Buda Family Archive

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.
Part 1
Film shot in July 1987 in the flat of Zygmunt and Katarzyna at Puławska Street in Warsaw. The Bud family celebrates the fourth birthday of Piotrek – son of Jacek and Irmina. The birthday boy blows out the candles on his birthday cake. Next to Piotr at the table there are Ania and Paweł (Marek and Romana’s children) and Daniel (Jola’s cousin’s son), Jacek and Romana can also be seen at the back. 
Part 2 
Autumn 1987. Jacek, Irmina and Piotrek are walking in the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw. The boy is feeding squirrels and watching peacocks walking in the park. 
Piotrek is playing in the flat with Anna, Paweł and Daniel while visiting the Jarociński family. 
Part 3
Winter 1987. The Bud family spends Christmas in Zygmunt and Katarzyna’s flat. Piotrek shows Father Christmas that he knows how to say goodbye and recite a bead. The boy unwraps presents together with his mother. 
Part 4
An account of a trip to a holiday home of the State Forests “Lubuszanin” in Sosnówka near Karpacz in winter 1988. Piotrek plays in the snow and later learns to ski under the supervision of his dad and grandfather. During Piotrek and Jacek’s stay in the mountains, Irmina was in Warsaw preparing for her specialisation exam in paediatrics. 
Part 5
Spring 1988. The family spends time with Irmina’s parents in the Warsaw`s Groty. Piotrek looks into the deep pram in which Magda (daughter of Irmina’s sister, Ania) is lying. The boy is playing at a nearby pond, fishing and picking flowering dandelions.
Part 6
Summer 1988. During a holiday trip to Krynica Morska, the Buds celebrate Piotrek’s fifth birthday. The birthday boy, accompanied by Ania and Paweł, blows out the candles on the birthday cake. 
Part 7
The Bud family spend time at the plot of Irmina’s friends from work – doctor Beata Kmiotek and her husband. Piotrek is playing with Beata’s sons, and the adults are shooting with an air rifle. 
Part 8
Autumn 1988. Irmina, Piotrek, Ania, Krzysztof and little Magda are sitting in the garden of a café, probably in the Royal Baths Park. 
Part 9
Winter 1988. The Bud family spends Christmas in Jacek and Irmina’s flat on Świętosławska Street in Warsaw’s Grochów district. Piotrek and Magda get presents from Father Christmas. The next Christmas Irmina, Jacek and Piotrek spend at Zygmunt and Katarzyna’s place. Uncle Bogdan Sobol takes the place of Santa Claus and asks the children to show him if they can cross themselves. Anna, Paul, Peter and Daniel receive presents from Santa’s envoy and unwrap them immediately. After seeing the gifts, the children play and dance. 

(AT)