Karabasz, Kazimierz

(1930-)

   Acclaimed director of documentary films and influential teacher at the Łódź Film School. At the beginning of his career, Karabasz worked for the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw and collaborated with the Polish Newsreel. In 1956 he coproduced with Władysław Ślesicki two films that form the canon of Polish Black Realism: Where the Devil Says Good Night (Gdzie diabeł mówi dobranoc, 1957) and People from Nowhere (Ludzie z pustego obszaru, 1957), films that depict Warsaw's rundown districts. In these and several other films, for example From Powiśle (Z Powiśla, 1958), Karabasz tried to discover the truth about society and to expose social maladies. In 1960 he directed Sunday Musicians (Muzykanci, 1960), a classic study portraying the rehearsals of an amateur brass band established by older male tram workers, which won several prestigious short film festivals, both national and international. In 1967 he produced another highly regarded film, the full-length documentary The Year of Franek W. (Rok Franka W.), a coming-of-age film focusing on an undistinguished young man from a rural area. The same preoccupation with faithful representation of reality can be seen in Karabasz's other documentaries (his output includes thirty-four such films) and in his other films, such as in the fictionalized documentary made for television Prism (Pryzmat, 1976) and the feature film A Looming Shadow (Cień juz niedaleko, 1984). Like Karabasz's films, his four books on documentary film, among them The Patient Eye (Cierpliwe oko, 1979) and Without Fiction (Bez fikcji, 1985), also advocate meticulous observation of the subject and simplicity. Karabasz's influence can be traced in several works made by younger filmmakers, including films made by Krzysztof Kieślowski at the beginning of his career.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof