Zaorski, Janusz

(1947-)

   Film director, artistic director of the film studio Dom since 1988, and also, in the first part of the 1990s, media decision maker as the head of the State Cinema Committee (Komitet Kinematografii, 1991-1993) and head of the National Council for Radio and Television (Komitet ds. Radia i Telewizji, 1994-1995). After graduating in 1969 from the Łódź Film School, Zaorski debuted with a well-received realistic picture of the young generation, Escape as Near as Possible (Uciec jak najblizej, 1972). In the following years he produced a body of works characterized by different generic affiliations and stylistic approaches. His satirical Social Advancement (Awans, 1974), based on Janusz Redlinski's novel, was followed by a psychological drama, A Room with a View of the Sea (Pokój z widokiem na morze, 1978). During the Cinema of Distrust period, Zaorski produced what are arguably his best-known films: Child's Questions (Dziecinnepytania, 1981) and, in particular, The Mother of Kings (Matka królów, finished in 1982, released in 1987). Child's Questions tells the story of six university friends, their political initiation in 1968, and their adult battleground—the Gierek era. The Mother of Kings is a saga covering more than twenty years of Polish history about a working-class family led by a hardworking, widowed mother, Łucja Król (Magda Teresa Wójcik). When released, the film won the Festival of Polish Films and was awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival (see STALINISM). In the 1980s, Zaorski directed several popular films including Baritone (Baryton, 1985), starring Zbigniew Zapasiewicz; Bodensee (Jezioro Bodeńskie, 1986), the winner of the Locarno Film Festival, an adaptation of Stanisław Dygat's novel; and Soccer Poker (Piłkarski poker, 1989), popular among Polish viewers. His best-known film from the 1990s, Happy New York (Szczęśliwego Nowego Jorku, 1997), about six miserable Polish migrants in New York, was an adaptation of another satirical novel by Redliński.

   Other films: The Caprices of Lazarus (Kaprysy Łazarza, TV, 1973), Give Us Our Daily Bread (Chleba naszego powszedniego, 1974), Partita for a Woodwind (Partita na instrument drewniany, 1978), Maidens and Widows (Panny i wdowy, 1991), Hacker (Haker, 2002), Saved by a Miracle (Cudownie ocalony, TV, 2004), The Tree Doctor (Lekarz drzew, TV, 2005).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof