1980s and 1990s
Paciorki jednego różanca / The Beads of One Rosary (1980), the final segment of Kutz's Silesian triptych, was set contemporaneously, towards the end of the 1970s. Kutz cast amateur actors in the main roles, with retired miner Karol Habryka played by a real retired miner named Augustyn Hallota, and his wife portrayed by the folk storyteller Marta Straszna. In the film, Habryka is unwilling to vacate the apartment he (as a miner) received in a housing development, refuses to move to a tenement flat. He is ultimately forced to do so and dies soon afterwards. He is like an old tree that should not be transplanted. His passing denotes the passing of Upper Silesia's old history and tradition. In a final scene that is both symbolic and poignant, we observe the old miner's funeral.
In his Silesian films, Kutz invariably portrays people as members of a community; anything that could be construed as pertaining to the individual is translated into shared life, a shared system of values. His next film, a tragic epilogue to the Silesian saga, told of the events at the "Wujek" Coalmine in the days immediately following the imposition of Martial Law in Poland in 1981. The workers at the mine declared an occupational strike, and nine miners ultimately lost their lives as a result of the military crackdown. "Solidarity" Labor Union leaders from outside the mine first lead protesters against the riot police surrounding the complex and ultimately fought side by side with the coalminers. Far from being a simple reconstruction of the events that took place at the coalmine, Śmierć jak kromka chleba / Death Like a Slice of Bread (1994) is an elegy on the collective fate of a people.
Before returning to Silesian themes in The Beads of One Rosary, however, Kutz made two other films during the 1970s - the somewhat political Linia / The Line (1974), describing the life of a Communist party secretary in the provinces, and Znikąd Donikąd / From Nowhere to Nowhere (1975), which recounted the adventures of a group of Home Army soldiers. Neither film was well received. The Line was described as an ambitious failure, while From Nowhere to Nowhere was read as an unsuccessful response to Andrzej Wajda's Popiół i diament / Ashes and Diamonds. In the film, Kutz was accused of depicting Home Army soldiers as possessing no ideals and little rationale for their actions.
In the 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s, before making his film about the events at the "Wujek" Coalmine, the director returned to the topic of World War II. In Na straży swej stać będę / I Shall Always Stand Guard (1983) he provided a picture of the Silesian resistance during the German occupation. Patriotic themes intertwined in the film with the love affair of Janek Klimza and a young female messenger who becomes a German collaborator. Kutz used the film to explore the ethical stances of humans, making a film about suffering and betrayal that was simultaneously full of erotic accents. His next project was a rather intimate piece titled Wkrótce nadejdą bracia / The Brothers Will Come Soon (1985). Based on a play by Janusz Krasiński, the film shared the poetic of the earlier Nobody's Calling and explored themes of reckoning with the past.
Pułkownik Kwiatkowski / Colonel Kwiatkowski, Kutz's film from 1995, depicted Poland during the Stalinist era and told the comedic and adventuresome story of the title character, who travels around the country masquerading as an officer of the secret police. In the film, Kutz produced a number of wonderful human portraits, including often grotesque portrayals of Communist Party apparatchiks and functionaries of the State Security Bureau.
During the 1990s Kutz also made three television films. Straszny sen Dzidziusia Górkiewicza / The Terrible Dream of Babyface Górkiewicz (1993) was a continuation of Andrzej Munk's Eroika / Eroica, with the character of Babyface Górkiewicz even played by the same actor, Edward Dziewoński. In the exceptional Zawrócony / The Convert (1994) on the other hand, Kutz provided an ironic and humorous tale of a simple factory supply man (Tomasz), who during the days of Martial Law accidentally and almost contrary to his own will becomes an oppositionist. Kutz's final television production of this period was the miniseries Sława i chwała / Fame and Glory (1997), based on a novel of the same title by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz.
Theatre Works
Kutz debuted as a theatre director shortly after completing his first film. In 1961 he staged Leon Kruczkowski's drama Śmierć gubernatora / Death of a Governor at the Teatr Rozmaitości (Variety Theatre) in Wroclaw. In what was a formally disciplined production, Kutz found a stage equivalent for the film close-up, using this to focus very closely on the main character. The production possessed the tone of a morality play, as was the case with his next premiere, Jerzy Broszkiewicz's Skandal w Hellbergu / Scandal at Hellberg, which Kutz also staged at the Variety Theatre in Wrocław (1962).
Kutz did not avoid tackling a lighter repertoire in his theatre projects. He directed two plays that enjoyed vast public popularity - the comedy of morals Billy kłamca / Billy Liar by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse, which he staged at the Teatr Komedia (Comedy Theatre) in Warsaw (1964), and Herman Bahr's Koncert / Concert, at the Teatr Klasyczny (Classical Theatre) in Warsaw (1965). In 1964 Kutz went on to direct the world premiere of Jarosław Abramow's Anioł na dworcu / Angel at the Train Station at the Teatr Kameralny (Chamber Theatre) in Warsaw. Kutz staged the drama as a provincial macabresque, playing with various film conventions on stage. His attempt at Jovan Histrič's Savonarola at the Stary Teatr (Old Theatre) in Krakow, however, ended in failure (1966). Following that unsuccessful premiere, the director parted with the theatre for a period that would span more than twelve years.
When in 1977 he began working on a production of Ivo Bresan's Przedstawienie 'Hamleta' we wsi Głucha Dolna / 'Hamlet' in the Village of Mrduša Donja at Warsaw's Teatr na Woli (Wola District Theatre), he was already a recognized film director, having completed the first two parts of what would ultimately be his Silesian saga. Elżbieta Baniewicz wrote,
The production featured a tremendous performance by Tadeusz Łomnicki, at the time a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party, who played the role of the Communist party fiend Bukara. The play thus came across not only as an act of artistic and political courage on the part of both artists, but even as a great blasphemy. In an era when success was decreed top-down, showing the mechanisms of corruption and hypocrisy, concealed under ideological phrases by Communist Party activists, was a cleansing blasphemy (Między ekranem a sceną. W teatrze Kutza / Between the Screen and the Stage - In Kutz's Theatre, in "Kutzowisko," (ed.) Andrzej Gwóźdź, "Książnica" Publishers, Katowice 2000).
Kutz went on to stage this play two more times, at the Teatr Wybrzeże (Coastal Theatre) in Gdańsk in 1978 and at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 1979. These productions marked his return to the theatre in grand fashion and resulted in invitations to stage other productions. Kutz used these opportunities almost invariably to explore the most essential contemporary issues. In these stagings the director examined the fate of people entangled in external circumstances who chose either to embark on a path of opportunism or attempt to stand up to their community as individuals. The first character type certainly appeared in Balalajkino i spółka / Balalaikin and Company, a play he staged in 1978 at the Teatr im. Wyspiańskiego (Wyspiański Theatre) in Katowice. Based on Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin's mischievous novel titled Idylla współczesna / A Modern Idyll, the play was adapted for the stage by Sergey Mikhalkov and told the story of the relations that reigned in Tsarist Russia. Kutz staged this play once again in 1984 at the Teatr Wybrzeże (Coastal Theatre) in Gdansk. As directed by him, it became an accurate, aggressive and derisive description of opportunism. By contrast, in his production of Henry Ibsen's An Enemy of the People (1979, Teatr Powszechny / Popular Theatre in Warsaw), Doctor Stockmann, portrayed exquisitely by Franciszek Pieczka, became a symbol of an individual who consciously takes a defiant and dignified stance.
One year after the premiere of the Ibsen play, Kutz staged Janusz Głowacki's contemporary drama Kopciuch / Cinders (1980) at the same theatre. In this production, he revealed the mechanisms of manipulation that rule the small community of a juvenile reform school. Kutz simultaneously used the play to caricature members of the film community, showing them as people who use their position and profession for not always honorable purposes. That same year and once again at the Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice, Kutz staged Ion Druce's Zapach dojrzałej pigwy / The Smell of Ripe Quinces, in which he combined realism with a fairly tale mood while simultaneously giving the production the tone of a morality play.
During Martial Law, Kutz began to explore the historiosophic issues in Georg Büchner's Romantic play Śmierć Dantona / Danton's Death, which he staged at the Teatr Ateneum (Athenaeum Theatre) in Warsaw (1982). As depicted by Kutz, revolution was a historical event ruled at least in part by coincidence and strong human passions.
Before making the film The Brothers Will Come Shortly, based on the play by Janusz Krasiński, he staged the work at Warsaw's Athenaeum Theatre (1984). Kutz's next project was the Polish premiere of Christopher Hampton's Opowieści Hollywoodu / Tales from Hollywood at the Coastal Theatre in Gdańsk (1986). In this production the director made full use of his filmmaking skills, something partly made possible by the subject of the play. Kutz effectively created a staged "documentary", in which rather than playing their characters, the actors spoke about them and presented their reasoning. Paradoxically, this distance provided a sense of naturalness and rendered the protagonists more believable.
Kutz also mounted productions which provided renowned actors with an opportunity to demonstrate their professional skills. In 1980 he staged Edward Albee's Już po wszystkim / All Over at the Coastal Theatre in Gdańsk. Grażyna Barszczewska and Roman Wilhelmi played the lead parts in William Gibson's Dwoje na huśtawce / Two for the Seesaw (Scena na piętrze / Upstairs Stage, Poznań, 1983), while Anna Seniuk and Jerzy Kamas appeared in Kutz's production titled Zwierzenia służki Zerliny / The Confessions of the Maid Zerline, based on of Herman Broch's novel The Guiltless, at the Athenaeum Theatre in Warsaw (1992). Kutz went on to work on Sami porządni ludzie / Only Decent People with the ensemble of Warsaw's Teatr Współczesny (Contemporary Theatre), though the troupe premiered and performed this play by Gratien Gelinas about Catholic conscience at the Teatr Mały (Little Theatre) in Warsaw (1992). Kutz's sole operatic production to date has been Stanisław Moniuszko's Halka, which he staged in 1990 at the Teatr Wielki (Grand Theatre) in Warsaw.
At the Stary Teatr (Old Theatre) in Krakow, Kutz directed Per Olov Enquist's Twórcy obrazów / The Image Makers (1999), a singular psychodrama about maturing artists that featured great performances by Anna Polony (Selma) and Sonia Bohosiewicz (Tora). At the same Krakow theatre, the director also staged the classical Polish play Damy i huzary / Ladies and Hussars by Aleksander Fredro (2001) and Sławomir Mrożek's Pieszo / On Foot (2003), demonstrating that the latter play had lost none of its power though it was written in 1980.
Polish Television Theatre
Kutz debuted in Polish Television Theatre in 1965 with a production of Żołnierze / Soldiers, based on a prose work by Ernest Bryll. He did not direct for television again until 1972, when he mounted a production titled Sceny z życia Holly Golightly / Scenes from the Life of Holly Golightly, based on Truman Capote's novel Breakfast at Tiffany's. Unfortunately, copies of these productions are currently considered lost. Another ten years would pass before Kutz would work for Polish Television Theatre again. In 1981 he directed two productions based on texts by Stanisław Bieniasz. These were Urlop zdrowotny / Health Leave and Stary portfel / The Old Wallet, productions in which he explored the lives of common people in Silesia. The Old Wallet, which centered on the specifically Silesian issue of families emigrating to West Germany, was censored immediately after being completed and shelved until 1989.
Kutz's repeated attempt at Christopher Hampton's Hollywood Stories (1986), a play he had previously done on stage, marked the advent of a new period in Television Theatre for him. He would go on to work regularly in the medium, directing many important productions. Spatial solutions were important in Hollywood Stories, which Kutz set up as "theatre in theatre." The studio in which Kutz shot the production simultaneously represented the Hollywood studio that was the setting of the play. Masterfully combining the aesthetics of theatre and film, the televised play, perhaps above all, featured strong acting. Commentators underlined that in this project, like in many future Television Theatre productions, Kutz showed tremendous respect for his actors, an ability to work with them on the delineated goal while leaving them the freedom and space to express their individuality. The case was similar with Feliks Falk's Węzeł / The Knot (1987), in which Ewa Dalkowska, Jerzy Bińczycki and Jan Nowicki masterfully portrayed three people entering the time of life when one takes stock of one's achievements and settles accounts with others. Kutz showed tremendous intuition granting this production an atmosphere that would become the lot of many in Poland with the advent of the Third Republic in 1989. His next television premiere was the aesthetically sophisticated Wygnańcy / Exiles of James Joyce (1988) - a very coherent production which showed humans in all the villainy that renders them capable of ruthlessly using others for their own aims. With Nikolai Erdman's Samobojca / The Suicide (1988), which featured a wonderful performance by Janusz Gajos as Podsekalnikov, Kutz remained faithful to a naturalist style and a literal approach to narration, but simultaneously granted the play a grotesque tone, coupling this with broad stokes of derisive satire.
His televised production of Anatoli Rybakov's novel Dzieci Arbatu / The Children of the Arbat (1989), adapted for the stage by Sergey Kokovin, was saturated with symbolism, sometimes gratuitously so. The characters and their dramatic choices were depicted against a background of the cult of the individual blown up to religious proportions. In 1990 Kutz directed a television production of Paul Barz's Kolacja na cztery ręce / Handel's Ghost, in which a meeting between two outstanding composers becomes a means for exploring the essence of creativity, the significance of genius in history and common human decency. Janusz Gajos and Roman Wilhelmi put in tremendous, virtuoso performances in this production as Bach and Handel, respectively. Kutz followed this in 1991 with Eustachy Rylski's comedy Zapach orchidei / The Scent of an Orchid (1991), which relates the story of a stable citizen who undergoes a reverse conversion in learning about the pleasures of life. In Venedikt Yerofeyev's Noc Walpurgii albo kroki komandora / Walpurgis Night, or the Commander's Footsteps (1991), the director provided a shocking and drastic picture of a man humiliated in telling the story of the alcoholic Gurewicz (Jerzy Trela) who is hospitalized and faces inhumane treatment from doctors and paramedics. Gaston Salvatore's Stalin (1992) proved an opportunity to build a tremendous, penetrating dialogue between two actors, with Jerzy Trela in the role of the dictator and Tadeusz Łomnicki appearing as his jester, Isaac Sager. In 1994 Kutz revisited issues related to World War II in a production of Jerzy Stefan Stawinski's Ziarno zroszone krwią / Grain Washed in Blood, a play about the preparations that preceded the Warsaw Uprising. The production proved to be a sober, objective outline of the factors that inspired the insurgents, showing how carefully the arguments for and against armed resistance were weighed. Kutz reverted to contemporary topics with Janusz Głowacki's Antygona w Nowym Jorku / Antigone in New York (1994) and Slawomir Mrozek's Emigranci / Emigrants (1995). Both productions explored the difficulties that Poles had in adjusting to freedom abroad and the latter featured outstanding performances by Marek Kondrat (as AA) and Zbigniew Zamachowski (as XX). After making Anton Chekhov's Wujaszek Wania / Uncle Vanya (1994), which he treated as a drama about powerful yet never completely expressed emotions and shot in beautiful interiors and outdoor settings, Kutz directed two comedies for Polish Television Theatre. Antoni Słonimski's subtly humorous Rodzina / Family (1995) and Alexander Ostrovsky's Nasz człowiek / Too Clever by Half or the Diary of a Scoundrel were purposely acted in broad strokes and given a farcical tone. With these productions, Kutz proved capable of speaking bluntly and mockingly of human simplicity and stupidity. In Eustachy Rylski's Netto / Net, which he directed in 1998, Kutz provided an image of the filmmaking community. In essence, the play's hero embodied money, whose dictate can prove to be very dangerous to art. Kutz's most recent Television Theatre project was Sławomir Mrożek's Wielebni / The Reverends (2001).
In 1989 Kazimierz Kutz directed what would prove one of Television Theatre's best and most controversial productions - Tadeusz Różewicz's Do piachu... / Six Feet Under... The play as mere text proved offensive to many in its treatment of Polish national myths. It was accused of being a variety of things, including anti-Home Army propaganda. As directed by Kutz, it proved even less comfortable to the national mindset. By illustrating the experiences of Walus, a simpleton who becomes a soldier of the Home Army (Polish: AK), Kutz bluntly attacked the national mindset characterized by zealous piety and patriotism. He demythologized the Polish view of the past but turned the tale of his protagonist into a contemporary, universal drama of suffering and salvation. Kutz attempted another drama by Tadeusz Różewicz in 1998 when he made a Television Theater production of the author's Kartoteka rozrzucona / The Scattered Card Index. The director rendered this as a contemporary morality play in which the Hero as played by two actors - Jerzy Trela (as the aged veteran) and Krzysztof Globisz (as the more contemporary Young One - attempts to work out and understand his situation. Kutz's theatrical version of The Scattered Card Index, staged in 1999 at the National Theatre in Warsaw, presented a Hero (Zbigniew Zamachowski) immersed in everyday concerns who finds it difficult to find order in the world that surrounds him. He is common yet at the same time tragic in the way he personally vies with reality. In 2000 at the Stary Teatr (Old Theatre) in Krakow, the director staged Tadeusz Różewicz's Spaghetti i miecz / Spaghetti and the Sword, which proved another reckoning with his generation, though this time a comedic one. Kutz granted the play a sentimental and ironic tone that nevertheless allowed for a measure of caricature in portraying veteran heroes. Prominent actor Ignacy Gogolewski provided an ironic performance as Laurenty in Kutz's most recent staging of a Rozewicz play, Na czworakach / On All Fours (National Theatre, 2001), in which the author strove to settle the score with the national myth of the poet laureate and his mission as messenger.
Awards and distinctions
- 1959 - "Warsaw Mermaid" Polish Film Critics' Award for Cross of Valor, named best Polish feature film of the year
- 1961 - "Silver Sail" at the 14th International Film Festival in Locarno for Night Train; Award of the Minister of Culture and Art 2nd class for his films of the years 1960-1962
- 1962 - Distinction for his direction of Scandal at Hellberg at the 3rd Festival of Contemporary Plays in Wrocław
- 1970 - "Golden Grapes" for his screenplay of Salt of the Black Earth at the 2nd Lubushan Film Summer in Łagów; State Award 1st class
- 1971 - Grand Prix at the 9th International Meeting of Youth and Film in Grenoble for Salt of the Black Earth
- 1972 - Grand Prix "Golden Grapes" for Pearl in the Crown, named best film of the season at the 4th Lubushan Film Summer in Łagów; "Golden Globe" at the International Film Festival in Milan for Pearl in the Crown; 1st Prize and Directing Prize for Pearl in the Crown at the 10th International Film Festival in Panama
- 1973 - 1st prizes for Pearl in the Crown at the International Film Festival in Bancerberge and at the International Film Festival in Antwerp
- 1980 - Grand Special Jury Prize at the 22nd International Festival in Karlove Vary for The Beads of One Rosary; Grand Prix for The Beads of One Rosary at the 7th Festival of Polish Feature Films in Gdańsk
- 1981 - Grand Prize for The Beads of One Rosary at the International Film Festival in Figuerida de Foz
- 1981 - Award of the Minister of Culture and Art 1st class for his Silesian film triptych
- 1987 - Award of the Chairman of State Radio and Television for his direction of Hollywood Stories; "Ekran" monthly "Golden Screen" Award for his direction of Hollywood Stories; Individual Award of the Chairman of State Radio and Television for his programming work at Krakow Regional Television, his direction of the play Węzeł / The Knot and his artistic guidance of young directors
- 1989 - National Cultural Award of Merit for outstanding achievement in artistic activities in the popularization of culture; Juliusz Ligon Award for outstanding artistic achievement, particularly for his exploration of Silesian themes in his art
- 1990 - "Solidarity - 1989" Award of the Independent Culture Committee for his production of Stanisław Bieniasz's The Old Wallet in Polish Television Theatre; Jerzy Zietek Award of Katowice Regional Television for his direction of The Old Wallet
- 1993 - "Teatr" monthly Konrad Swinarski Award for lifetime achievement in television, especially for his productions Stalin and Walpurgis Night; ZAIKS (Association of Stage Artists and Composers) Honorary Distinction for outstanding creative achievement
- 1994 - "Warsaw Mermaid" Polish Film Critics' Award for Death Like a Slice of Bread; "Golden Lions" at the 19th Festival of Polish Feature Films in Gdańsk for his direction of The Convert; Jury Honorable Mention and Award of the Mayor of Gdynia for Death Like a Piece of Bread; Special Prize for the film The Convert at the "Prix Europa" Festival in Berlin; "Golden Grapes" at the Lubushan Film Summer in Zielona Góra for The Convert
- 1995 - "Golden Calf" for best European film for The Convert at the International Film Festival in Utrecht; International Jury Diploma for The Convert at the International Film Festival in Moscow; Silesian Cultural Award of the Government of Lower Saxony; Korfanty Award for lifetime artistic achievement and for the popularization of Silesian culture in Poland and abroad
- 1996 - "Silver Grapes" for Colonel Kwiatkowski at the 26th Lubushan Film Summer in Lagow
- 1997 - Honorary Crown of Casimir the Great at the 3rd Film Summer in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula; "Golden Duck" for the best Polish film of 1996 for Colonel Kwiatkowski
- 2001 - Grand Prix at the 5. Festiwal Komedii "Talia" / 5th "Talia" Comedy Festival in Tarnow for his production of Spaghetti and the Sword; "Ludwik" Award of the Krakow theatre community for Spaghetti and the Sword; Boy-Żeleński Critics' Award for his creative productions of the works of Tadeusz Różewicz, including his Polish Television Theatre productions Six Feet Under and The Scattered Card Index and his stagings at the National Theatre in Warsaw and the Old Theatre in Krakow
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2002 - Honorary Jancio Wodnik at the "Prowincjonalia" Festival in Września for his "poetic depictions of his beloved land - Silesia"
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• 2004 – Polish Film Award Orzeł in the Life achievements category; Honorary Medal of Merit for Silesia Province; Jadwiga Śląska Award for Life Achievements in the field of culture.
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2005 – Award for Polish duo director-cinematographer (with Wiesław Zdort) at the 13th International Cammerimage Festival; Golden Medal Gloria Artis for merits in the field of culture; Silesian Eagle – an award from monthly Śląsk
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2006 – An award by Kultura Różnorodności Festiwal for merit in the field of preaching tolerance;
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2009 – Special Award ‘Platinum Lion’ on 34. Gdynia Film Festival;Medal for ‘reasonableness of citizen’ from Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Author: Monika Mokrzycka-Pokora, March 2003, updated: December 2018