The Cinematheque

“Suffused with Kieślowski’s dry wit and intelligence, this early feature provides an excellent introduction to his work.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A wry satirical comedy about artistic expression, filmmaking passion, and political oppression, Camera Buff marked Krzysztof Kieślowski’s international breakthrough, and stands as one of the finest examples of Poland’s ​“Cinema of Moral Anxiety” of the 1970s. Kieślowski regular Jerzy Stuhr (who co-wrote the dialogue) shines as Filip, a factory clerk and family man who acquires an 8mm camera in order to make home movies of his newborn daughter. Becoming thoroughly obsessed with the instrument, he organizes an amateur film club at work and starts making industrial documentaries for his bosses. However, as his creative ambitions expand, he finds himself clashing with officialdom and contending with censorship. At home, meanwhile, he must face the consequences of having neglected his family. The film’s multiple honours included top prizes at the Moscow and Chicago festivals. Noted Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi cameos as himself.

In Polish with English subtitles

“A self-reflexive work on the role of the filmmaker and the nature and ethics of the medium itself … Kieślowski tells his own biography through Camera Buff.”

Rahul Hamid, Senses of Cinema