An Adventure of a Thinking Person

Łukasz Maciejewski

Abstract

A book review of two volumes from Barbara Hollender’s series on Polish film directors (the third volume is being prepared). In the volumes Od Wajdy do Komasy [From Wajda to Komasa] (2014) and Od Kutza do Czekaja [From Kutz to Czekaj] (2016) the author presents fifty portraits of directors representing various generations – from the masters and classics of the Polish cinema to the youngest of filmmakers. She maintains a similar structure in all the essays. Hollender describes the creative path of each director, she presents quotes from numerous interviews together with analysis of chosen titles, sociological and cultural contexts. It is also a chronicle of Polish cinema and its coryphes – with Has, Wajda, Kutz, Zanussi and Kawalerowicz at the helm. However the stories of the younger directors are also fascinating: Szumowska, Czekaj or Komasa. They grew up in a different era, and have different dreams and plans for the future, but just like their masters they want to create and work, and they believe in professional fulfilment. So the people portrayed by Hollender are different in almost every respect – artistic temperament, ambition, views on reality, and finally achievements. But they do share one thing – a creative passion. As Filip Bajon emphasises: We all live in the cinema.