Krauze, Krzysztof

(1953-)

   Director and scriptwriter Krauze started his career in 1988 with New York, 4 AM (Nowy Jork, czwarta rano). He received critical recognition for his later films Street Games (Gry uliczne, 1996) and Debt (Dług, 1999). Street Games, a political thriller, tells the story of a young television reporter who investigates the Communist past, which emerges in its dangerous intricacy and overshadows the present. Awarded the Grand Prix at the 1999 Festival of Polish Films in Gdynia, the psychological thriller Debt refers to a well-publicized event: a group of young businessmen, blackmailed by a gangster who tries to collect a nonexisting debt, kill the blackmailer and his bodyguard out of desperation. The film took part in a national discussion concerning the weakness of the law and the links between organized crime and the political elite. Krauze's next film, My Nikifor (Mój Nikifor, 2004), a biography of the well-known "naive painter" Nikifor (played by actress Krystyna Feldman), received critical acclaim in Poland and won top prizes at the international film festivals in Chicago and Karlovy Vary. His most recent film, the realistic drama Savior Square (Plac Zbawiciela, 2006), which he codirected with his wife, Joanna Kos-Krauze, also won the main award at the Festival of Polish Films.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof