Kazimierz Karabasz
Directing
Biography
Kazimierz Karabasz (Polish pronunciation: [kaˈʑimjɛʑ kaˈrabaʂ]; May 6, 1930 in Bydgoszcz, Poland – August 11, 2018) was a Polish documentary filmmaker. A graduate of the Łódź Film School in 1956, he also taught the documentary programme there for many years. Although his work is now rarely seen, his most famous film, a ten-minute documentary short entitled Muzykanci / The Musicians, is an extra on the Criterion Collection edition of Krzysztof Kieślowski's film The Double Life of Véronique. Kieślowski, whom Karabasz mentored, chose this as one of his personal all-time top ten films in a 1992 poll conducted by the film magazine Sight & Sound. Karabasz is known in Poland for influencing generations of documentary filmmakers to come with his approach to filmmaking called "school of Karabasz" (Polish: szkoła Karabasza). The style focuses of regular people's lives and requires a perspective of an observer with zero impact on the observed object. Muzykanci is considered a textbook example of "Karabasz school". The method was especially popular in the sixties and associated with the œuvre of Władysław Ślesicki, Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki, Krystyna Gryczełowska and Danuta Halladin among others.
Known For
Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz directed this insightful TV documentary (2005) tracing the Polish filmmaker's career. Former classmates reminisce about Kieslowski's happy beginnings at the Lodz film school and how his dissatisfaction with some of his early documentaries prompted the dramatic work and stylistic experimentation that led to his monumental series of films The Decalogue (1989). Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, and Juliette Binoche are among the many admirers weighing in on his hard-driving work methods and preoccupation with the ephemeral. In Polish, French, and German with subtitles.
Still Alive: A Film About Krzysztof Kieslowski
A documentary depicting life in Targówek, a deprived and crime-affected district of postwar Warsaw, where reconstruction and cultural development projects have failed to materialize.
Where the Devil Says Goodnight
An idealistic young cellist becomes dissatisfied with her relationship with a poor student who thinks primarily of money.
Two of Us
No description available.
Marta
Documentary about the lives of three generations of residents of Warsaw’s Wola district.
Material Test
No description available.
Elżbieta K
The street poll proves that the memory of Nowa Huta has faded in the Poles' consciousness. The documentary filmmaker and his team decided to seek out the heroes of those events from 1949-1954, from the beginning of the works to the smelting of the first pig iron from the first furnace.
Remembrance
No description available.
Adopcja
The heroine of Kazimierz Karabasz's film is Maria Kolano, a first-year student at the Warsaw Agricultural University, who returns to her hometown of Żabno during the summer vacations to help her parents with their fieldwork. The documentary filmmaker equips Maria with a camera.
Summer in Zabno
No description available.
Pajace
Pigeon breeders (men mostly) are a special kind of enthusiasts. Their hobby includes an element of competition – a long-distance race of carrier pigeons.
Birds
Documentary about the life of a young woman from the countryside who works in a city factory, her hopes and difficulties.
Krystyna M. Portrait Sketches
A documentary depicting the Warsaw district of Powiśle where time has stopped. One of several films made by Kazimierz Karabasz included in the "black series" of Polish documentaries. Featuring a commentary typical for documentaries of the second half of the 1950s, it is distinguished by penetrating observation and lyricism.
From Powisle
Kazimierz Karabasz visits circles of amateur photographers in small towns (most of the photographs were taken in Włodawa) and listens to their stories about the town, its inhabitants and photographing their everyday life. The young people, who are active at community centres, show the documentarian what role photography plays in their lives and how it influences their perception of their surroundings: places and people. Photography thus becomes a school for looking, seeing and developing sensitivity. As it turns out, it is not always the form and workshop that are the most important.
Punkt widzenia
This documentary wants people to stop armament. Instead of that, we should focus on humanitarian aid, education and healthcare. There is no commentary in the film, some images of the modern world spread the message. On the one hand, it is industry; on the other hand – famine.
Where We Live
On the cusp of adulthood and in search of work qualifications and a better life, Franciszek Wróbel - a baker from a small village on the Czech border of south-western Poland - emigrates to industrial Silesia to join the Voluntary Labour Corps. There he is chosen from all of the applicants to write a diary of his experiences and daily life. Between his vocational courses and training, he struggles to make friends, pass his exams, and maintain relationships with girls.
A Year in the Life of Franek W.
The film belongs to the so-called Black Polish documentary series about a group of young people from the Praga district. The authors' intention was to draw attention to the problems inherent in society.
People of the Vacant Area
A portrait of a traveling circus.
People on the Road
A lonely man wanders the streets of contemporary Warsaw. He reads the daily press, observes women in a beauty salon and follows the action on a film set. In each of the places he is just an observer, not a protagonist.
A Day Without Sunshine
Examines the hopes and aspirations of a group of 18-year-old girls following their graduation from a college in Warsaw.