Krzysztof Kieslowski presents this initially comic yet ultimately moving drama about finding one's calling in life. Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr), a Polish factory worker, purchases an eight-millimeter movie camera to record his baby daughter's first few years of life. Looking for other things to do with his new toy, Filip makes a rather shoddy documentary about his workplace and then submits the film to a local festival. Surprisingly, his amateur movie garners an award, and this small taste of success sends Filip into a moviemaking frenzy. Committing himself to a new life as a documentary filmmaker, he shoots footage of nearly everything he encounters, but his zeal to record all that he sees soon runs him afoul of government officials who guard secrets they don't want revealed, in addition to his wife, who becomes fed up with his need to live life from behind the camera. In traditional Kieslowski fashion, his film works on many different levels, including the sociopolitical one that takes place in the factory. It is the personal commentary on filmmaking passion that provides the film with its core emotion, however. Stuhr's Filip is a remarkable creation--a man who is at once inspiring, loving, and pathetic.
When a new father buys a camera to film his baby, his awkward work wins a prize at a local film festival. Convinced of his calling, he begins shooting everything in sight, including some activities the government would rather not have on film. CAMERA BUFF is a clever, comic, self-reflexive examination of a filmmaker's zealous commitment to his art, from Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski (THE DECALOGUE).
The film won the Grand Prize for Best Film at the Moscow Film Festival.
DVD Features:
Region [unknown]
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Additional Release Material:
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Production Interviews:
1. Krzysztof Zanussi - Filmmaker
2. Agnieska Holland - Filmmaker
3. Annette Insdorf - Kieslowski Scholar
Text/Photo Galleries:
Kieslowski Filmography
Kieslowski Trailer Gallery
Director of Photography
Jacek Petrycki:
Production Designer
Rafal Waltenberger:
Costume Designer
Gabriela Star-Tysziewicz:
Review 1:
"...Exuberantly acted by a good cast..."
Source: New York Times
p.C18 10/03/1980
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