POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Film, theatre, television and radio director, screenwriter and actor. He was born on February 2, 1933 in Vilnius and died on May 27, 2004 in Bydgoszcz. A graduate of the Department of Directing of the State Film School in Łódź (1955). After graduation, he worked as the assistant of Wojciech Jerzy Has when the latter was making The Noose/Pętla (1957) and his credits as an assistant director include Sleepwalkers/Lunatycy (1959) and the Road to the West/Droga na Zachód (1961) directed by Bohdan Poręba, My Old Man/Mój stary (1962), Killer and a Girl/Zbrodniarz i panna (1963) by Jerzy Nasfeter, and First Day of Freedom/Pierwszy dzień wolności (1964) by Aleksander Ford.

He made his debut in 1965 with the novella sports comedy Always on Sunday/Zawsze w niedzielę. In anticipation of the realisation of his dream project Kaszëbë (1970) – a melodrama set in the late nineteenth century – he made the thriller Gdzie jest trzeci król?/Where Is the Third King? (1966) and two short TV films, included in the series Unusual Tales, namely Side Track/Ślepy tor (1967) and Fire Area/Pożarowisko (1968). It was TV that turned out to be the medium where he had the most successful projects: For Nine Bridges/Przez dziewięć mostów (1971, Grand Prix in Prague); adaptation of the novel Naked Orchard/Nagi Sad by Wiesław Myśliwski; Boys/Chłopcy (1973, Golden Screen award) – film adaptation of the famous drama by Stanisław Grochowiak; Disaster/Katastrofa (1974) and Carousel/Karuzela (1974) – episodes in the series The Most Important Day Of Life/Najważniejszy dzień życia (Golden Screen Award), the TV series The Doll/Lalka (1977, Golden Screen) based on the novel by Bolesław Prus and Chancellor/Kanclerz (1989, Golden Screen). He returned to Wiesław Myśliwski’s prose in the hugely successful TV film The Road/Droga (1980) and his last film – Stone on Stone/Kamień na kamieniu (1995). He rose to fame for making the first Polish erotic film, namely Thais (1983), based on the novel by Anatole France, but he gained recognition for his version of The Stranger/Cudzoziemka (1986, Special Award in Gdynia) – an impressive adaptation of the book by Maria Kuncewiczowa, with the brilliant Ewa Wiśniewska in the title role (acting award in Gdynia).

He was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta (1983), as well as the Award of the 1^st degree of the Minister of Culture and Arts for lifetime achievement in the field of radio and television (1985).

Jerzy Armata