Country: Poland | Genre: Fiction | Year: 1977 | Duration: 96’ | In Polish with Ukrainian and English subtitles

About the film

Filip was an ordinary factory worker until he bought an 8mm camera, which opened up the world of cinema for him. At first, he intended to make home videos in honour of the birth of his daughter, but he quickly became so carried away that the child faded into the background.

Filip plunges headlong into his new hobby, which quickly turns into a real obsession. And when the authorities offer him to film the successes of the factory, this becomes a real problem: the camera lens begins to capture a reality that not everyone wants to see.

Reasons to watch

Camera Buff is the film that first brought international attention to Krzysztof Kieślowski's work. It is a kind of self-reflection by the director about the possibilities and limitations of filmmaking, but also a story about life in Poland during the communist regime. The film raises questions that remain relevant today: can the camera capture the truth, and what happens when the truth becomes inconvenient? Kieślowski himself described it as "an attempt to consider what is right – objective reality or a character working against that reality."

About the director

Krzysztof Kieślowski is a Polish director of documentary and fiction films, a screenwriter. One of his most famous works is the film trilogy Three Colours. For it, he received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (Blue), Silver Bear at the Berlinale (White) and was nominated for the Academy Award (Red). In 1990, Kieślowski became an honorary member of the British Film Institute, and since 1995, he has been a member of the American Film Academy. Krzysztof Kieślowski is considered one of the most prominent artists in the history of world cinema of the second half of the 20th century.

Festivals

• Berlin International Film Festival, 1980

• Polish Film Festival, 1979

• Chicago International Film Festival, 1980