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 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 Zeromski'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).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof