Piotr Sobociński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpjɔtr sɔbɔˈt͡ɕiɲskʲi]; February 3, 1958 – March 26, 2001) was one of the most respected cinematographers ever to come from Poland, picking up where his father, legendary Polish cinematographer, Witold Sobociński, left off. He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Three Colours: Red in 1994.
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Born in 1958, in Łódź, Poland, as a youngster, Sobociński felt lead in his father's footsteps. He studied at the National Film School in Łódź and earned his degrees in 1987.
He worked with noted Polish director, Krzysztof Kieślowski in many films, starting with The Decalogue (Dekalog) (1988) and culminating with his final film, Three Colours: Red (1994), for which Sobociński won his first award 'The Silver Frog Award' at Camerimage, Poland’s International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography and an Oscar nomination also in 1994. In the following year, he won the Golden Frog award for The Seventh Room, and in 1997 he received a Golden Frog nomination for Marvin’s Room.
His career was hitting a peak in the mid-1990s when he was asked by Ron Howard to work on the film Ransom starring Mel Gibson and Rene Russo. He went on to work on more big movies and his career looked like it was going to go on for a long time. However, while filming Trapped (aka 24 Hours) in 2001, he suffered a massive heart attack and died in his sleep in Vancouver, British Columbia [1], and was buried at the Powazki Cemetery Warsaw, Poland [2].
He was survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and his father Witold, who is retired from the film business.
| “ | My father taught me that the language of film is your own interpretation of reality. You have to select what is important from the jumble of images we see in our everyday lives. You can speak without using words by the decisions you make about movement and composition.[3] | ” |