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Camera Buff

Original title: Amator
  • 19791979
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
7.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Amator (1979)
An ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
Play trailer2:31
1 Video
99+ Photos
  • Comedy
  • Drama
  • Romance

An ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthf... Read allAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.An ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.

IMDb RATING
7.8/10
7.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Krzysztof Kieslowski
  • Writers
    • Krzysztof Kieslowski(scenario)
    • Jerzy Stuhr(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Jerzy Stuhr
    • Malgorzata Zabkowska
    • Ewa Pokas
Top credits
  • Director
    • Krzysztof Kieslowski
  • Writers
    • Krzysztof Kieslowski(scenario)
    • Jerzy Stuhr(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Jerzy Stuhr
    • Malgorzata Zabkowska
    • Ewa Pokas
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 24User reviews
    • 24Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:31
    Trailer

    Photos138

    Original Polish program (8x12)
    Jerzy Stuhr in Amator (1979)
    Amator (1979)
    Krzysztof Kieslowski in Blizna (1976)
    Jerzy Stuhr in Amator (1979)
    Tadeusz Bradecki in Amator (1979)
    Jerzy Stuhr in Amator (1979)
    Jerzy Nowak in Amator (1979)
    Stefan Czyzewski in Amator (1979)
    Jerzy Stuhr and Stefan Czyzewski in Amator (1979)
    Jolanta Brzezinska in Amator (1979)
    Jolanta Brzezinska and Tadeusz Rzepka in Amator (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jerzy Stuhr
    Jerzy Stuhr
    • Filip Moszas Filip Mosz
    Malgorzata Zabkowska
    Malgorzata Zabkowska
    • Irka Moszas Irka Mosz
    Ewa Pokas
    Ewa Pokas
    • Anna Wlodarczykas Anna Wlodarczyk
    Stefan Czyzewski
    Stefan Czyzewski
    • Directoras Director
    Jerzy Nowak
    Jerzy Nowak
    • Stanislaw Osuchas Stanislaw Osuch
    Tadeusz Bradecki
    Tadeusz Bradecki
    • Witek Jachowiczas Witek Jachowicz
    Marek Litewka
    Marek Litewka
    • Piotrek Krawczykas Piotrek Krawczyk
    Boguslaw Sobczuk
    Boguslaw Sobczuk
    • Kedzierskias Kedzierski
    Krzysztof Zanussi
    Krzysztof Zanussi
    • Krzysztof Zanussias Krzysztof Zanussi
    Andrzej Jurga
    Andrzej Jurga
    • Andrzej Jurgaas Andrzej Jurga
    Alicja Bienicewicz
    • Jaskaas Jaska
    Tadeusz Rzepka
    Tadeusz Rzepka
    • Wawrzyniecas Wawrzyniec
    Aleksandra Kisielewska
    • Hania, secretaryas Hania, secretary
    Wlodzimierz Maciudzinski
    • Stelmaszczykas Stelmaszczyk
    Roman Stankiewicz
    • Czeslawas Czeslaw
    Antonina Barczewska
    • Katarzynaas Katarzyna
    Feliks Szajnert
    • Doctoras Doctor
    Jolanta Brzezinska
    Jolanta Brzezinska
    • Wawrzyniec's Wifeas Wawrzyniec's Wife
    • Director
      • Krzysztof Kieslowski
    • Writers
      • Krzysztof Kieslowski(scenario) (dialogue)
      • Jerzy Stuhr(dialogue)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Filip buys an eight-millimetre movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie-making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>
    • home movie camera
    • communist poland
    • 1970s
    • cine camera
    • birth of a child
    • 91 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Genres
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • Not Rated
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film's opening scene and Irka's nightmare about a hawk killing a chicken are reminiscent of Ken Loach's Kes (1969) -- a film about a boy who takes to training a wild kestrel in order to escape his troubled life. Later, Filip can be seen reading a filmmaking text and turning to a section about Ken Loach and Kes (1969). This reference is twofold. First, Filip is clearly inspired by filmmakers like Loach in making social realist films about working-class people. Second, Irka is tormented by images mirroring Kes (1969) which represent her husband's budding obsession with this type of filmmaking.
    • Quotes

      Piotrek Krawczyk: What you do is beautiful, boys: a person may be dead but she is still there, in your film.

    • Connections
      Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A lengyel film (1990)
    • Soundtracks
      Walc e-moll
      by Frédéric Chopin

      Performed by Krystian Zimmermann

    User reviews24

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Portrait of the artist
    Krzyszof Kieslowksi begun his career as a documentary film-maker. From the start, he seemed to know two things: that in the shabby, feudal bureaucracy that was communist Poland, everything was political; and that the camera is never truly neutral. It was the second concern that saw him shift into telling fictional, constructed stories; while the first, and his own struggles as a young director, inspired the subject of 'Camera Buff', his first feature. As well as its immediate subject, the film is also a fascinating portrayal of an unfashionable subject, namely the class system, alive and well in the supposed socialist utopia (Kieslowski was a great admirer of Ken Loach, so perhaps we should not be too surprised). The film starts as a black comedy in the manner of the tenth part of his later 'Dekalog', and is both very funny and immediately true to life; as it progresses, it becomes more serious but there isn't quite the emotional intensity that marks his greatest works. The score is also less remarkable than those in the films he made with Zbigniew Priesner, his permanent collaborator from the mid 1980s. But his skill at composing images that are simultaneously profoundly ordinary and starkly arresting is very much in evidence, as is the characteristic sense of an all-pervasive greyness in the lives of his characters, punctured only by shafts of colour when his hapless hero comes into contact with the affluent metropolitan elite. In Dennis Potter's 'The Singing Detective', a central theme is the way that the artist will stop at nothing in using their own life as material, and this is also a theme here, growing in importance as the movie progresses. It's an unusual subject for a debut, and can perhaps be seen as Kieslowski laying his cards on the table before he begun the game. Greatness lay just around the corner.
    helpful•11
    4
    • paul2001sw-1
    • Nov 6, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 14, 1980 (Netherlands)
    • Country of origin
      • Poland
    • Language
      • Polish
    • Also known as
      • Der Filmamateur
    • Filming locations
      • Katowice Central Railway Station - Szewczyka Square 2, Katowice, Slaskie, Poland
    • Production company
      • Zespol Filmowy "Tor"
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 52 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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