POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Director, writer. He was born on January 11, 1911, in Łódź. He studied art history at the University of Warsaw and the violin at the Warsaw Conservatory. Graduate of the Directing Department at the Theatre Institute in Warsaw (1938).

In his twenties, he started making documentary films (as both the director and cinematographer). With a group of other artists (including Wanda Jakubowska, Stanisław Wohl, Eugeniusz Cękalski), he founded the Association of Art-House Film Lovers "Start" (1931). Later, he joined the Film Authors Co-operative. He made his debut in 1938 with a feature film produced jointly with Aleksander Ford Ludzie Wisły/People of the Vistula – about boat men. His first independent film – based on the popular vaudeville Żołnierz królowej Madagaskaru/Soldier of the Queen of Madagascar – was completed just before the war, but the premiere was held in 1940 (the film did not survive, so the director shot it again, this time in colour, in 1958). During the September campaign, he accompanied the Warsaw Defence Command, filming the war in the city centre. During the Warsaw Uprising, he coordinated the Uprising chronicles. After the war, he made two medium-length films: Nawrócony/A Convert and Zdradzieckie serce/The Treacherous Heart (both in 1947), which, however, were never distributed. In 1950, he directed the film Miasto nieujarzmione/The Unvanquished City (original title: Robinson Warszawski/Warsaw Robinson, written by Czesław Milosz, but eventually he withdrew his name from the credits), based on the story of Władysław Szpilman, which was heavily edited for political reasons. He directed the drama Zagubione uczucia/Lost Feelings (1957), considered the first Polish neorealist film, a depressing portrayal of life in Nowa Huta. He received the Film Critics Club award – Warsaw Mermaid. His subsequent films represent various genres, including comedies (Klub kawalerów/Bachelors Club, 1962, Liczę na wasze grzechy/I am Counting on your Sins, 1963), melodramas (Kochankowie z Marony/The Lovers of Marona, 1966), or psychological films (Pogoń za Adamem/Chasing Adam, 1970).

In the years 1955-1961, he was the head of the “Syrena” Film Studio. In 1959, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He died on January 2, 1971, in Warsaw.