Dejczer, Maciej

(1955-)

   Film director and scriptwriter, director of television plays and videoclips. Graduate of the University of Gdańsk (Polish Philology, 1977) and the Katowice Film and Television School (1984), Dejczer gained prominence with his first theatrically released film, 300 Miles to Heaven (300 mil do nieba, 1989), which won the European Film Award (the "Felix") as the Young European Film of the Year and also received several other prizes. Scripted by Dejczer and Cezary Harasimowicz and based on real events, the film tells the story of two young brothers who escaped to Sweden during martial law. Dejczer started his career in 1984 assisting Krzysztof Kieślowski on his No End (1985) and then directing his first film, the television drama Trash Can Kids (Dzieci-śmieci, 1986). His 1997 Polish-German coproduction, Brute (Bandyta), did not match high expectations. Since 1999 Dejczer has worked mostly for television, being involved in directing several popular television series, such as the crime drama The Police Officer (Oficer, 2004-2005) starring Borys Szyc, its loose continuation Police Officers (Oficerowie, 2006), and the modern drama Magda M. (2005-2006).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof