Jerzy Skolimowski

Directing

Jerzy Skolimowski

Born 1938-05-05 · Łódź, Poland

Jerzy Skolimowski (Polish: [ˈjɛʐɨ skɔliˈmɔfskʲi]; born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist, actor and painter. Beginning as a screenwriter for Andrzej Wajda's Innocent Sorcerers (1960), Skolimowski has made more than twenty films since his directorial debut The Menacing Eye (1960). In 1967 he was awarded the Golden Bear prize for his Belgian film The Departure (1967). Among his other notable films is Deep End (1970), starring Jane Asher and John Moulder Brown as well as The Shout, starring Alan Bates, Susannah York and John Hurt, Moonlighting (1982), starring Jeremy Irons and Essential Killing, starring Vincent Gallo He lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years where he painted in a figurative, expressionist mode and occasionally acted in films. He returned to Poland, and to filmmaking as a writer and director, after a 17-year hiatus with Four Nights with Anna (2008). He received the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. His film EO (2022) was awarded the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jerzy Skolimowski, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

The Avengers poster
8.1

When an unexpected enemy emerges and threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins!

The Avengers

2012

Mars Attacks! poster
6.4

A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.

Mars Attacks!

1996

Eastern Promises poster
7.3

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

Eastern Promises

2007

White Nights poster
6.7

After his plane crashes in Siberia, a Russian dancer, who defected to the West, is held prisoner in the Soviet Union. The KGB keeps him under watch and tries to convince him to become a dancer for the Kirov Academy of Ballet again. Determined to escape, he befriends a black American expatriate and his pregnant Russian wife, who agree to help him escape to the American Embassy.

White Nights

1985

Before Night Falls poster
6.7

Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Before Night Falls

2000

Moonlighting poster
7.1

A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.

Moonlighting

1982

Deep End poster
7.0

London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.

Deep End

1971

Big Shots poster
6.6

Following the death of his father, a suburbanite runs away from home and winds up on Chicago's South Side. After being mugged, the boy befriends a young hustler and, after stealing a gangster's car, the two embark on an adventure down south in search of the hustler's estranged father.

Big Shots

1987

L.A. Without a Map poster
5.8

An aspiring Hollywood actress, on a visit to a charming North England town, has a brief fling with the town undertaker, who also writes obituaries for the local paper. Returning home, where she works as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, she tells everyone about the handsome "writer" she met on her trip. Unfortunately, he decides to follow her back to Hollywood, setting up the expected light romantic comedy with asides as the newcomer gains experience about the goings on in Hollywood.

L.A. Without a Map

1999

Circle of Deceit poster
6.1

To escape his crumbling marriage, German journalist Laschen travels to Beirut during the fights between Christians and Palestinians to produce an essay. Together with his photographer, he meets some influential people and discovers the everyday face of the war.

Circle of Deceit

1981

The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683 poster
4.3

In the summer of 1683, 300 000 Ottoman Empire's warriors begin the siege of Vienna. City's fall, will open way to conquer the Europe. The Sept 11 is the day of main battle between Polish cavalry under the King Jan III Sobieski and Turks.

The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683

2012

Operacja Samum poster
5.9

The war between Iraq and Kuwait is just about to begin. While all foreigners are leaving Iraq, Pawel, a young Polish engineer is captured by the Iraqi Secret Service. His father, a retired secret service operative goes to Iraq to attempt to rescue him not knowing that he is secretly being used as bait. Now, two Polish secret agents have been assigned by the CIA to attempt a rescue mission. The stakes are high, but are they high enough to risk the life of one of the best officers?

Operacja Samum

1999

Innocent Sorcerers poster
7.0

A young doctor is tired of being sought by women. One night he meets a young girl who all but forces herself into his room where they talk of morals and love.

Innocent Sorcerers

1960

King, Queen, Knave poster
4.5

Based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this English-language satirical drama details the experiences of Frank (John Moulder Brown), a young orphan who finds himself deep in the romantic clutches of his uncle's sensual wife. After Frank's parents die, he goes to live with his aunt Martha (Gina Lollabrigida) and uncle Charles (David Niven). Sexy Martha entices Frank into her embrace then wants him to kill her husband so that they can live off of his money. Frank wouldn't mind so much, but he really likes his uncle.

King, Queen, Knave

1972

Barrier poster
6.8

A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.

Barrier

1966

Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life poster
7.8

Krzysztof Komeda was a jazz pianist and film composer. With compositions like the lullaby for Rosemary's Baby (1968) by Roman Polanski, Komeda succeeded in writing his own chapter in the history of soundtracks. This documentary follows the life story of the composer by the means of his melodic sounds. It is a reflection on his soundtracks, which changed the common film scores forever. It is a contemporary document about the attitude to life in a time of social, political and cultural change after war, about work and exodus of Polish artists in the 50s and 60s. A story about how film music is created and how it affects people. Directors who worked with Komeda and who are also friends talk about him: Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Henning Carlsen and Andrzej Wajda. His wife, Zofia Komeda, and his sister, Irena Orlowska, recollect him.

Komeda: A Soundtrack for a Life

2010

Torrents of Spring poster
5.9

In 1840, a young Russian aristocrat, Dimitri Sanin, is returning home after a long tour of Europe. In Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful pastry shop girl, Gemma Rosselli, who soon starts sharing his feelings. They decide to get married and, in order to finance the wedding, Dimitri goes back to Russia to sell his family estate. Unfortunately he falls prey to a seductress, Princess Maria Nikolaevna, who pretends to be willing to buy his land to come nearer him. Now Sanin is in a fix: should he choose the pure Gemma or the evil but irresistible Maria?

Torrents of Spring

1989

A Slip-Up poster
6.8

A young man strikes up an ill-fated romance with a married woman.

A Slip-Up

1972

30 Door Key poster
6.2

A young writer in 1939 Warsaw faces the conflict of acting his age or relapsing into childhood during the brink of World War II. Based on the famous novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz.

30 Door Key

1991

The Stolen Caravaggio poster
6.0

Valeria, young secretary of a producer, lives with an eccentric mother and secretly writes for a successful screenwriter, Alessandro. One day, she receives an unusual present from a stranger: it’s the plot of a movie about the mysterious but really-happened theft of a famous Caravaggio’s painting.

The Stolen Caravaggio

2018

Hands Up! poster
5.7

The reunion of a group of former medical students results in a flood of bitter memories.

Hands Up!

1985

'Deep End': Remembering the Deleted Scenes poster
NR

Short documentary about sequences removed from the film.

'Deep End': Remembering the Deleted Scenes

2011

Starting Out: The Making of Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End poster
9.0

A fascinating and absorbing documentary about the making of Jerzy Skolimowski's cult favourite, DEEP END, which was shot in 1970 as a US-German co-production on location in London and Munich. The film's two stars, Jane Asher and John Moulder-Brown, 23 and 17 years of age at the time respectively, meet for the first time in 40 years and discuss their on-screen and off-screen relationship in candid detail, while director/writer Skolimowski chronicles the production history from the writing of the script to the film's acclaimed first showing at the Venice Film Festival. Director of photography Charly Steinberger revisits some of the original locations and explains how he managed to shoot almost the entire film with a hand-held camera. Also on board are production designer Anthony Pratt, editor Barrie Vince, and actor Christopher Sandford, each of whom contributes his own version of how DEEP END was part of the sixties' "swinging London"; and at the same time tilted it on its head.

Starting Out: The Making of Jerzy Skolimowski's Deep End

2011

Julius poster
5.5

An organised arts teacher has only one main problem in life, which is his father – a painter always going from one party to the next. When the father lives through his second heart attack and still refuses to change his lifestyle, Julius will have to find a way to influence his behaviour.

Julius

2018

Behind the camera

Good Boy poster
7.3

Tommy, a volatile 19-year-old, revels in drugs, parties and violence. After getting separated from his friends on a drunken bender, he is abducted by a shadowy figure. He wakes to find himself imprisoned in the basement of a remote Yorkshire house, inhabited by a very strange family. But what unfolds is not what he could possibly expect.

Good Boy

2026

EO poster
6.5

The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

EO

2022

EO poster
6.5

The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

EO

2022

EO poster
6.5

The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.

EO

2022

The Palace poster
5.4

A comedy set on New Year’s Eve 1999 in a luxurious hotel in the Swiss Alps where the lives of various guests and those who work for them intersect.

The Palace

2023

Knife in the Water poster
7.3

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.

Knife in the Water

1962

Moonlighting poster
7.1

A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.

Moonlighting

1982

Moonlighting poster
7.1

A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.

Moonlighting

1982

Moonlighting poster
7.1

A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.

Moonlighting

1982

Deep End poster
7.0

London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.

Deep End

1971

Deep End poster
7.0

London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.

Deep End

1971

The Shout poster
6.0

A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.

The Shout

1978

The Shout poster
6.0

A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.

The Shout

1978

Essential Killing poster
5.9

A Taliban soldier struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Essential Killing

2010

Essential Killing poster
5.9

A Taliban soldier struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Essential Killing

2010

Essential Killing poster
5.9

A Taliban soldier struggles to survive after he escapes his captors and flees into the Polish countryside.

Essential Killing

2010

The Lightship poster
5.3

A trio of robbers, two brothers and their twisted genius leader, invade a lightship, but don't reckon on the crew fighting back.

The Lightship

1985

Innocent Sorcerers poster
7.0

A young doctor is tired of being sought by women. One night he meets a young girl who all but forces herself into his room where they talk of morals and love.

Innocent Sorcerers

1960

Mesmerized poster
4.8

An orphan weds an older man in circa-1900 New Zealand, then finds out he's a miser who spies on her.

Mesmerized

1985

King, Queen, Knave poster
4.5

Based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this English-language satirical drama details the experiences of Frank (John Moulder Brown), a young orphan who finds himself deep in the romantic clutches of his uncle's sensual wife. After Frank's parents die, he goes to live with his aunt Martha (Gina Lollabrigida) and uncle Charles (David Niven). Sexy Martha entices Frank into her embrace then wants him to kill her husband so that they can live off of his money. Frank wouldn't mind so much, but he really likes his uncle.

King, Queen, Knave

1972

The Menacing Eye poster
4.8

A knife thrower practices on a target girl.

The Menacing Eye

1960

The Menacing Eye poster
4.8

A knife thrower practices on a target girl.

The Menacing Eye

1960

Four Nights with Anna poster
6.2

Leon falls in love with a nurse and obsessively tries to get close to her.

Four Nights with Anna

2008

Four Nights with Anna poster
6.2

Leon falls in love with a nurse and obsessively tries to get close to her.

Four Nights with Anna

2008