Buda Family Archive

collection Buda Family Archive
authors Jacek Buda
starring Mirosław Bartoszewski; Teresa Bartoszewska; Jacek Buda; Katarzyna Buda; Zygmunt Buda; Teodora Chmielewska; Janusz Jarociński; Jolanta Jarocińska; Małgorzata Juszkiewicz; Natalia Juszkiewicz; Tomasz Juszkiewicz; Bogdan Sobol; Janina Sobol
length 17'30
country Poland
year 1980-1981
format 8 mm
color black and white
signature PAFD 0037 023
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.

The film was made before the All Saints’ Day at the end of October 1980 in Poznań and Sierpc by Jacek Buda. Jacek together with his father (Zygmunt Buda) and the husband of his sister (Teresa), Mirosław Bartoszewski, visit the graves of their relatives: Franciszka and Józef Buda (Jacek’s grandparents) and uncle Roman Humbel (the husband of another sister of Zygmunt, Pelagia). The next shot shows other family members standing at the grave: cousin (Małgorzata Juszkiewicz) with her son, Tomek, and her daughter, Natalia. A visit to the cousin’s house. Tomek, Natalia and Karolina, the youngest sister of Hania’s cousin, sit on the couch and watch a picture book, then play with toys. Adults play with children the “old bear sleeps heavily”, then sit on the couch and talk. The older woman visible in the scenes from the house is Zygmunt Buda’s sister, Teresa Bartoszewska. In the following shots, the family visits the graves of family members of Katarzyna, the film author’s mother. At the cemetery in Sierpc, the Buda family stands in front of the grave of the Stafisz family, where Katarzyna’s three-year-old brother, Józio, is buried, along with his father and his second wife, Łucja. By the grave, apart from Katarzyna, we can see her two sisters, Teodora (Tonia) Chmielewska and the youngest, Janina Sobol, with her husband (Bogdan) and their daughter (Jola Jarocińska) with her husband (Janusz). The sisters light candles, and Katarzyna marks the grave flowers with a marker pen in the hope that in this way she will protect them from a potential theft. The family walks by the Urszulewski Lake in Szczutów, where Jacek with his brother (Marek) and their cousin (Jola) often spent time as children.

(AT)

keywords Poland  Poznań  Sierpc  Szczutowo  Urszulewskie Lake  graves  cemetery  flowers  candles  family  family life  children  childhood  fun  toys  walk 
source of funding Polish Film Institute