weekly Polityka, II Program of Polish Television, and the Film Agency of Polish Television.)

1. The Extraordinarily Quiet Man (Niespotykanie spokojny człowiek, 1975, Stanisław Bareja) 2. The Ascended (Wniebowzięci, 1973, Andrzej Kondratiuk) 3. Marriageable Girls (Dziewczyny do wzięcia, 1972, Janusz Kondratiuk) 4. Stardust (Gwiezdny pył, 1982, Andrzej Kondratiuk) 5. Hydro-Riddle (Hydrozagadka, 1970, Andrzej Kondratiuk) 6. Yellow Scarf (Żółty szalik, 2000, Janusz Morgenstern) 7. A.W.O.L. (Samowolka, 1993, Feliks Falk) 8. Pograbek (1992, Jan Jakub Kolski) 9. A Woman Alone (Kobieta samotna, 1981/1988, Agnieszka Holland) 10. The Turned Back (Zawrócony, 1994, Kazimierz Kutz) 11. Personnel (Personel, 1975, Krzysztof Kieślowski) 12. The Miracle of Purim (Cud Purymowy, 2000, Izabella Cywińska) 13. The Ballad about Cutting a Tree (Ballada o ścinaniu drzewa, 1972, Feridun Erol) 14. The Caprices of Lazarus (Kaprysy Łazarza, 1973, Janusz Zaorski) 15. The Night of Santa Claus (Noc Świętego Mikołaja, 2000, Janusz Kondratiuk) 16. The Hour “W” (Godzina “W,”1979, Janusz Morgenstern) 17. I Am Burning (Ja gorę, 1968, Janusz Majewski) 18. Next Door (Za ścianą, 1971, Krzysztof Zanussi) 19. Sunday Children (Niedzielne dzieci, 1976, Agnieszka Holland) 20. Short Working Day (Krótki dzień pracy, 1981/1996, Krzysztof Kieślowski) 223

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Source: Zdzisław Pietrasik, “Złota dziesiątka,” Polityka 31 (2002), at polityka.onet.pl/162,1091966,1,0,artykul.html (accessed 5 August 2002).

Bibliography

CONTENTS General Reference Works Film History in Poland: General Cinema in Poland before 1939 Polish Cinema, 1939–1956 The Polish School “Small Stabilization,” 1962–1976 Polish Cinema, 1977–1989 Post-Communist Cinema (after 1989) Documentary, Animation, Experimental, and Independent Film Popular Cinema Stars and Other Actors Film Theory in Poland Yiddish Cinema in Poland Polish-Jewish Relations and the Holocaust Film and Religion in Poland Gender Issues Adaptations Regional Histories of Polish Cinema Film Studios and Film Schools Film Directors Aleksander Ford Wojciech J. Has Agnieszka Holland Jerzy Kawalerowicz Krzysztof Kieślowski Tadeusz Konwicki Kazimierz Kutz 225

229 230 231 232 233 234 234 235 236 237 238 238 239 240 241 241 243 243 244 245 245 245 245 246 246 250 250

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Andrzej Munk Roman Polański Jerzy Skolimowski Andrzej Wajda Krzysztof Zanussi Other Directors Websites Various

251 251 253 253 256 256 257 258

INTRODUCTION Despite the importance of Polish cinema and the international popularity of some of its representatives, such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, this is still an area in need of systematic research. The majority of Polish films and filmmakers are unknown to English-language viewers. The first systematic studies in English covering the developments of Polish cinema were published in the second part of the 1980s: Frank Bren’s World Cinema 1: Poland and Bolesław Michałek and Frank Turaj’s The Modern Cinema of Poland, the latter of which served for many years as a useful guide to the Polish film industry. English readers could also consult Oskar Sobański’s work, Polish Feature Films: A Reference Guide 1945–1985.

Several studies in English have been published in recent years on Central European cinema, and Polish cinema in particular. They include comprehensive studies of Polish cinema from its beginnings, such as Marek Haltof’s Polish National Cinema and Charles Ford and Robert Hammond’s Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History. Other studies have focused on specific periods. In The Red and the White: The Cinema of People’s Poland, Paul Coates provides an insightful analysis of postwar Polish cinema. There are also books focusing on narrower topics, such as recent (post-1989) trends in the Polish “cinema in transition” discussed in the 2003 work edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, The New Polish Cinema. One of the most recent additions to this burgeoning field of study is Women in Polish Cinema, written by Ewa Mazierska and Elżbieta Ostrowska. Publishers such as Berghahn Books and Wallflower Press are to be commended for their efforts in publishing books on some neglected aspects of world cinema, including Polish cinema.

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Recent years have also brought a number of English-language books on celebrated filmmakers from Poland, in particular works dealing with Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieślowski. Wajda’s name is often viewed as synonymous with some of the most interesting aspects of post-1945 Polish cinema, yet his importance and critical acclaim have only been acknowledged recently by a number of scholarly monographs in English devoted to his films. Apart from Bolesław Michałek’s classic monograph from 1973, The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda, only two specialized books have focused on Wajda’s works: Janina Falkowska’s The Political Films of Andrzej Wajda and Maciej Karpiński’s The Theatre of Andrzej Wajda. More recently, two important studies have filled this gap in film scholarship by providing a wide-ranging and updated assessment of the works of this giant of Central European cinema. John Orr and Elżbieta Ostrowska’s edited work, The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda: The Art of Irony and Defiance, includes thirteen selected papers originally presented at an international film conference held at the University of Łódź in October 2001 that cover almost the entire spectrum of Wajda’s career. The most recent book, Janina Falkowska’s Andrzej Wajda: History, Politics, and Nostalgia in Polish Cinema, provides an extensive overview of Wajda’s career, the first of its kind in English.

Also in recent years, an unprecedented number of books have been published on perhaps the best-known contemporary Polish filmmaker, Krzysztof Kieślowski, who after directing a series of art-house classics, died prematurely in 1996. The popular 1993 book-length interview with Kieślowski, Kieślowski on Kieślowski, edited and translated by Danusia Stok, was followed by Paul Coates’s editorial work, Lucid Dreams: The Films of Krzysztof Kieślowski and Annette Insdorf’s Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski. Apart from comprehensive overviews of Kieślowski’s career, such as Marek Haltof’s The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance, which focuses on Kieślowski’s filmmaking career in the context of Polish documentary and narrative cinema, the majority of recently published studies have focused on Kieślowski’s international coproductions. Joseph G. Kickasola’s The Films of Krzysztof Kieslowski: The Liminal Image and Emma Wilson’s Memory and Survival: The French Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski serve as examples of theoretically minded approaches to his cinema.

Due to the limited number of books on Polish cinema in English, any serious research on the Polish film industry has to involve an explora-

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tion of existing archival holdings in Poland, in particular those of the National Film Archive in Warsaw, and this requires a familiarity with Polish publications on local cinema, the most important of which are included in the bibliography below. Although this bibliography gives priority to English-language works, it includes several significant studies in Polish. In particular, the multivolume work on different periods of Polish cinema, Historia filmu polskiego (History of Polish Cinema), is highly recommended. Researchers interested in the early stages of Polish cinema should consult two influential Polish books: Małgorzata Hendrykowska’s Śladami tamtych cieni: Film w kulturze polskiej przełomu stuleci 1895–1914 (Following Those Shadows: Film in Polish Culture at the Turn of the Century, 1895–1914) and Alina Madej’s Mitologie i konwencje: O polskim kinie fabularnym dwudziestolecia międzywojennego (Mythologies and Conventions: Polish Narrative Cinema during the Interwar Period). The period of socialist realism is aptly described in two books by Piotr Zwierzchowski, Pęknięty monolit. Konteksty polskiego kina socrealistycznego (The Broken Monolith: The Contexts of Polish Socialist Realist Cinema) and Zapomniani bohaterowie: O bohaterach filmowych polskiego socrealizmu (Forgotten Heroes: The Protagonists of Polish Socialist Realist Films). The Polish School phenomenon, though it still awaits historical treatment, is insightfully discussed in an anthology by Ewelina NurczyńskaFidelska and Bronisława Stolarska, “Szkoła polska”—Powroty (The Polish School Revisited). Tadeusz Lubelski’s seminal work, Strategie autorskie w polskim filmie fabularnym lat 1945–1961 (Authorial Strategies in Polish Narrative Film, 1945–1961), also covers the early stages of postwar Polish cinema. The Cinema of Distrust (also known as the Cinema of Moral Concern) is best described in the study by Dobrochna Dabert, Kino moralnego niepokoju. Wokół wybranych problemów poetyki i etyki (The Cinema of Moral Concern: Selected Problems of Poetics and Ethics).

Of great help are numerous online resources in both English and in Polish. Several English online journals have entries on Polish cinema, among them Kinoeye (www.kinoeye.org), Kinema (www.kinema .uwaterloo.ca), and Senses of Cinema (www.sensesofcinema.com).

English readers may also consult the English-language Polish website Polish Culture (www.culture.pl). Among the number of Polish film websites, one is notable for its meticulous gathering of informa-

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tion pertaining to Polish cinema: the Polish Film Database (www .filmpolski.pl), established in 1998 by the Łódź Film School. In addition, several Polish film journals provide insights into the local film industry, paying particular attention to major films and filmmakers.

Also of great importance are the monthly periodicals Kino (Cinema) and Kwartalnik Filmowy (Film Quarterly).

GENERAL REFERENCE WORKS Balski, Grzegorz, ed. Directory of Eastern European Film-Makers and Films.

Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1992.

Hendrykowska, Małgorzata. Kronika kinematografii polskiej: 1895–1997 [Chronicle of Polish Cinema: 1895–1997]. Poznań: Ars Nova, 1999.

Janicki, Stanisław. Film polski od A do Z [Polish Film from A to Z]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne I Filmowe, 1973.

———. Polskie filmy fabularne 1902–1988 [Polish Narrative Films, 1902– 1988]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1990.

Kucharski, Krzysztof. Kino Plus: Film i dystrybucja kinowa w Polsce w latach 1900–2000 [Cinema Plus: Cinema and Film Distribution in Poland, 1900– 2000]. Toruń: Oficyna Wydawnicza Kucharski, 2002.

Lewandowski, Jan F. 100 filmów polskich [100 Polish Films]. Katowice: Videograf II, 1997.

Litte, Bruce R. S. “Poland.” In Handbook of Soviet and Eastern European Films and Filmmakers, edited by Thomas J. Slater, 69–128. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.

Maśnicki, Jerzy, and Kamil Stepan. Pleograf: Słownik biograficzny filmu polskiego, 1896–1939 [Pleograph: Biographical Dictionary of Polish Film, 1896–1939]. Kraków: Staromiejska Oficyna Wydawnicza, 1996.

Michalak, Bartosz. Polskie Oskary [Polish Oscars]. Warsaw: Prószyński i S-ka, 2000.

Słodowski, Jan, ed. Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych [Dictionary of Polish Narrative Films]. Warsaw: Wiedza i Życie, 1996.

Sobański, Oskar. Polish Feature Films: A Reference Guide 1945–1985. West Cornwall: Locust Hill Press, 1987.

Taylor, Richard, Nancy Wood, Julian Graffy, and Dina Iordanova, eds. The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. London: British Film Institute, 2000.

Zajiček, Edward, ed. Film, kinematografia. Encyklopedia kultury polskiej XX wieku [Cinema. Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Polish Culture]. Warsaw: Instytut Kultury and Komitet Kinematografii, 1994.

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FILM HISTORY IN POLAND: GENERAL Bren, Frank. World Cinema 1: Poland. London: Flicks Books, 1986.

Chociłowski, Jerzy, ed. Contemporary Polish Cinema. Warsaw: Polonia, 1962.

Coates, Paul. The Red and the White: The Cinema of People’s Poland. London: Wallflower Press, 2005.

———. The Story of the Lost Reflection: The Alienation of the Image in Western and Polish Cinema. London: Verso, 1985.

Figielski, Łukasz, and Bartosz Michalak. Prywatna historia kina polskiego [The Private History of Polish Cinema]. Gdańsk: Słowo/obraz terytoria, 2006.

Ford, Charles, and Robert Hammond. Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005.

Fuksiewicz, Jacek. Film and Television in Poland. Warsaw: Interpress, 1976.

———. Polish Cinema. Warsaw: Interpress, 1973.

Goban-Klas, Tomasz. The Orchestration of the Media: The Politics of Mass Communications in Communist Poland and the Aftermath. Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1994.

Grzelecki, Stanisław. Polish Films Today. Warsaw: Polonia, 1966.

Haltof, Marek. Polish National Cinema. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002.

Hames, Peter, ed. The Cinema of Central Europe. London: Wallflower Press, 2005.

Helman, Alicja, and Tadeusz Miczka, eds. Analizy i interpretacje. Film polski [Polish Film: Analyses and Interpretations]. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1984.

Hendrykowska, Małgorzata, ed. Widziane po latach: Analizy i interpretacje filmu polskiego [Looking Back: Analyses and Interpretations of Polish Film].

Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 2000.

Iordanova, Dina. Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film. London: Wallflower Press, 2003.

Jackiewicz, Aleksander. Moja filmoteka: Kino polskie [My Films: Polish Cinema]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1983.

Janicki, Stanisław. The Polish Film: Yesterday and Today. Warsaw: Interpress, 1985.

Liehm, Mira, and Antonin J. Liehm. The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film after 1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.

Lubelski, Tadeusz. Strategie autorskie w polskim filmie fabularnym lat 1945– 1961 [Authorial Strategies in Polish Narrative Film, 1945–1961]. Kraków: Rabid, 2000.

Michałek, Bolesław. Szkice o filmie polskim [Sketches on Polish Cinema].

Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1960.

———, and Frank Turaj. The Modern Cinema of Poland. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

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Miczka, Tadeusz. “Cinema under Political Pressure: A Brief Outline of Authorial Roles in Polish Postwar Feature-Film, 1945–1995.” Kinema 4 (1995): 32–48.

Nemes, Károly. Films of Commitment: Socialist Cinema in Eastern Europe.

Budapest: Corvina, 1985.

Nurczyńska-Fidelska, Ewelina, ed. Kino polskie w trzynastu sekwencjach [Polish Cinema in Thirteen Takes]. Kraków: Rabid, 2005.

———, and Zbigniew Batko, eds. Polish Cinema in Ten Takes. Łódź: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 1995.

Paul, David, ed. Politics, Art and Commitment in East European Cinema. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983.

Petrie, Graham, and Ruth Dwyer. Before the Wall Came Down: Soviet and East European Filmmakers in the West. New York: University Press of America, 1990.

Stachówna, Grażyna, and Joanna Wojnicka, eds. Autorzy kina polskiego [The Authors of Polish Cinema]. Kraków: Rabid, 2004.

Whyte, Alistair. New Cinema in Eastern Europe. New York: Dutton, 1971.

Wojtczak, Mieczysław. Kronika nie tylko filmowa [Chronicle, Not Only of Cinema]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Studio EMKA, 2004.

Zajiček, Edward. Poza ekranem. Kinematografia polska, 1918–1991 [Off the Screen. Polish Cinema, 1918–1991]. Warsaw: Filmoteka Narodowa and Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1992.

Zwierzchowski, Piotr, and Daria Mazur, eds. Kino polskie wobec umierania i śmierci [The Portrayal of Death and Dying in Polish Cinema]. Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Akademii Bydgoskiej, 2005.

CINEMA IN POLAND BEFORE 1939 Armatys, Barbara, Leszek Armatys, and Wiesław Stradomski. Historia filmu polskiego. Vol. 2, 1930–1939 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 2, 1930–1939].

Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1988.

Armatys, Leszek, and Wiesław Stradomski. Od Niewolnicy zmysłów do Czarnych diamentów. Szkice o polskich filmach z lat, 1914–1939 [From The Slave of Senses to Black Diamonds: Essays on Polish Film, 1914–1939].

Warsaw: COMUK, 1988.

Banaszkiewicz, Władysław, and Witold Witczak. Historia filmu polskiego.

Vol. 1, 1895–1929 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 1, 1895–1929]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1989.

Gierszewska, Barbara. Czasopiśmiennictwo filmowe w Polsce do 1939 roku [Film Journals in Poland before 1939]. Kielce: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna, 1995.

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———, ed. Mniszkówna i co dalej w polskim kinie? Wybór tekstów z czasopism filmowych dwudziestolecia międzywojennego [Helena Mniszkówna and Afterward. The Selection of Film Texts from the Interwar Period]. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Akademii Świętokrzyskiej, 2001.

Giżycki, Marcin. Awangarda wobec kina: Film w kręgu polskiej awangardy artystycznej dwudziestolecia międzywojennego [Avant-garde and Cinema: Film in Polish Avant-Garde Circles between the Wars]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo małe, 1996.

———. Walka o film artystyczny w międzywojennej Polsce [The Battle for Art Cinema in the Interwar Poland]. Warsaw: PWN, 1990.

Hendrykowska, Małgorzata. “From the Phonograph to the Kinetophone.” Film History 11, no. 4 (1999): 444–48.

———. Śladami tamtych cieni: Film w kulturze polskiej przełomu stuleci 1895–1914 [Following Those Shadows: Film in Polish Culture at the Turn of the Century, 1895–1914]. Poznań: Oficyna Wydawnicza Book Service, 1993.

———. “Was the Cinema Fairground Entertainment? The Birth and Role of Popular Cinema in the Polish Territories up to 1908.” In Popular European Cinema, edited by Richard Dyer and Ginette Vincendeau, 112–26. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.

Hendrykowski, Marek. “Kazimierz Prószyński and the Origins of Polish Cinematography.” In Celebrating 1895: The Centenary of Cinema, edited by John Fullerton, 13–18. London: John Libbey, 1998.

Jewsiewicki, Władysław. Polska kinematografia w okresie filmu dz´ więkowego (1930–1939) [Polish Cinema during the Sound Period (1930–1939)]. Łódź: Ossolineum, 1967.

———. Polska kinematografia w okresie filmu niemego (1895–1929/1930) [Polish Cinema during the Silent Period (1895–1929/1930)]. Łódź: Ossolineum, 1966.

Madej, Alina. Mitologie i konwencje: O polskim kinie fabularnym dwudziestolecia międzywojennego [Mythologies and Conventions: Polish Narrative Cinema during the Interwar Period]. Kraków: Universitas, 1994.

Michalewicz, Kazimierz S. Polskie rodowody filmu: Narodziny masowego zjawiska [The Roots of Polish Cinema: The Birth of a Mass Phenonemon].

Warsaw: Polska Agencja Ekologiczna, 1998.

POLISH CINEMA, 1939–1956 Lemann, Jolanta. Eugeniusz Cękalski. Łódź: Muzeum Kinematografii, 1996.

Madej, Alina. Kino, władza, publiczność: Kinematografia polska w latach

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1944–1949 [Cinema, Government, Audiences: Polish Cinema, 1944–1949].

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Ozimek, Stanisław. Film polski w wojennej potrzebie [Polish Film in the Service of World War II]. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1974.

Rek, Jan. “Stalin’s Sweet Revenge, or Some Consequences of Close Encounters between Film Criticism and Politics. Around Recent Discussions on Socialist Realist Cinema in Poland.” Blok (Poland) 3 (2004): 137–62.

Toeplitz, Jerzy, ed. Historia filmu polskiego. Vol. 3, 1939–1956 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 3, 1939–1956]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1974.

Włodarczyk, Wojciech. Socrealism: Sztuka polska w latach, 1950–1954 [Socialist Realism: Polish Art, 1950–1954]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1991.

Zwierzchowski, Piotr. Pęknięty monolit: Konteksty polskiego kina socrealistycznego [The Broken Monolith: The Contexts of Polish Socialist Realist Cinema]. Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Universytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy, 2005.

———. “Przygoda na Mariensztacie: czyli socrealizm i kultura popularna” [An Adventure at Mariensztadt: Socialist Realism and Popular Culture].

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———. Zapomniani bohaterowie: O bohaterach filmowych polskiego socrealizmu [Forgotten Heroes: The Protagonists of Polish Socialist Realist Films].

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THE POLISH SCHOOL Janicki, Stanisław. Polscy twórcy filmowi o sobie [Polish Filmmakers Are Talking about Themselves]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1962.

Nurczyńska-Fidelska, Ewelina, and Bronisława Stolarska, eds. “Szkoła polska”—Powroty [The Polish School Revisited]. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 1998.

Toeplitz, Jerzy, ed. Historia filmu polskiego. Vol. 4, 1957–1961 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 4, 1957–1961]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1980.

Trzynadlowski, Jan, ed. Polska Szkoła Filmowa: Poetyka i tradycja [Polish School: Poetics and Tradition]. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1976.

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“SMALL STABILIZATION,” 1962–1976 Marszałek, Rafał, ed. Historia filmu polskiego. Vol. 5, 1962–1967 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 5, 1962–1967]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1985.

———. Historia filmu polskiego. Vol. 6, 1968–1972 [History of Polish Cinema. Vol. 6, 1968–1972]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1994.

Miczka, Tadeusz, and Alina Madej, eds. Syndrom konformizmu? Kino polskie lat sześćdziesiątych [The Syndrome of Conformism? Polish Cinema in the 1960s]. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1994.

POLISH CINEMA, 1977–1989 Bickley, Daniel. “The Cinema of Moral Dissent: A Report from the Gdańsk Film Festival.” Cineaste 11, no. 1 (1980–1981): 10–15.

Dabert, Dobrochna. Kino moralnego niepokoju: Wokół wybranych problemów poetyki i etyki [The Cinema of Moral Concern: Selected Problems of Poetics and Ethics]. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2003.

Dondziłło, Czesław. Młode kino polskie lat siedemdziesiątych [The Young Polish Cinema in the 1970s]. Warsaw: Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1985.

Kornatowska, Maria. Wodzireje i amatorzy [Top Dogs and Camera Buffs].

Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1990.

Matuszak, Remigiusz Włast. “Film.” In Polish Realities: The Arts in Poland, 1980–1989, edited by Donald Pirie, Jekaterina Young, and Christopher Carrell, 62–73. Glasgow: Third Eye Centre, 1990.

Moszcz, Gustaw. “No Heroics, Please.” Sight and Sound 50, no. 2 (1981): 90–91.

Rogerson, Edward. “Polish Cinema: An Internal Exile.” Sight and Sound 55, no. 3 (1986): 195–97.

Turaj, Frank. “Poland: The Cinema of Moral Concern.” In Post New Wave Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, edited by Daniel J. Goulding, 143–71. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Warchoł, Tomasz. “Polish Cinema: The End of a Beginning.” Sight and Sound 55, no. 3 (1986): 190–94.

Wasilewski, Piotr. Świadectwa metryk: Polskie kino młodych w latach osiemdziesiątych [Birth Certificates: Polish Young Cinema in the 1980s].

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POST-COMMUNIST CINEMA (AFTER 1989) Caes, Christopher J. “The New Naïveté: Recent Developments in Polish Independent Cinema.” In Kinokultura special issue 2 (2005), at www .kinokultura.com/specials/2/caes.shtml (accessed 7 January 2007).

Falkowska, Janina, and Marek Haltof, eds. The New Polish Cinema. London: Flicks Books, 2003.

Godzic, Wiesław. “The Real End of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety.” In The New Polish Cinema, edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, 54–64.

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———. “Some Trends in Polish Audiovisual Culture after 1989.” Polish Review 47, no. 4 (2002): 363–74.

Haltof, Marek. “Everything for Sale: Polish National Cinema in the Age of CoProductions.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 39, no. 1 (1997): 137–52.

———. “A Fistful of Dollars: Polish Cinema after 1989 Freedom Shock.” Film Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1995): 15–25.

Helman Alicja. “The Masters Are Tired.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 42, no.

1–2 (2000): 99–111. [Reprinted in The New Polish Cinema, edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, 37–53. London: Flicks Books, 2003.]

Jankun-Dopartowa, Mariola. “Polish Cinema in the Period of Transition, 1989–95.” In The New Polish Cinema, edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, 178–85. London: Flicks Books, 2003.

Kalinowska, Izabela. “Generation 2000 and the Transforming Landscape of New Polish Cinema.” In Kinokultura, special issue 2 (2005), at www .kinokultura.com/specials/2/kalinowska.shtml (accessed 7 January 2007).

———. “Original Journeys in Polish Cinema during the Second Half of the 1990s.” Polish Review 47, no. 2 (2002): 133–43.

Kornatowska, Maria. “Polish Cinema.” Cineaste 19, no. 4 (1993): 47–50.

Mazierska, Ewa. “Any Town? Post-communist Warsaw in Juliusz Machulski’s Girl Guide (1995) and Kiler (1997).” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 19, no. 4 (1999): 515–30.

———. “Cinema of Hard Times: Individuals, Families and Society in Polish Contemporary Films. Canadian Slavonic Papers 46, no. 3–4 (2004): 401–16.

Murawska, Renata. “Of the Polish People’s Republic and Its Memory in Polish Film.” In Kinokultura special issue 2 (2005), at www.kinokultura.com /specials/2/murawska.shtml (accessed 7 January 2007).

Sosnowski, Alexandra. “Cinema in Transition: The Polish Film Today.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 24, no. 1 (1996): 10–16.

———. “Poland’s Film Industry Today: Structural and Economic Aspects.”

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———. “Polish Cinema Today: A New Order in the Production, Distribution and Exhibition of Film.” Polish Review 15, no. 1 (1995): 315–29.

DOCUMENTARY, ANIMATION, EXPERIMENTAL, AND INDEPENDENT FILM Armata, Jerzy. “Film animowany.” In Encyklopedia kultury polskiej XX wieku: Film i kinematografia, edited by Edward Zajiček, 283–99. Warsaw: Instytut Kultury and Komitet Kinematografii, 1994.

Benedyktowicz, Zbigniew, ed. Zbigniew Rybczyński: Podróżnik do krainy niemożliwości. Wokół twórczości Zbigniewa Rybczyńskiego [Zbigniew Rybczyński: The Traveler to the Land of Impossibility]. Warsaw: Instytut Sztuki, 1993.

Giżycki, Marcin. Nie tylko Disney: Rzecz o filmie animowanym [Disney Was Not Alone: Animated Cinema]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 2000.

Głowa, Jadwiga, ed. Zooming in on History’s Turning Points: Documentaries in the 1990s in Central and Eastern Europe. Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński, 1999. [Conference Papers in Polish with English translations.]

Godzic, Wiesław. “How Do We Look in a Broken Mirror? Polish Documentary in the 1990s.” Documentary Box 9 (1996) at www.city.yamagata.yamagata .jp/yidff/docbox/9/box9-3-e.html (accessed 1 November 2004).

Hendrykowska, Małgorzata, ed. Klucze do rzeczywistości: Szkice i rozmowy o polskim filmie dokumentalnym po roku 1989 [Keys to Reality: Essays and Conversations on Polish Documentary Film after 1989]. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza, 2005.

Jankowska, Małgorzata. Wideo, wideo instalacje, wideo performance w Polsce w latach 1973–1994. Historia, artyści, dzieła [Video, Video Installations, Video Performance in the Years 1973–1994. History, Artists, Works]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Neriton, 2004.

Jazdon, Mikołaj. Polskie kino niezależne [Polish Independent Cinema]. Poznań: Wojewódzka Biblioteka Pedagogiczna, 2005.

Kluszczyński, Ryszard W. “Absolute against Casuality: Zbigniew Rybczyński’s Cinema (1972–1980).” Exist: New Art in Poland 3, no. 15 (1993): 608–11.

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———. Obrazy na wolności: Studia z historii sztuk medialnych w Polsce [Images Unbound: History of Media Arts in Poland]. Warsaw: Instytut Kultury, 1998.

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Kossakowski, Andrzej. Polski film animowany 1945–1974 [Polish Animated Film, 1945–1974]. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1977.

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Lemann, Jolanta. “Film dokumentalny.” In Encyklopedia kultury polskiej XX wieku: Film i kinematografia, edited by Edward Zajiček, 199–242. Warsaw: Instytut Kultury and Komitet Kinematografii, 1994.

Lemann-Zajiček, Jolanta. Kino i polityka. Polski film dokumentalny, 1945– 1949 [Cinema and Politics. Polish Documentary Film, 1945–1949]. Łódź: PWSFTviT, 2003.

Nowak, Krzysztof J. “Polska Kronika Filmowa” [Polish Newsreel]. In Encyklopedia kultury polskiej XX wieku: Film i kinematografia, edited by Edward Zajiček, 243–63. Warsaw: Instytut Kultury and Komitet Kinematografii, 1994.

Przylipiak, Mirosław. Poetyka kina dokumentalnego [Poetics of Documentary Cinema]. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2000.

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Salska-Kaca, Mirosława. “Polski esej dokumentalny” [Polish Documentary Essay]. Film na Świecie 351–52 (1988): 95–112.

Weiner, Steve. “Jan Lenica and Landscape.” Film Quarterly 45, no. 4 (1992): 2–16.

POPULAR CINEMA Haltof, Marek. “Polish Films with an American Accent: New Action Cinema in Poland.” In The New Polish Cinema, edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, 116–26. London: Flicks Books, 2003.

Mazierska, Ewa. “Polish Cinematic Dystopias: Metaphors of Life under Communism—and Beyond.” Kinema (Spring 2002), at http://kinema.uwaterloo .ca/mazi042.htm (accessed 7 May 2006).

Skotarczak, Dorota. Obraz społeczeństwa PRL w komedii filmowej [The Portrayal of People’s Poland in Film Comedy]. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2004.

Skwara, Anita. “Film Stars Do Not Shine in the Sky over Poland: The Absence of Popular Cinema in Poland.” In Popular European Cinema, edited by Richard Dyer and Ginette Vincendeau, 220–31. London: Routledge, 1992.

Sowińska-Rammel, Iwona. “Scenes from the Lives of Masqueraders: Polish Film Comedy.” In The New Polish Cinema, edited by Janina Falkowska and Marek Haltof, 127–42. London: Flicks Books, 2003.

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STARS AND OTHER ACTORS Afanasjew, Jerzy. Okno Zbyszka Cybulskiego; Brulion z ˙zycia aktora filmowego połowy XX wieku [The Window of Zbigniew Cybulski; Sketches from the Life of a Film Actor from mid-XX Century]. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie, 1970.

Ciechowicz, Jan, and Tadeusz Szczepański, eds. Zbigniew Cybulski: Aktor XX wieku [Zbigniew Cybulski: The Twentieth-Century Actor]. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 1997.

Czapińska, Wiesława. Pola Negri, Polska królowa Hollywood [Pola Negri, The Polish Queen of Hollywood]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Philip Wilson, 1997.

Eberhardt, Konrad. Zbigniew Cybulski. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1976.

Kurz, Iwona. Twarze w tłumie: Wizerunki bohaterów wyobraz´ ni zbiorowej w kulturze polskiej lat 1955–1969 [Faces in the Crowd: Star Images in Polish Culture, 1955–1969]. Warsaw: Świat Literacki, 2005.

Negri, Pola. Memoirs of a Star. New York: Doubleday, 1970.

Nowakowski, Jerzy. Boska Pola i inni [Divine Pola Negri and Others]. Warsaw: To My, 2005.

Pryzwan, Mariola, ed. “Cześć, starenia!” Zbyszek Cybulski we wspomnieniach [Zbigniew Cybulski Remembered]. Warsaw: MK, 1994.

Szczawiński, Maciej M. Zezowate szczęście: Opowieść o Bogumile Kobieli [Bad Luck: The Story of Bogumił Kobiela]. Katowice: Towarzystwo Zachęty Kultury, 1996.

Zawiśliński, Stanisław. Powiedzmy Linda [Bogusław Linda]. Warsaw: Taurus, 1994.

Zdort, Wiesław. Cybulski na planie filmu “Popiół i diament.” [Cybulski on the Set of Ashes and Diamonds]. Łódź: Łódź Film School Press, 1998.

FILM THEORY IN POLAND Bocheńska, Jadwiga. Polska myśl filmowa: Antologia tekstów z lat 1898–1939 [Polish Film Theory: Anthology of Texts from 1989 to 1939]. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1975.

———. Polska myśl filmowa do roku 1939 [Polish Film Theory before 1939].

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Coates, Paul. “Karol Irzykowski: Apologist of the Inauthentic Art.” New German Critique 42 (1987): 113–15. [Excerpts from Irzykowski’s The Tenth Muse in Coates’s translation: 116–27.]

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Haltof, Marek. “Film Theory in Poland before World War II.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 40, no. 1–2 (1998): 67–78.

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Helman, Alicja, and Wacław M. Osadnik. “Film Studies in Postwar Poland: Tradition and Innovation.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 39, no. 1–2 (1997): 123–36.

Helman, Alicja, Wacław M. Osadnik, Łukasz Plesnar, and Eugeniusz Wilk.

“Some Remarks on the Application of Ingarden’s Theory to Film Studies.” In Allegory Revisited: Ideals for Mankind, 377–97. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994.

Irzykowski, Karol. Dziesiąta Muza. Zagadnienia estetyczne kina [The Tenth Muse: Aesthetic Problems of Cinema]. Kraków: Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, 1924. [Reprints in 1957, 1960, 1977, and 1982.]

Matuszewski, Bolesław. A New Source of History. Animated Photography: What It Is, What It Should Be. Translated from Polish and French (1898) edition by Ryszard Drzewiecki. Warsaw: Filmoteka Narodowa, 1999.

Osadnik, Wacław M., and Jeff Bernard, eds. Leopards: The Cracow-Silesian School of Film Semiotics and Poetics. Vienna: Austrian Semiotic Society, 2001.

Ostrowska, Elżbieta. “Early Film Theory in Poland: The Work of Karol Irzykowski.” In Celebrating 1895: The Centenary of Cinema, edited by John Fullerton, 37–42. London: John Libbey, 1998.

Palczewska, Danuta. Współczesna polska myśl filmowa [Contemporary Polish Film Theory]. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1981.

YIDDISH CINEMA IN POLAND Goldberg, Judith N. Laughter through Tears: The Yiddish Cinema. East Brunswick, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1983.

Goldman, Eric A. Visions, Images, and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present.

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Konigsberg, Ira. “Our Children and the Limits of Cinema: Early Jewish Responses to the Holocaust.” Film Quarterly 52, no. 1 (1998): 7–19.

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Mazur, Daria. “Sfera pogranicza doczesności i transcendencji w Dybuku Michała Waszyńskiego” [Reality and Transcendance in Michał Waszyński’s

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Paskin, Sylvia, ed. When Joseph Met Molly: A Reader on Yiddish Film. Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications, 1999.

Safran, Gabriella. “Dancing with Death and Salvaging Jewish Culture in Austeria and The Dybbuk.” Slavic Review 59, no. 4 (2000): 761–81.

POLISH-JEWISH RELATIONS AND THE HOLOCAUST Avisar, Ilan. Screening the Holocaust: Cinema’s Images of the Unimaginable.

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Haltof, Marek. “The Monstrosity of Auschwitz in Wanda Jakubowska’s The Last Stage (1948).” In The Ranges of Evil: Multidisciplinary Studies of Human Wickedness, edited by William Andrew Myers, 269–76. Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Press, 2006. E-book at www.inter-disciplinary.net /publishing/idp/eBooks/roeindex.html (accessed 8 May 2006).

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Przylipiak, Mirosław, and Krzysztof Kornacki, eds. Poszukiwanie i degradowanie sacrum w kinie [The Exploration and Degradation of Sacrum in Cinema]. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2002.

GENDER ISSUES Falkowska, Janina. “A Case of Mixed Identities: The Representation of Women in Post-Socialist Polish Films.” Canadian Woman Studies 16, no 1 (1996): 35–37.

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———. “Ambitions, Temptations and Disappointments—The Cinema of Barbara Sass.” Feminist Media Studies 3, no. 3 (2003): 329–43.

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Maland, Charles. “Memories and Things Past: History and Two Biographical Flashback Films.” East-West Film Journal 6, no. 1 (1992): 66–93.

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———. “Literature, Painting, and Film: Wajda’s Adaptation of the ShadowLine.” In Conrad on Film, edited by Gene M. Moore, 135–50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

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Murawska-Muthesius, Katarzyna. “Trauma of ‘Aesthetic Castration’ or the Forbidden Pleasures of Socialist Realism? Psychoanalysis in/of Wajda’s Man of Marble.” Blok: International Journal of Stalinist and Post-Stalinist Culture [Poland] 4 (2005): 68–90.

Nurczyńska-Fidelska, Ewelina. Polska klasyka literacka według Andrzeja Wajdy [The Polish Literary Canon According to Andrzej Wajda]. Katowice: Śląsk, 1998.

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Ostrowska, Elżbieta. “Landscape and Lost Time: Ethnoscape in the Work of Andrzej Wajda.” Kinoeye 4, no. 5 (2004), at www.kinoeye.org/04/05 /ostrowska05/php (accessed 7 May 2006).

Paul, David. “Andrzej Wajda’s War Trilogy.” Cineaste 20, no. 4 (1994): 52–54.

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Rubinstein, Lenny. “A Love in Germany: An Interview with Andrzej Wajda.”

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Swan, Oscar E. “Andrzej Wajda’s Film Holy Week: What Is Its Problem?” Polish Review 3 (2005): 343–53.

Wajda, Andrzej. Double Vision: My Life in Film. New York: Holt, 1989.

———. Kino i reszta świata [Cinema and the Rest of the World]. Kraków: Znak, 2000.

———. Three Films [Ashes and Diamonds, Kanal, A Generation]. London: Lorrimer, 1984.

———. Wajda Films. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1996.

Wertenstein, Wanda. Wajda mówi o sobie: Wywiady i teksty [Wajda Talks about Himself: Interviews and Texts]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1991.

KRZYSZTOF ZANUSSI Bobowski, Sławomir. Dyskurs filmowy Zanussiego [Zanussi’s Filmic Discourse]. Wrocław: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Polonistyki Wrocławskiej, 1996.

Breznay, Ron. “Wasted Journies to the Greener Grass: The Films of Krzysztof Zanussi.” Central Europe Review 2, no. 31 (2000), at www.ce-review .org/00/31/kinoeye31_breznay.html (accessed 27 December 2006).

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———, ed. Andrzej Kondratiuk. Poznań: Apeks, 1996. Łuczak, Maciej. Miś, czyli rzecz o Stanisławie Barei [Teddy Bear: Stanisław Bareja]. Warsaw: Prószyński i S-ka, 2002.

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———. “Devils and Angels: Representation of Gypsies and Poles in Diabły, diabły (Devils, Devils) by Dorota Kędzierzawska.” Framework 44, no. 2 (2003): 130–39.

———. “Domesticating Madness, Revisiting Polishness: The Cinema of Marek Koterski.” Journal of Film and Video 56, no. 3 (2004): 20–34.

———. “Wanda Jakubowska’s Cinema of Commitment.” European Journal of Women Studies 8, no. 2 (2001): 221–38.

Nowakowski, Jacek. Filmowa twórczość Andrzeja Kondratiuka [The Cinema of Andrzej Kondratiuk]. Poznań: Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne, 1999.

Nurczyńska-Fidelska, Ewelina. Czas i przesłona: O Filipie Bajonie i jego twórczości [Time and Diaphragm: Filip Bajon and His Works]. Kraków: Rabid, 2003.

Skrodzka-Bates, Aga. “History from Inside Out: The Vernacular Cinema of Jan Jakub Kolski.” Kinokultura [online film journal], at www.kinokultura .com/specials/2/skrodzka.shtml (accessed 15 October 2006).

Zalewski, Andrzej. “Grzegorz Królikiewicz: The Dilemmas of Unrestrained Passion.” In Polish Cinema in Ten Takes, edited by Ewelina NurczyńskaFidelska and Zbigniew Batko, 109–21. Łódź: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 1995.

Zawiśliński, Stanisław. Hoffman. Chuligana żywot własny [Hoffman: Hooligan’s Self-Portrait]. Warsaw: Skorpion, 1999.

WEBSITES Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing: www.wajdaschool.pl Association of Polish Filmmakers: www.sfp.org.pl Camerimage Film Festival: www.camerimage.pl Czołówka Film Studio: www.czolowka.com.pl Documentary and Feature Film Studio (WFDiF): www.wfdif.com.pl Educational Film Studio (WFO): www.wfo.com.pl Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia: www.festivalgdynia.pl Film [journal]: www.film.com.pl Film Quarterly [Kwartalnik Filmowy, Polish journal]: www.ispan.pl/kf/

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Internet Movie Database: www.imdb.com Kadr Film Studio: www.kadr.com.pl Katowice Film School: writv.us.edu.pl Kino [film journal]: film.onet.pl/kino Kinema [online film journal]: www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca Kinoeye: New Pespectives on European Film [online film journal]: www.kinoeye.org Kinokultura [online film journal]: www.kinokultura.com Kraków Film Festival: www.cracowfilmfestival.pl Kwartalnik Filmowy [Film Quarterly]: www.ispan.pl/kf Łódź Film School: www.filmschool.lodz.pl/ National Film Archive: www.fn.org.pl Oko Film Studio: sfoko.com.pl Polish Culture: www.culture.pl Polish Federation of Film Clubs: www.pfdkf.pl Polish Film Database (Łódź Film School): www.filmpolski.pl Polish Film Institute (Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej): www.pisf.pl Silesia Film (Instytucja Filmowa Silesia Film): www.silesia.film.com.pl Stopklatka Online Film Service: www.stopklatka.pl Tor Film Studio: www.tor.com.pl Wajda’s official website: www.wajda.pl Warsaw International Film Festival: www.wff.pl Zebra Film Studio: www.zebrafilm.pl

VARIOUS Chołodowski, Waldemar. Kraina niedojrzałości [The Land of Immaturity].

Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1983.

Hendrykowski, Marek. Piwowski’s The Cruise. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2005.

———. Polski film fabularny dla dzieci i młodzieży [Polish Film for Children and Young Adults]. Poznań: Ośrodek Sztuki dla Dzieci i Młodzieży, 1994.

Jankun-Dopartowa, Mariola, and Mirosław Przylipiak, eds. Człowiek z ekranu: Z antropologii postaci filmowej [The Screen Protagonist: Anthropology of a Screen Character]. Kraków: Arcana, 1996.

Kino. [Polish monthly on cinema: articles, interviews, reviews.]

KinoKultura. Special issue on Polish cinema, guest editor Elżbieta Ostrowska.

Online journal at www.kinokultura.com/specials/2/polish.shtml.

Lubelski, Tadeusz, ed. Zdjęcia: Jerzy Lipman [Cinematography: Jerzy Lipman]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 2005.

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Marszałek, Rafał. Kino rzeczy znalezionych [The Cinema of Found Things].

Gdańsk: Słowo/obraz terytoria, 2006.

Mazierska, Ewa. “Between Parochialism and Universalism: World War One in Polish Cinematography.” In The First World War and Popular Cinema: 1914 to the Present, edited by Michael Paris, 192–216. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999.

———. “Multifunctional Chopin: The Representation of Frederyk Chopin in Polish Films.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 24, no. 2 (2004): 253–68.

Palczewska, Danuta, and Zbigniew Benedyktowicz, eds. Film i kontekst [Film and Context]. Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1988.

Pełczyński, Grzegorz. Dziesiąta muza w stroju ludowym [The Tenth Muse in a Folk Costume]. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2002.

Sobolewski, Tadeusz. Dziecko Peerelu: Esej, dziennik [The Child of the Polish People’s Republic: An Essay, a Memoir]. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Sic! 2000.

———. Za duży blask: O kinie współczesnym [Too Much of a Glow: Contemporary Cinema]. Kraków: Znak, 2004.

Uszyński, Jerzy, ed. Polskie seriale telewizyjne [Polish Television Series]. Warsaw: Telewizja Polska SA, 2005.

About the Author

Marek Haltof was born in Cieszyn, Poland. He earned two master’s degrees: from the University of Silesia (Poland) and Flinders University of South Australia. He was awarded a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and a postdoctoral degree of habilitated doctor (habilitation) from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. He taught at several universities in Poland and Canada. In 2001 he joined the faculty of Northern Michigan University in Marquette and is currently professor of film in the English Department. His recent books include The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance (London: Wallflower Press, 2004; distributed by Columbia University Press) and Polish National Cinema (New York: Berghahn, 2002), translated into Polish in 2004 and into Japanese in 2006. In addition, he published Australian Cinema: The Screen Construction of Australia (Gdańsk: Słowo/obraz terytoria, 2005; in Polish). His earlier books include Peter Weir: When Cultures Collide (New York: Twayne, 1996), Authorship and Art Cinema: The Case of Paul Cox (Kraków: Rabid, 2001; in Polish), and The New Polish Cinema (London: Flicks Books, 2003; coeditor with Janina Falkowska). He is also the author of three other books published in Poland—two short novels, Max Is Great (1988) and Duo Nowak (1996), and a collection of essays on American genre cinema, The Cinema of Fears (1992).

261

Pola Negri—publicity still.

All photographs courtesy of the National Film Archive (Filmoteka Narodowa) in Warsaw.

The Last Stage (1948, Wanda Jakubowska).

Zbigniew Cybulski (left) and Adam Pawlikowski in Ashes and Diamonds (1958, Andrzej Wajda).

Zofia Marcinkowska and Henryk Boukołowski in Nobody Is Calling (1960, Kazimierz Kutz).

How to Be Loved (1963, Wojciech Jerzy Has).

Lucyna Winnicka in Night Train (1959, Jerzy Kawalerowicz).

Jerzy Zelnik in The Pharaoh (1966, Jerzy Kawalerowicz).

Salt of the Black Earth (1970, Kazimierz Kutz).

Jerzy Radziwiłowicz in Man of Marble (1977, Andrzej Wajda).

Nightmares (1979, Wojciech Marczewski).

Jerzy Stuhr in Camera Buff (1979, Krzysztof Kie lowski).

Norman Scott and Maja Komorowska in Year of the Quiet Sun (1985, Krzysztof Zanussi).

Olaf Lubaszenko (right) in March Almonds (1990, Radosław Piwowarski).

Bogusław Linda in The Pigs (1992, Władysław Pasikowski).

Zbigniew Zamachowski (left) and Janusz Gajos in Three Colors: White (1994, Krzysztof Kie lowski).

Jerzy Stuhr and Irina Alfiorova in Love Stories (1997, Jerzy Stuhr).