Buda Family Archive

collection Buda Family Archive
authors Jacek Buda
starring Irmina Buda; Katarzyna Buda; Piotr Buda; Marek Buda; Zygmunt Buda
length 23'06
country Poland
year 1984
format 8 mm
color black and white; color
signature PAFD 0037 042
description

Zygmunt Buda was born in Poznań in 1924 and was interested in photography since his childhood. From 1941, he worked in the Poznań photographic company Foto-Stewner, founded by Ernest Stewner. After the end of the war, he worked as a photographer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from which, in the 50s, he was dismissed for political incorrectness. From the 60s, he worked in the Film Services Department at the corner of Marszałkowska and Krucza streets in Warsaw. Zygmunt recorded films with a business camera with a 16-millimeter tape and a private SANYO camera with an 8-millimeter tape, which he received as a gift from a family living in the USA. His sons, Jacek and Marek, as well as the next generations of the Buda family, also became enthusiasts of filming family life.

An account of the early childhood of Piotr, Irmina and Jacek Buda’s son.

 Part 1

The film begins with a board with the date “15 VII 84”. Jacek’s parents, Zygmunt and Katarzyna, walk with their grandson in a stroller on the graden plots in aleja Waszyngtona in Warsaw. The grandparents take turns with the boy’s parents playing with him on the playground. Scenes at home. Piotr sits on the potty, then his mother bathes him in the bath.

 Part 2 

A board with the date “31 VII 84”. The family celebrates Piotr’s first birthday. The boy chooses a coin from three things lying on the table as part of a fortune telling for his first birthday. As his dad Jacek Buda recalls: “firstly, he reached for a coin, then for a book, he didn’t make it to get a glass”. Irmina takes the glass from the table and moves a cake with one candle towards the boy. Shots of guests sitting at the table. There’s Ania (Irmina’s sister), Elżbieta and Franciszek (Irmina’s parents), Barbara (Elżbieta’s aunt), Marek (Jacek’s brother), Zygmunt and Katarzyna (Jacek’s parents) and Jasia (Katarzyna’s sister).

 Part 4 

A board with the date “16 VIII 84”. Piotr plays in the apartment with his nanny, Mrs. Renata from Zgorzelec.

 Part 5 

A board with the date “15 IX 84”. A family walk at Warsaw’s Old Town. Piotr walks with his mother by the hand and piggybacks his dad.

 Part 6

A board with the date “30 IX 84”. Scenes in the apartment: Piotr learns to use the potty, bathes in the bath, plays with a mechanical frog.

(AT)

keywords Poland  Warsaw  Old Town  New Town Square  playground  swing  carousel  stroller  walk  child  family  family life  birthday  cake  candles  bath  potty  fortune telling  coin  book  glass  toys 
source of funding Polish Film Institute