Zdzisław Beksiński

Documentary made entirely out of private home recordings of artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, which show him, his family, his work and everyday life.

Is there anything new to say about Zdzisław Beksiński? Grzegorz Gajewski, who has been associated with the Beksiński family for many years, proves the point. His latest is a multi-dimensional portrait of the Master, crafted from the voices of those closest to him.

Beksiński is a gentle man with arachnophobia, despite his hardcore sexual fantasies and his fondness for painting disturbing dystopian works. Beksiński is a family man who wants only the best for his loving wife Zofia, neurotic son Tomasz and the couple's aging mothers. His daily painting to classical music eventually pays off and he makes a name for himself in contemporary art. Good Catholic woman Zofia tries to hold the family together, but troubled son Tomasz proves to be a handful with his violent outbursts and suicidal threats. Their relief is brief when he starts dating women and becomes a radio presenter and movie translator, and the concerned parents must be on constant watch to prevent their son from hurting himself. But Beksiński never believed that family life would always be sunshine and rainbows. As he tapes everything with his beloved camcorder, the 28-year Beksiński saga unfolds through paintings, near-death experiences, dance music trends and funerals...

Painter Zdzisław Beksiński, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a well-known radio journalist and translator, were a typical and unconventional family, both at the same time. One of the father’s obsessions was filming himself and his family members. Using archival footage only, shot primarily by Zdzisław, as well many other materials, which have not been presented anywhere so far, the film tells a tragic story of the Beksińskis that has never ceased to fascinate Polish filmmakers.

The film focuses on unknown or little-known aspects of the life and work of Zdzisław Beksiński—from the time when he lived and worked in his hometown of Sanok, designing futuristic bus models for a local factory, through the moment when he left the city in a huff, burning some of his paintings (photographs of this event!), through his "Warsaw" period, the death of his wife and son, his return to his artistic roots, and ending with the last minutes before his death.