POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Director, writer. He was born on December 23, 1947, in Warsaw. He studied sociology at the University of Warsaw. Graduate of the Film School in Łódź (1970, diploma in 1976). One of his first films was Szkoła podstawowa/Elementary School (1971), awarded the Grand Prix at the International Short Film Festival in Kraków. Initially, he was mainly a documentary film director. Together with Krzysztof Kieślowski, he made Robotnicy 1971: Nic o nas bez nas/Workers 1971: Nothing About Us Without Us (1972). The film was withheld by the censor, and then heavily edited, completely distorting the author’s intentions; it was broadcast on TV under a different title. He followed with three more documentaries and several television shows, including Ich czworo/The Four of Them by Zapolska and Lęki poranne/Morning Fears by Stanisław Grochowiak (both in 1977).

He made his cinema debut with the film Rebus/Riddle (1977), but he gained real fame three years later for the film Ćma/The Moth (1980), featuring an outstanding performance by Roman Wilhelmi (best actor award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and the festival in Moscow), as a radio journalist at a critical moment of his life. The black-and-white film was shot by the director’s brother – cinematographer Jacek Zygadło. His next film, Odwet/Revenge (1982), inspired by the poem of Alexander Blok and poetry of Leśmian, is characterised by metaphysical poetics and fantasy elements. In 1985, he directed the film Sceny dziecięce z życia prowincji/Children Scenes from the Life of the Province, loosely based on Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black, and two years later – Śmierć Johna L./The Death of John L. In the 1990s, he directed mainly television spectacles, including Swan Song by Anton Chekhov, Elegy for a Lady by Arthur Miller, or Lieutenant Kizhe. He also directed plays in several theatres, including the Stefan Jaracz Teatr in Łódź, and theatres in Krakow and Warsaw.

He wrote the screenplay for Janusz Zaorski’s film Dziecinne pytania /Childish Questions (1981), about difficult life choices in the moral climate of the time. In 2006, he shot a documentary Szkoła podstawowa, czyli wykształciuchy/Elementary School, or ‘the Educated’, returning to the characters from his first documentary.

He had cameos in several films, including such as Personel/Personnel and Blizna/Scar by Kieślowski, Wajda’s Bez znieczulenia/Rough Treatment and Holland’s Aktorzy prowincjonalni/Provincial Actors. He also starred in films he directed.

He died on September 17, 2011, in Warsaw.