Polish film and theatre director, screenwriter, producer, lecturer and author. He studied physics at Warsaw University (1955-1959) and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Kraków (1959-1962), and then graduated from Lodz Film School in 1966. He started making his first amateur short films towards the end of the 1950s, filming
Death of a Provincial as his graduation work at Lodz. He started filming for television, short documentaries and feature films. He filmed his first feature length for the silver screen in1969,
The Structure of Crystal (Struktura krysztalu) which received an award for best script at Mar del Plata Film Festival in 1970, and one in Valladolid at a local film festival. During the 1970s his most popular films were made, while he simultaneously worked for television. His second big screen film
Family Life (Zycie rodzinne, 1970) brought him a Silver Hugo in Chicago in 1971, and San Gregorio award in Valladolid in 1972.
The Illumination (Iluminacja, 1973) won a FIPRESCI award, Golden Award Ecumenical Jury in Locarno in 1973, and it also received a special jury prize in his home country, at Polish Film Festival in 1974. This was followed by the awarded
A Woman's Decision (Bilans Kwartalny, 1974) with Maja Komorowska in the leading role. In Polish German production he made a crime drama
Pittsville - Ein Safe voll Blut (1975), after which he returned to his recognisable expression with
Camouflage (1976). The film was awarded Golden Lion for best script at Polish Film Festival in 1997, receiving awards at festivals in Teheran and Rotterdam. During the 1970s he developed his central thematic character, a man put in a position of choosing between his personal values and challenges that force him to reject them. The question of moral choices and compromise between personal freedom and practical life which limits it is continued in
Spiral (1978), which was his last film in the twentieth century. In the 1980s he continued filming for television and working on German productions, and as a recognized director, he made films in international co-production with actors from Poland, Germany, England and France. Among his films we should mention
The Constant Factor (Constans, 1980),
Imperative (1982),
A Year of the Quiet Sun (Rok spokojnego slońca, 1984) where he worked with Maja Komorowska in the leading role again, and the film was awarded Golden Lion in Venice in 1984. Then he filmed
The Paradigm (1985) where he collaborated with Italian actor Vittori Gassman,
Wherever You Are... (1988) with English actor Julian Sands, and
Inventory (1989) where he returned to working with Polish actors. In the 1990s, along with a few television films and serials he made
Zycie za zycie (1991),
The Touch (Dotkniecie reki, 1992) with Max von Sydow in the leading role,
In Full Gallop (Cwal, 1996) with Maja Komorowska who was awarded best actress for that role (and Zanussi won the critics' award) at Polish Film Festival in 1996. Based on the drama by Pope John Paul II he made
Our God's Brother (1997). In the mid-1990s he started a television film series
Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) in Polish production, with its first part
A Woman's Business (1996) and the last, eighth film in 2001, titled
The Hidden Treasure. Drama where he addresses the question of death
Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (Zycie jako smiertelna choroba przenoszona droga plciowa, 2000) has won many Polish film awards (
an Eagle for best film, producer, director, script, male leading role, editing and music at Polish Film Awards in 2001, and
Golden Lion, critics' award and best actor at Polish Film Festival in 2000). This was followed by
The Supplement (2002), an international co-production
Persona non grata (2005), Italian
Black Sun (2007), Polish
And a Warm Heart (2008) and currently his last film
Revisited (2009). Apart from actively making films, he is the director of Polish Film Studio TOR in Warsaw and a member of European Film Academy. He has written a few books on film (On Montage in Amateur Films in 1968; A Discourse on Amateur Film in 1978) and an autobiography Time to Die (1999). He is an active lecturer at many European universities (Lodz, Silesian University in Katówice, National Film and Television School in Great Britain, schools in Denmark and Switzerland). He has also worked as theatre director in Kraków, Bonn, Milan, Palermo, Basel and Rome. He has won many awards and honorary doctorates. At Indian Film festival in Goa in 2012 he received a lifetime achievement award.
Filmography
Filmography:
Revisited (2009)
And a Warm Heart (2008)
Black Sun (2007)
Persona non grata (2005)
Solidarity, Solidarity... (2005) (omnibus, part Tanks)
The Supplement (2002)
Hidden Treasures from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (2001) (TV, mid-length)
The Soul Is Singing from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (2001) (TV, mid-length)
Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (Zycie jako smiertelna choroba przenoszona droga plciowa, 2000)
Istota (2000)
Unwritten Law from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1998) (TV, mid-length)
The Delay Line from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1998) (TV, mid-length)
The Last Circle from Priče za vikend (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1998) (TV, mid-length)
Our God's Brother (1997)
Little Faith from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1997) (TV, mid-length)
In Full Gallop (1996)
Deceptive Charm from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1996) (TV, mid-length)
A Woman's Business from Weekend Stories (Opowiesci weekendowe) (1996) (TV, mid-length)
The Touch (Dotkniecie reki, 1992)
Long Conversation with a Bird (1992) (TV)
Napoleon (1991) (TV series, 1 episode)
Rosja dzisiejsza (1991) (TV)
Images and Sounds (1991) (TV)
Zycie za zycie (1991)
Witold Lutoslawski in Conversation with Krzysztof Zanussi (1990) (TV, mid-length documentary)
Inventory (1989)
Wherever You Are... (1988)
My Warsaw (1987) (TV, short documentary)
Time That Passed (1987) (mid-length, documentary)
The Paradigm (1985)
Blaubart (1984) (TV)
A Year of the Quiet Sun (Rok spokojnego slonca, 1984)
Capitali culturali d'Europa (TV series, 1 episode, 1983)
Imperative (1982)
Die Unerreichbare (1982) (TV)
The Temptation (1982) (TV)
From a Far Country (1981)
The Contract (1980) (TV)
The Constant Factor (Constans, 1980)
Wege in der Nacht (1979) (TV)
My Krakow (1979) (TV, mid-length documentary)
Spiral (1978)
Haus der Frauen (1978) (TV)
Camouflage (Barwy ochronne, 1977)
Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Baird (1977) (TV)
Brigitte Horney (1977) (short, documentary)
Lekcja anatomii (1977) (TV, mid-length)
Pittsville - Ein Safe voll Blut (1975)
A Woman's Decision (Bilans kwartalny, 1975)
Nachtdienst (1975) (TV, mid-length)
Hipoteza (1973) (TV, short)
The Illumination (Iluminacja, 1973)
Behind the Wall (1971) (TV, mid-length)
Rola (1971) (TV, short)
Family Life (Zycie rodzinne, 1970)
Mountains at Dusk (1970) (TV, short)
The Structure of Crystal (Struktura krysztalu, 1969)
Examination (1968) (TV, short)
Death of a Provinital (1968) (short)
Krzysztof Penderecki (1968) (TV, short documentary)
Face to Face (1967) (TV, short)
Computers (1967) (short)
Przemysl (1966) (TV)
Maria Dabrowska (1966) (TV)
Swiadek (1964) (short)
Studenci (1962) (short)
The Cavalryman and the Girl (1961) (short)
A Plane from Budapest (1961) (short)
Holden (1961) (short)
A Peep from the Corner (1960) (short)
Umbrella (1960) (short)
Stop Thief (1960) (short)
Prescription for John (1959) (short)
The Roof (1959) (short)
Boys from Hollow (1959) (short)
Cement and Words (1959) (short)
Tram to heaven (1958) (short)
The Lame Devil (1958) (short)