Andrzej Bart

Andrzej Bart
Born 1951
Wrocław, Poland
Occupation Novelist, screenwriter, film director
Genre Literary fiction

Andrzej Bart (born 1951 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish novelist, screenwriter and film director. He is called the Polish Thomas Pynchon[1] because he prefers people talk about his books and films but leave him alone.

Novels

Rien ne va plus

Andrzej Bart devoted his young years to writing a novel Rien ne va plus[2] This epic story of Poland and Poles, seen through a foreigner’s eyes, couldn't be published for a long time because of political reasons.[3] Published in 1991, it was immediately awarded the Kościelski Award. Subsequently, three editions of the book were published in Poland.

Later novels, 1991–1999

In Pociąg do podróży, (1999, The Travel Bug), the writer follows two underdogs, a Jew and a German, who are sent back in time to the year 1900 to kill the young Adolf Hitler. Their eccentric travel serves as a pretext to examine the innocence of Europe before it experienced two world-wide wars.

Under the pseudonym Paul Scarron Jr., he published the metaphysical mystery novel Piąty jeździec Apokalipsy (1999, The Fifth Rider of Apocalypse).

Don Juan Revisited

In the novel Don Juan raz jeszcze (2006, Don Juan Revisited[4][5]) the old Don Juan atones in a monastery for the sins of his youth. Forced, he sets off for his last adventure. He is to seduce Queen of Castile, Juana, who is traversing Spain with the corpse of her husband.

The Flytrap Factory

Bart’s most translated book is Fabryka Muchołapek (2008, The Flytrap Factory[6]), short listed for the Nike Literary Award. It is a novel about the most controversial figure of modern history, Chaim Rumkowski, the leader of the Łódź Ghetto.

Reverse

In Rewers (2009, Reverse) Bart brings back to life one of his characters who in Rien ne va plus committed suicide. A young girl who in Stalinism Poland found herself in a no-choice situation, this time is able to confront evil and win.

Breathless

A famous Polish director, who’s been working for the last twenty years in the United States, is in a car accident. Suspended between life and death, he returns, delirious, to his country to do what we all hope we’ll have time to do. He wants to apologize and to express thanks but he also wants to take revenge.[7]).

Films

Reverse

In 2009, Reverse was awarded the main prize – the Golden Lions Award – at the most prestigious Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. It was submitted to the Academy Awards. Since then Reverse has been receiving numerous awards at many international film festivals including Best New Director at the 36th Seattle International Film Festival and the Best Debut Feature at the 32nd Moscow International Film Festival.

Documentaries, TV movies and radio plays

Bart made several documentaries[8] including Eva R.,[8] about daughter of pianist Arthur Rubinstein, Hiob,[8] about Marek Rudnicki, graphic artist and painter, Marian Brandys[8] about Marian Brandys, a Polish writer. He is also a screenwriter and producer of Radegast.[9] In 2010 he wrote and directed a TV movie, Boulevard Voltaire,[10] awarded at the 2011 Sopot Festival[11] the Best Director and the Best Script. In 2011 he wrote and directed a radio play Pan i sługa / Master and Servant,[12] broadcast 20 November 2011 on Polskie Radio Program I. In 2012 he wrote and directed a radio play Bezdech / Breatheless,[13] broadcast 6 May 2012 on Polskie Radio Program I. In 2013 he wrote and directed Bezdech as a TV theater play; for this play he was awarded at the 2013 Sopot Festival Dwa Teatry[14] the Best Original or Adapted Script.[15] Bezdech received four awards, including the Best Actor, the Best Film Editing, and two honorable mentions.[16]

Bibliography

Fiction in Polish

Translations

Filmography

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Polish Thomas Pynchon.
  2. ↑ Rien ne va plus.
  3. ↑ Rien ne va plus: waiting for six years.
  4. ↑ Don Juan Revisited.
  5. ↑ Artur Madaliński, Ostatnia szarża Don Juana, in Polish.
  6. ↑ The Flytrap Factory.
  7. ↑ Breathless (Bezdech.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 About Łódź: A bad city?. Andrzej Bart's documentaries (In Polish).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Radegast.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Boulevard Voltaire, IMDB.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 2011 Sopot Festival (in Polish).
  12. ↑ "Pan i sługa/Master and Servant (in Polish)". Polskieradio.pl. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  13. ↑ "Bezdech/Breathless (in Polish)". Polskieradio.pl. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  14. ↑ pl:Dwa Teatry.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Sopot Festival (in Polish).
  16. ↑ .
  17. ↑ About Łódź: A bad city?. Andrzej Bart's documentaries (in Polish).
  18. ↑ Kościelski Award 1991 Kościelski Literary Award.
  19. ↑ 2010 Annual Award of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (in Polish).
  20. ↑ 2010 Polish TV Award TeleSplendor (in Polish).
  21. ↑ Samuel Linde Award(in German).
  22. ↑ II Festival Brasil de Cinema (Actor in a Leading Role).

External links