A film director, screenwriter. Born in 1941 in Pińczów.
A film director and screenwriter, he has won recognition primarily as the director of feature films, lyrical pictures of provincial Poland infused with nostalgia.
After leaving Kielce's Construction Technical College, he enrolled at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. He later studied directing at the National Film, Television and Theatre School (PWSFTviT) in Łódź, graduating in 1973. He made shorts and educational films for a few years, mainly at the Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (Educational Film Studio). He debuted as a feature film director in 1979.
Andrzej Barański has won recognition primarily as the director of feature films, lyrical pictures of provincial Poland infused with nostalgia. This category certainly includes Niech cię odleci mara (The Haunted), Kramarz (The Peddler), Kobieta z prowincji (Woman from the Provinces), Dwa księżyce (Two Moons). Before he made his first feature, though, he gained artistic experience, as a playwright and director, at a student theatre when he was at the university of technology in the early 1960's. He was among the founders of the "Step" Student Poetry Theatre, supervised by Tadeusz Różewicz. Barański wrote about 20 plays for the student stage, including pantomimes. The most popular of these was Forteca (The Fortress) which was also produced abroad.
During his subsequent film school studies, in 1972 his projects included the award-winning etude Dzień Pracy (A Working Day), whose protagonist was an overworked stoker juggling several jobs. The cinematographer for this film, and for Podanie (The Application) and Kręte ścieżki (Winding Paths), was Zbigniew Rybczyński (who later won an Oscar for Tango), which explains the fact that one can see the influence of Rybczyński's characteristic style in Barański's short films. One example is the mockumentary Miasto (The City), where the director experiments by splitting the image into many smaller parts, running several plots in a single frame. Writing about Barański's shorts ("Film" 20/1984), Małgorzata Karbownik emphasized that taking on a theme, the director always sought a fresh and compatible form.
His films include anti-fascist pictures (Konstrukcja / Construction, Kabaret / The Cabaret, Historia żołnierza / A Soldier's Tale, Lexikon 32, Cudze dzieci / Other People's Children), films about art (e.g. Przemijanie / Transience about the work of sculptor Józef Łukomski, or a film about Tadeusz Makowski) as well as philosophical or existential impressions (e.g. Księżyc / The Moon, Wypracowanie / Essay, Wyrok / The Verdict). Barański has an original way of using iconographic elements, photos and drawings, he uses animation and combined shots, means of expression typical of posters, graphic art, and rapid editing. He always seeks metaphorical, poetic means that could present his ideas briefly.
In his short or even educational films Andrzej Barański often applied the poetics of the absurd, drawn from his earlier experience with student theatre. It seemed he might follow a similar path in his feature output. However, not abandoning short films entirely, the director showed a completely new face in the feature films he made. Perhaps with the exception of his full-length debut Wolne chwile / Leisure Time, which went unnoticed and in which Barański invoked his student theatre experience and used the poetics of the absurd, and a much later production, Horror w Wesołych Bagniskach / Horror in Happy Swamp, the language of most of his feature films has been different.
"Barański's cinema," Jan F. Lewandowski wrote, "avoids suddenness, exaggeration, and any kind of extreme. This is a paradox of sorts, given that ten years or so ago Barański's film-school exercises suggested a derisive satirist." ("Film" 44/1983)
The director produces calm, reflective films rich in realistic detail, often autobiographical or based on literary works behind which is someone's authentic experience, or even an almost ethnographic record. He has even declared an aversion for fiction (Lech Kurpiewski, interview, "Film" 27/1986). He thus made the autobiographical W domu (At Home), Niech cię odleci mara (The Haunted) based on the autobiographical novel by Waldemar Siemiński, and Kobieta z prowincji (Woman from the Provinces), also based on a text by Siemiński which in turn was based on a tape recording.
Barański's feature films are proof of his fascination with the provinces. As he often highlights himself, he is from a small town in the region of Kielce and what fascinates him in the small-town atmosphere is a special mood, the slower rhythm of life which is conducive to insightful observation. He reconstructs this world in his films very precisely, even with reverence. He looks for genuine objects for his sets, quotes expressions remembered from somewhere in the dialogues.
"I care about disinterested details," he said in an interview granted to Tadeusz Sobolewski ("Film" 42/1978).
Barański manages a difficult thing, as Jan F. Lewandowski wrote in the article cited earlier, "combining reality and simplicity with timeless philosophical reflection extracted from everyday life."
"Crooked cobbled streets, backyards merging into fields, overgrown with burdock - the dream place for boys' games; crooked wooden pigsties, homes with tiled stoves, kitchens with old cooking ovens, private corner shops where you can buy 'a bit of everything and other stuff'."
This is how another film critic (Czesław Dondziłło "Film" 32/1983) describes the world of Barański's films. Let us add that this is a positive image of the world.
There have been accusations that Barański's films contain an excess of detail which weigh them down too much. In the cited text, Lewandowski called this an "excessive dwelling on trifles", also pointing out that the films lack turns of the plot which could grab the audience's attention. This seems to be part of the artist's deliberate strategy, though.
"Everyday life is simplified to such an extent that it stops being banal," Barański claims. "We see the world in pieces, and each piece pulsates with a separate little drama; or big drama." (interview - "Film" 42/1978)
In the quoted interview he told Tadeusz Sobolewski that he didn't want to seek artificial twists of the plot in a film, because to him that would be a waste of film time.
"I will continue to avoid action," the director says, "its prime costs are too high."
The forms Barański has decided upon, the mosaic structure of his films, the precision of detail, were aimed at protecting him from "the easiness of falling into a poster-like message" (cited from C. Dondziłło, "Film" 51/1985), something he wanted to avoid at all cost. These words can be treated as the director's artistic creed.
The important films of Barański's output were made when his peers were creating the cinema of moral anxiety. Barański with his fascinations, making films akin to American productions - nostalgically invoking the lazy flow of life in the southern states, reflecting on the meaning of human life, was a long way away from this trend. At the time, his non-rebellious affirmation of life was perceived very one-sidedly as a pro-regime attitude. Time has shown how unjust such a view was.
Filmography:
Film etudes:
- 1970 Kręte ścieżki / Winding Paths (Awards: 1972 - Warsaw, PWSFTviT Film Etude Festival, award from the Polish Federation of Film Discussion Clubs [PF DKF])
- 1971 Dzień pracy / A Working Day (Awards: 1972 - Warsaw, PWSFTViT Film Etude Festival - Grand Prix, PF DKF award, and award from the deputy minister of culture and art; 1972 - Łódź, Student Film Etude Festival - award of the Friends of Łódź Society)
- 1972 Podanie / The Application (Awards: 1972 - Warsaw, PWSFTviT Film Etude Festival - PF DKF award)
- 1973 Księżyc / The Moon (graduation film)
Short films and documentaries:
- 1976 Lustro / The Mirror
- 1976 Wiersz / The Poem
- 1977 Strumiłło
- 1978 Drugi dom / A Second Home
- 1978 Wypracowanie / The Essay (Awards: 1980 - Oberhausen International Short Film Festival - FIPRESCI Award and Jury's Special Mention)
- 1979 Megality
- 1979 Na wyjeździe / Away from Home (Awards: 1980 - Award of the Deputy Minister of Culture and Art)
- 1980 Konstrukcja / Construction (Awards: 1980 - Award of the Deputy Minister of Culture and Art)
- 1980 Lexikon 32
- 1981 Bez tytułu / No Title (Awards: 1983 - Krakow, National Competition of Original Animated Films - 1st prize)
- 1981 Śladami Tadeusza Makowskiego / Following in Tadeusz Makowski's Footsteps (Awards: 1982 - Zakopane, Review of Films About Art - 2nd prize)
- 1982 Historia żołnierza / A Soldier's Tale (Awards: 1982 - Krakow, National Short Film Festival - "Bronze Lajkonik")
- 1983 Iluzja w sztuce / Illusion in Art (Awards: 1983 - Spanish Festival of Educational Films - 2nd prize; 1984 - Zakopane, Review of Films About Art, Bronisław Chromy Award)
- 1983 Kabaret / The Cabaret (Awards: 1984 - Łódź, Festival of Socio-Political Films, "Głos Robotniczy" Award)
- 1983 Miasto / The City
- 1984 Armata / The Cannon
- 1984 Cudze dzieci / Other People's Children
- 1985 Potok / The Stream
- 1985 Przemijanie / Transience (Awards: 1985 - Zakopane, Review of Films About Art, Bronisław Chromy Award)
- 1985 Wyrok / The Verdict
- 1986 Edukacja sentymentalna / Sentimental Education
- 1987 Rzeczy / Things
- 1988 Biografia / Biography
- 1988 Wakacje w mieście / Holiday in the City
- 1989 Poczta lotnicza / Air Mail
- 1990 Gra w zielone / The Leaf Game
- 1990 Powtórka z zoologii / Zoology Revision
- 1997 Zasłony / Curtains
- 1998 Fotografia jest sztuką trudną / Photography is a difficult Art (based on the feature articles of Stanisław Czycz)
- 2000 Książka skarg i wniosków / The Complaints and Suggestions Book (screenplay with Grzegorz Sroczyński)
Feature films:
- 1975 W domu / At Home (medium-length TV film)
- A married couple lead a quiet life in the provinces; news from their son, a student in the city, is the main focus of their lives (awards: 1976 - Gdańsk, Polish Film Festival - best directing debut in the television film category; 1976 - Lublin, "Man - Work - Creation" International Film Forum - "Golden Billy Goat" for best television film; 1977 - "Golden Screen" - award from "Ekran" magazine for screenplay and directing).
- 1979 Wolne chwile / Leisure Time
- A group of students founds an avant-garde theatre. The idea of the Theatre of Greater Trust is that actors will speak their lines shut inside a soundproof box, unheard by the audience. A warm-hearted satire about a community familiar to the director.
- 1982 Niech cię odleci mara / The Haunted (based on the novel by Waldemar Siemiński)
- A small town during Stalinism. This was an unfavourable time for a small-time shopkeeper like the father of the main character, an adolescent boy. The film re-creates the atmosphere of those times, though not mainly through political events, but by nostalgically invoking the details of everyday life (awards: 1983 - Award of the Film Critics' Club at the Polish Journalists' Association in the feature film category).
- 1984 Kobieta z prowincji / Woman from the Provinces (based on the novel by Waldemar Siemiński)
- Minor episodes from a woman's everyday life, arranged non-chronologically in a seemingly amorphous mosaic, reveal an almost epic tale and a rich psychological portrait of the main character (awards: 1985 - Gdynia Polish Film Festival - Jury's Special Prize, journalists' award; 1985 - Warsaw - Award of the Film Critics' Club at the Polish Journalists' Association in the feature film category; 1986 - Berlin IFF - award of the Forum of Young Cinema; 1987 - Świebodzin - Cinema Lovers' Award from the Film Discussion Club in Świebodzin).
- 1986 Lucyna (TV film, based on a short story by Jan Stoberski)
- Based on internal monologues, this is an intimate story of unrequited love. The man was too shy to tell the woman of his feelings, the woman rather unfortunately married {C}someone else.
- 1987 Tabu / Taboo (based on the novel by Finnish writer Timo K. Mukka)
- A mother and daughter are in love with the same man. A drama set among picturesque rural scenery, in the form of a poetic tale about a love triangle and the destructive power of passion.
- 1990 Kramarz / The Peddler (based on Edward Kozieł's memoir Wspomnienia wędrownego kramarza / Memoirs of a Peddler)
- Chruścik the peddler narrates his itinerant life before the court. It is the story of a modest, honest man plagued by failures and the unkindness of people and the administration.
- 1991 Nad rzeką, której nie ma / By the River Nowhere (based on a short story by Stanisław Czycz)
- The 1960's reality. A nostalgic story of youthful love, unrequited due to emotional misunderstandings and the immaturity of the boy and girl (awards: 1991 - Gdynia Polish Film Festival - award for best screenplay and the award of the Chairman for Radio and Television; 1993 - Tarnów - Tarnow Film Award, Main Prize and the youth jury's award).
- 1992 Kawalerskie życie na obczyźnie / A Bachelor's Life Abroad (based on the memoir of Jakub Wojciechowski, "Żywot własny robotnika" / "A worker's own life")
- A story rich in details from everyday life in the early 20th century. A young worker from the Poznań region emigrates to Germany for economic reasons. The young man's road to maturity is shown through life's ups and downs and erotic adventures, ending in true love and stability.
- 1993 Dwa księżyce / Two Moons (based on the novel by Maria Kuncewiczowa)
- A portrait of the town of Kazimierz Dolny in the 1930's. A dozen or so episodes showing the life of the residents and holiday-makers, representing mainly the artistic bohemia who come here from Warsaw to rest (awards: 1993 - Warsaw - Award of the Film Critics' Club at the Polish Journalists' Association in the feature film category; 1994 - award of the critics' section of the Association of Polish Filmmakers in the Polish film category).
- 1995 Horror w Wesołych Bagniskach / Horror in Happy Swamp (based on Michał Choromański's novel Skandal w Wesołych Bagniskach / Scandal in Happy Swamp)
- The 1920's. This grotesque story, based on Choromanski's text about a polluted area where gas leaking from a swamp causes noses to drop off, highlights Barański's fondness for the absurd.
- 1996 Dzień wielkej ryby / The Day of the Big Fish (based on a short story by Kornel Filipowicz)
- A mature man recalls his youthful love and comes to the town where he once met a woman who was important to him. However, it is hard to turn back time.
- 2000 Niech gra muzyka / Let the Music play (based on a collection of short stories by ethnographer Franciszek Kotula, Muzykanty / Musicians)
- The six novellas have provincial musicians as their protagonists. Realistic stories enriched with warm humour and a tiny bit of fairy-tale fantasy.
- 2002 Wszyscy święci / All Saints (TV film from the series "Święta polskie" / "Polish Holidays" based on a screenplay by Grzegorz Łoszewski)
- The holiday commemorating the dead becomes a pretext for reflections on Poland's past, political divisions, difficult ethical evaluations of people's attitudes which do not always allow for a black/white perception. A film series made by many directors. Taking on a ready-made framework and someone else's script, Barański failed to find his own language in this film (Award: 2002 - award of the National Radio and Television Council for best television film).
- 2005 Parę osób, mały czas / A few People, a little Time (based on Jadwiga Stańczakowa's "Dziennik we dwoje" / "Diary for Two"); A film about the shared everyday lives of Miron Białoszewski and Jadwiga Stańczakowa. Białoszewski and Stańczakowa as a duo remain largely unknown to young people today. He was a poet whose avant-garde poems became part of the literary canon, she was a poetess, his friend, his blind secretary. This is a film about a small and very personal segment of the world, a private space where people gather to talk about art, in the grey Warsaw of communist times (awards: 2005 - best actress award for Krystyna Janda, Award of the President of Polish Television and the Journalists' Award for Andrzej Barański at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia; 2006 - Special Award for Andrzej Barański at the Prowincjonalia Polish National Festival of Film Art in Września; Award from TVP Kultura for 2005: best film for Andrzej Barański; best actor award for Andrzej Hudziak at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary; Juliusz Burski Award for Andrzej Barański at the Lubuskie Film Summer in Łagów; 2007 - Award for Best Television Feature Film for Andrzej Barański at the Prix Visionica International Festival for Creative Television in Wrocław).
- 2007 - Braciszek / The Friar The character of the Friar is based on a Franciscan monk, Brother Alojzy - Piotr Kosiba - a collector of funds and almoner famous for his happy spirit and huge kindness, who was referred to as the "holy almoner, apostle of goodness and the poor". He lived in 1855-1939. The life of Brother Alojzy has been described by witnesses to his sanctity, people just as simple and artless as he was.
- 2012 - Księstwo / Duchy based on the works by Zbigniew Masternak. His novels are realistic, set in a small village at the feet of the Saint Cross - quite nearby the birhplace of Barański himself. The film premiered in the Panorama section of the 36. Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, it was also shown at the New Horizons Festival in Wrocław, in Montreal, Mill Valley, Cottbus, Calcutta and Goa. The main protagonist (played by Rafał Zawierucha) comes back to his family village, where there is no work, no perspectives for the future. Jakub Majmurek in Dwutygodnik wrote it was a story of an unsuccessful individual emancipation, and therefore a political film of a director who always seemed to shy away from political themes.
Andrzej Barański has also made the following television plays:
La musica deuxieme by Marguerite Duras (1993), Kobieta zawiedziona / A Woman scorned based on Simone de Beauvoir (1994), Seven Floors by Dino Buzzati (1994), Bożena by Jan Stoberski (1995), The learned Ladies by Molière (1996), Youth without Youth by Mircea Eliade (1998), Moja córeczka / My Daughter by Tadeusz Różewicz (2000), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by Peter Nichols (2007).
Barański has received the following awards for lifetime achievement:
- 1997 at the 4th Prowincjonalia Festival of Polish Films on Rural and Small-Town Themes in Słupca near Konin;
- 1998 Badge of Merit from the City of Łódź for achievement in film;
- 2002 "Yew Wreath" Award for lifetime achievement at the International Festival of Film-Music-Painting in Nowogard
Author: Ewa Nawój, November 2003; updated August 2016.
