Camera Buff

Original title: Amator

1979
A
1h 52m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

8.7K

YOUR RATING

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

Parody Political Drama Satire Workplace Drama 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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

8.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 6 wins total

Videos1

Trailer 2:31

Trailer

Photos140

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9:57

Storyline

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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: [looking at a roll of motion picture film] It's beautiful what you guys do. A person's no longer alive, yet she's still here. It's beautiful.

Connections
Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: A lengyel film (1990)

Soundtracks
Walc e-moll
by Frédéric Chopin
Performed by Krystian Zimmermann

User reviews30

Featured review

8/10

The World Outside The Frame

Jerzy Stuhr buys an 8mm film camera to film his newborn daughter. The manager of the plant he works at hears about it, and tells him to shoot a film about the plant's 25th anniversary. Stuhr figures out the basics of editing, but the director suggests changes he doesn't like. Ignoring this, he takes the film to an amateur festival and wins a prize. As his obsession with film grows, his wife, Malgorzata Zabkowska, suffers postpartum depression, exacerbated by the realization that the things he had once wanted -- her, a daughter, a quiet life -- are no longer his goals.

Krzysztof Kieslowski's third feature is a meditation on the power of film and the inability of a finite work of art to accurately reflect the infinite world, or even the myriad complications of a small town. As Stuhr's skills and connections grow, he comes to see everything through an imaginary camera lens, not seeing anything outside his self-imposed frame. Beautifully shot by five cameramen, dialogue by Stuhr, make this a fine journey of self-discovery.