Jerzy Antczak -

Professor SEE ALL FILMS JERZY ANTCZAK Film & theatre director Writer Film producer Actor

The entire career of this artist, from television to cinema, was actually an expansion and continuation of a concept of a popular and psychological theatre which so far has not faced a competition.

Barbara Kaźmierczak-Drozdowska / WAiF, Warsaw, 1980

Jerzy Antczak

Film and theatre director, actor, screenplay writer, film producer

Jerzy Antczak was born on 25 December 1929 in Włodzimierz Wołyński, Wołyńskie, Poland [now Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Ukraine]. Between 1956 and 1963 he was artistic director of 7’15 Theatre and founder and head of Television Center “TV Popular Theatre”. In 1963 he moved to Warsaw and become the Chief Director and later Head of Polish TV Masterpiece Theatre. In September 1972 he wrote and directed Nights and Days, based on novel by Maria Dabrowska, which was nominated for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language category. Along with his wife, actress Jadwiga Baranska moved to the States in 1979. From 1985 to 2001 he hold tenure at the UCLA Film School teaching advanced directing. At 2013 Gdynia Film Festival he was presented with The Platinum Lions.

Honors

Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

1964

Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

1970

Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta

1976

Gold Medal “Meritorious for Culture – Gloria Artis”
Gold Medal “Meritorious for Culture – Gloria Artis”

2008

My work

Featured Films

Chopin. Desire for Love

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Nights and Days

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The Master

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Since 1953

Antczak's Career

1953
Actor

After graduating in 1953, he worked as an actor at the Powszechny Theater in Łódź (1953–1956)

1956
Theater Roles

Jerzy Antczak acted at the New Theater (Teatr Nowy) in Łódź between 1956 and 1957

1958
Director

By roughly 1958, he shifted his focus from acting to directing, becoming a prominent creator of Polish TV Theatre, though he established his career through acting in the mid-1950s.

1963
Chief Director

In 1963, Jerzy Antczak moved to Warsaw to become the chief director of Polish Television and Television Theatre, producing over 100 shows.

1975
Film Director

Jerzy Antczak directed the 1975 masterpiece Noce i dnie (Nights and Days), which won a Silver Bear at the 26th Berlin International Film Festival and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

1985
Professor at UCLA

Jerzy Antczak taught as a professor at the UCLA Film School from 1985 to 2001.

1994
Film Director

Jerzy Antczak returned to filmmaking in the 1990s and 2000s, directing The Lady of the Camellias (1994).

2002
Film Director

Jerzy Antczak directed Chopin: Desire for Love (2002).

My Journal

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