Antoni Krauze

Film and documentary director. He was born on January 4, 1940, in Warsaw. He studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and was also associated with the Student Satirical Theatre STS (1958-1961), where he performed as an actor. A graduate of the Directing Department of the Film School in Łódź (1966).

At the beginning of his career, he cooperated with the Łódź Educational Film Studio, working on the set of numerous short films during the two years he spent there. In 1968, he joined the "Tor" Film Studio. He made his debut with the television short film Monidło (1969) based on short stories by Jan Himilsbach. His two subsequent short films made in 1971 – Piżama/Pajamas based on the prose by Leszek Płażewski and Meta based on the story by Marek Nowakowski – represent similar poetics of little realism. Given its controversial appeal, Meta (which exposed social acceptance for cunning and corruption) was withheld for nine years (it premiered in 1980). Shown at the Festival in Gdańsk in 1981, the film received a Special Award. The first cinema film Krauze directed was the psychological drama Palec boży/God's Finger (1972) based on the novel by Tadeusz Zawierucha. Also the director's subsequent films were often based on the prose of contemporary authors: Strach/Fear (1975), Party przy świecach/Candlelight Dinner (1980), Gas (1981), Prognoza pogody/Weather Forecast (1982, Grand Prix at the San Remo Festival), Dziewczynka z hotelu Excelsior/The Girl from the Excelsior Hotel (1988), Akwarium/Fish Tank (1995, TV series). All his films are characterised by a heightened sensitivity towards the individual and the complex psychological portrayal of characters.