Jan Tesarz

Acting

Jan Tesarz

Born 1935-08-04 · Czechowice-Dziedzice, Polska

Jan Tesarz (4 August 1935 – 3 January 2020) was a Polish actor of film, theatre, and television. Born in Czechowice, he graduated from the Dramatic Studio and made his stage debut in 1957. He went on to perform in numerous theatre productions, Television Theatre, and feature films throughout his career.

Acting credits

Decalogue V poster
8.0

Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver, brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief for Piotr the injustice of killing of any kind.

Decalogue V

1989

A Short Film About Killing poster
7.6

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

A Short Film About Killing

1988

No End poster
7.0

1982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.

No End

1985

Boxer poster
6.0

A promising but hot-headed young. boxer studies with a kind, knowing manager, grooming him for the Olympics.

Boxer

1967

Colonel Wolodyjowski poster
7.0

In 1668 Polish colonel Michał Wołodyjowski, who recently retired to a monastery, is recalled to active duty and takes charge of Poland's eastern frontier defenses against invading Tatar hordes and Ottoman armies.

Colonel Wolodyjowski

1969

Decalogue IV poster
7.8

A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.

Decalogue IV

1989

Smacznego, telewizorku poster
7.2

The TV-obsessed burgomaster of a Polish town and his equally addicted wife are literally sucked into their set, vanishing from the living room. Their three bewildered children must band together to pull Mom and Dad back out of the television before they’re lost forever.

Smacznego, telewizorku

1992

No artwork available
10.0

Film about the famous Battle of Vienna and the events surrounding it.

Na odsiecz Wiedniowi

1983

Kidnapping in Tiutiurlistan poster
5.0

Three friends – a rooster, a cat and a vixen – meet the kidnapped princess on the eve of the war between Balbacja and Tiuturlistan. To prevent a war, they try to bring her to her father's house. They tell each other stories from their lives during a journey full of adventures.

Kidnapping in Tiutiurlistan

1986

No artwork available
7.0

A chance meeting at a dinner table reveals the culprit of an old thought-to-be-solved murder.

Wiktoryna, czyli czy pan pochodzi z Beauvais?

1972

Famous Like Sarajevo poster
4.3

The authorities in favor of the Nazis are trying to restore order in a small town in Silesia. Their actions are fiercely resisted by a small group of residents.

Famous Like Sarajevo

1988

Special Mission poster
5.8

In 1943, a drunk cook is mistaken for a secret agent and sent on a special mission from London to Nazi-occupied Poland.

Special Mission

1987

Private Town poster
5.3

A town near Warsaw. A group of teenagers rules one of the courtyards: Ali, Pawik, and Małgośka, the object of both boys' fascination. A few years later, these same young people form a typical youth gang. Ali and Pawik gather around them a group of peers who have been unable to find their place in society and want to live an easy life. Robberies and thefts are their idea of a comfortable existence. A few more years pass and the gang transforms into a mafia. After the 1989 elections, it enters into deals with politicians. It also gets into a conflict with Russian gangsters.

Private Town

1994

At the End of the World poster
7.0

The year is 1989, and the country's first free elections in a long time are approaching. A man in a cycling cap organizes a chain of clean hands, using it as a tool in his election campaign. In the queue outside the passport office, people chat, make plans, and ponder what's worth selling abroad. Writers observe the world around them. One of them is applying for a passport. In Dzierżyński Square, the monument to Feliks Edmundowicz is being dismantled. Two drunk men sleep on a bench, and behind them is a sign reading: "All is well." The two writers observe the ongoing transformation of the political system.

At the End of the World

1994

Polski Crash poster
3.8

Early 90's. The political and economic landscape of Poland, Russia and Germany is changing. Both good and bad sides of freedom are revealed. The mafia is becoming more and more bold, operating without obstacles across borders. One of the more lucrative "businesses" is the trade in luxury cars, stolen in Germany and transferred to Russia by Russia.

Polski Crash

1994

Fiasco of Operation Terror poster
7.0

The action-packed historical and revolutionary film about the struggle of the VCHK with the international conspiracy against the Soviet government in Russia in the beginning 20s. On the activities of Dzerzhinsky, chairman of the VCHK, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs and at the same time Commissar of Railways. About the work on resuscitation of a collapsed industry, army, railways, to which the Iron Felix attracts (some by threats, some by persuasion) pre-revolutionary intellectuals.

Fiasco of Operation Terror

1981

No artwork available
NR

The film touches on the problems of adolescence among the Polish youth.

Jeszcze nie dorośli...

1976

Pěsti ve tmě poster
5.9

The year is 1936, the nervous atmosphere of the Nazi threat penetrates into the sport. Upgrade boxe Vilda Jakub will compete with German Kurt Schaller. The Nazis decisions are used in order to win his master even the dirtiest means. Vilda inspect their game and focus on the preparation of environmental events. The story culminates in the victory of one of the two lovers, between which Vilda tense moments in the decision.

Pěsti ve tmě

1987

No artwork available
NR

A critique of consumerist life.

Dostojeństwo rodzinnego domu

1975

More Than Life At Stake Part One poster
NR

The first of six episode compilations of the TV show released theatrically, featuring episodes 1 and 3. In 1941, Polish soldier Stanisław Kolicki escapes German captivity only to be mistaken for the dashing Abwehr lieutenant Hans Kloss and recruited by the Soviets as their secret agent J-23. Under deep cover behind enemy lines, he feeds crucial intelligence to the Red Army while outwitting suspicions and dueling wits with the formidable SS officer Hermann Brunner.

More Than Life At Stake Part One

1969

Kierunek Berlin poster
7.4

Polish Army takes part in the Berlin Operation in the final weeks of World War 2.

Kierunek Berlin

1969

Strange Creatures poster
8.0

A parable for the end of totalitarianism. Three protagonists - a high official, a secretary, and a border guard - representative of three generations (1948, 1968, 1988) are forced to confront their ideals and places in society through the events of one strange night.

Strange Creatures

1990

Balanga poster
4.0

One night, a teacher is murdered. A police investigation soon leads to the deceased's true nature and two unlikely suspects.

Balanga

1993

The Last Ferry poster
7.6

One of the passengers on a ship carrying Poles on a cruise in December 1981 is a dissident high school teacher sent abroad by Solidarity. He is under surveillance of the secret police, anxious to get their hands on the info that he is carrying. When the ship is in the middle of the Baltic sea, martial law is declared and the ship is militarized. The captain announces he will turn and return the home port. Many anguished passengers put the life vests on and jump into the sea, where they are picked up by two German ships. The teacher, however, decides to return to Poland and continue the struggle for freedom.

The Last Ferry

1989