POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Film, theatre and television director, writer, set designer, actor and teacher. He was born on June 6, 1949 in Góra Śląska. In the years 1969-1972 he studied at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Jagiellonian University. A graduate of the Department of Directing of the State School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź (1982). He collaborated with Jerzy Antczak on the set of Noce i dnie/Nights and Days (1975), he was the second director of Pasja/Passion (1977) by Stanisław Różewicz and two films directed by Edward Żebrowski: Szpital Przemienienia/ Transfiguration Hospital (1978), and W biały dzień/In Broad Daylight (1980).

He made his TV debut in 1981 with Cień/Shadow inspired by Anton Chekhov’s Black Monk. His first full-length feature film was a successful adaptation of a short story by Iwaszkiewicz Zygfryd, a careful study of an old professor and his psychological fascination with a young circus performer, set in the 1930s (award for best debut in Gdańsk). His next film, Schodami w górę, schodami w dół/Up the Stairs, Down the Stairs (1988), is also set before the war. It is an adaptation of the famous book by Michał Choromański, dedicated to the Zakopane boheme. He returned to Iwaszkiewicz in Nocne ptaki/Birds of the Night (1992), based on the short story Stracona noc/The Lost Night, and to Chekhov with Łóżko Wierszynina/Vershenin’s Bed (1997) – although the latter is not so much an adaptation of the Russian playwright's work but the director’s own story, set in the theatre during rehearsals for Three Sisters.

Andrzej Domalik is also the author of several documentaries, mostly about music, including Nie bój się tego…/Do Not Be Afraid of That... (1982) about the ”Perfect” music band, and Polski jazz/Polish jazz (1985). He also directed many successful theatre and TV productions. In 1993-2005, he was associated with Warsaw’s Dramatyczny Theatre, and since 2011, he has served as artistic director of the Athenaeum Theatre in Warsaw.

Jerzy Armata