Wojciech Wiszniewski

Directing

Wojciech Wiszniewski

Born 1946-02-22 · Łódź, Poland

Wojciech Wiszniewski was a Polish film director and screenwriter, renowned for his innovative approach to documentary filmmaking. He graduated from the National Film School in Łódź in 1972, where his early work, Zawał serca (Heart Attack, 1967), received recognition at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival. Wiszniewski's films are characterized by their critical examination of Polish society, often blending documentary and fictional elements to challenge official narratives. Notable works include Elementarz (The Primer, 1976) and Sztygar na zagrodzie (The Foreman in His Own Home, 1978). His unique style and bold subject matter have left a lasting impact on Polish cinema.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Heart Attack poster
5.3

One of his first and the most famous undergrad shorts, which seems to forshadow the director's death. A prize winner at a film festival in Oberhausen, it does not bear any great resemblance to Wiszniewski's later films.It attempts to illustrate the subjective states of a character through expressionistic photography, hardcore jazz and associative editing.

Heart Attack

1967

ABC Book poster
7.9

A staged cinematic parable, it presents in symbolic images a painful diagnosis of Poles' sense of identity in the 1970s.

ABC Book

1976

ABC Book poster
7.9

A staged cinematic parable, it presents in symbolic images a painful diagnosis of Poles' sense of identity in the 1970s.

ABC Book

1976

A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota poster
6.0

A movie quintessential to Wiszniewski's artistic output. Its protagonist, Bernard Budgol, is a miner and a legendary leader of socialist labour in the 40s and 50s. Structured around a dissonance and contradiction, the film is reminiscent of a broken mirror. Budgol's utterances do not for a cohesive whole, but come into conflict with one another. His wife, children and fellow miners tend to be critical of him while the protagonist himself feels compelled to defend his legend and the rightousness of his own conduct. (FILMAFFINITY)

A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota

1973

A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota poster
6.0

A movie quintessential to Wiszniewski's artistic output. Its protagonist, Bernard Budgol, is a miner and a legendary leader of socialist labour in the 40s and 50s. Structured around a dissonance and contradiction, the film is reminiscent of a broken mirror. Budgol's utterances do not for a cohesive whole, but come into conflict with one another. His wife, children and fellow miners tend to be critical of him while the protagonist himself feels compelled to defend his legend and the rightousness of his own conduct. (FILMAFFINITY)

A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota

1973

No artwork available
6.4

Despite the fact that the film is a documentary, its lead character and his life story are fictitious, though very probable. It is one of the best examples of creative documentary film-making of Wojciech Wiszniewski.

A Carpenter

1976

No artwork available
6.4

Despite the fact that the film is a documentary, its lead character and his life story are fictitious, though very probable. It is one of the best examples of creative documentary film-making of Wojciech Wiszniewski.

A Carpenter

1976

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker poster
9.0

The life of a female weaver is thrown onto the socio-political canvas of pre-war and post-war communist Poland through the use of expressive allegorical and symbolic imagery in this imaginative take on the documentary form.

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker

1975

Wilkasy 70 poster
NR

A reportage about a summer camp for art students, in which carefree youth in red ties break into song at solemn flag ceremonies and meetings. Commissioned by the Socialist Youth Association Board and a surprise for Wiszniewski fans, particularly those who are convicted about the director's aversion to contemporary political system, since it appears blantantly propagandist.

Wilkasy 70

1970

Trace poster
4.5

A dilligent portrayal of the railway community depicts the mundanity of a pensioner's life set against lively scenes from his workplace, in the form of memories or dreams. (FILMAFFINITY)

Trace

1969

Random Love Story poster
7.5

This 50-minutes long TV production, Wiszniewski's only feature film, is the story of a young worker, who is given a flat by his union commission on condition that he gets married.

Random Love Story

1974

Random Love Story poster
7.5

This 50-minutes long TV production, Wiszniewski's only feature film, is the story of a young worker, who is given a flat by his union commission on condition that he gets married.

Random Love Story

1974

Foreman on a Farm poster
7.3

The story of a miner who decides to change his life by migrating to the countryside with his wife and children.

Foreman on a Farm

1978

Foreman on a Farm poster
7.3

The story of a miner who decides to change his life by migrating to the countryside with his wife and children.

Foreman on a Farm

1978

Tomorrow. 31st of April, 1st of May 1970 poster
NR

There's no April 31 and May the 1st is a Labour Day - the most important communist holiday. A gritty morning in the city of Lodz seen through the eyes of a worker who spends it with his colleagues drinking and talking about shady businesses. He's proud of his proletarian roots, but the reality is rather bitter than sweet for him. However, he seems to be happy living in his simple world of dreams, TV programs and drinking cheap wine. The viewer is left with a dissonance between the backyard and the facade, bwetween "normal" existence and the ideology and content of TV programs.

Tomorrow. 31st of April, 1st of May 1970

1970