In 1940 Jerzy Hoffman was deported to Siberia, he returned to Poland after the war. In 1955 he graduated in directing from Moscow's Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. In the same year he debuted as a director, completing two documentary films along with Edward Skórzewski.
Early Career
Hoffman made his début in 1954, co-directing a documentary, Czy jesteś wśród nich? (Are You One of Them?) with Edward Skórzewski. This was the start of a collaboration which spanned a decade. By 1965, the two had already completed twenty-seven documentaries and three feature films. Both writers have made a significant contribution in the golden era of Polish documentary filmmaking, which coincided with the end of the 1950s and early 1960s. It was called as the 'Polish school of documentaries'. During this period the director described his own work thus:
For us, documentary film has become a school of Polish reality, and of course a workshop of life [...] documentary experience has taught us to pay attention to the realities, to pay attention to the details [...] to take care of everything which arouses the viewer's belief in the authenticity of the events shown to him.
- Film, 1975 No. 15.
The documentaries by Skórzewski and Hoffman won numerous awards including some in Oberhausen, Kraków, Venice, Moscow and Mannheim.
The team's feature film début was a satirical comedy called Gangsterzy i filantropi / Gangsters and Philantropists. After completing two more films, the two filmmakers parted ways after working together for over a decade.
Hoffman's first independent picture was made for the Ojciec TV station. His next film, Pan Wołodyjowski / Colonel Wołodyjowski, marked the beginning of a new era for the director – that of great film productions. The film was released in 1969. Janusz Zaremba wrote:
Hoffman has demonstrated a new side of his talent as a director of great adventure and historic- spectacle.
Later Films
In his following films (Potop / The Deluge, Trędowata / Leper, Znachor / The Quack and others) Hoffman demonstrated his fondness for popular cinema, addressed to the widest demographic, but which often went beyond entertainment.
Daniel Olbrychski as Kmicic in Jerzy Hoffman's Potop, photo: Romuald Pieńkowski/ Fototeka Filmoteki Narodowej/ www.fototeka.fn.org.pl For years, Hoffman struggled to get funding for the film Ogiem i mieczem / With Fire and Sword, an adaptation of the third part of Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy (the first published book). Filming began on October 13, 1997, based on the ninth version of the script. The film was released in 1999, gaining a widespread audience of millions in Poland and abroad. In 2003, Hoffman made the film Stara Baśń / An Ancient Tale based on a prose by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski.
I wanted the audience to appreciate the momentum, richness and clarity of vision of the film. I was particularly fascinated by the story, the director said about his work in an interview with Krzysztof Demidowicz.
- Film, 2000 No. 3.
In 2004, Hoffman started a (very modest) four-episode documentary Ukraine – the birth of the nation. Hoffman was among the first directors who decided to present such a wide-ranging historical scope. "'Ukraine' which I am working on", said Hoffman, "is a fascinating topic: the birth, development of a nation – from nativity to this day." ("Rzeczpospolita" 2006 No. 44). The director hoped that the film would be widely distributed especially in schools and universities, because for him this documentary was something of a history textbook.
Battle of Warsaw 1920
