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.

The film was made by Jacek Buda in 1990 and 1991. 

Part 1 

Irmina (Jacek’s wife), Piotr (Jacek and Irmina’s son) sail a boat on Zalew Zegrzyński reservoir. The Buda family is accompanied by Grażyna and Marek Zakrzewski (a married couple from Irmina’s high school class) and a friend, Nel. Piotr sits at the helm. Jacek, who films, falls into the water, but he manages to save the camera. Irmina hangs her husband’s wet clothes on shrouds. The family and friends roast sausages on a bonfire on the island of Eusebia. Shots of Piotr controlling the sailboat.

 Part 2 

The house in Warsaw’s Groty. Piotr plays with Magda on the swing and in the garden. The family sits at a table in the garden and drinks champagne, celebrating Piotr’s seventh birthday. Among the gathered guests, we can see pregnant Ania (Irmina’s sister) and her husband, Krzysztof.

Part 3

The celebration of Piotr’s birthday in the apartment of the Buda family. The birthday boy blows out the candles on the birthday cake. Almost the whole family is present at the event: Zygmunt and Katarzyna (Jacek’s parents), Marek (Jacek’s brother) with his children (Ania and Paweł), Janina and Bogdan Sobol (Katarzyna’s sister with her husband), Elżbieta (Irmina’s mother), Barbara (Elżbieta’s aunt) and Wiktor (brother of Elżbieta’s husband). Irmina and Piotr sit in the garden of a café in the Old Town. The woman drinks beer and the boy has ice cream. Scenes in the apartment: Piotr makes faces at the camera and plays with his birthday gifts – Lego bricks, skateboard and mechanical mammoth. A shot of Irmina in the kitchen cooking dinner.

 Part 4

Krynica Morska, a holiday resort for teachers (Marek, Jacek’s brother, was an academic teacher at the Faculty of Transport of the Warsaw University of Technology). Ania, Paweł and Piotr pump a raft on the terrace. As Jacek recalls, the raft was a very valuable asset. He managed to buy it from the Russians who came from Kaliningrad, taking advantage of the short period of visa-free travel. A shot of the faithful during an open-air mass in the church of St. Peter and Francis. We can see the altar in a fishing boat, and on a bench, among the faithful, Zygmunt with Piotr on his laps. Ania, Paweł and Piotr play by the boats in the fishing port. Marek’s youngest son, Michał, sleeps in a stroller. Children play on the beach, build sand castles, throw a boomerang and long jump. Michał piggybacks his father, Marek. The children with their grandfather, Zygmunt, and Jacek carry the raft to the beach (Marek films them). The family is in the raft in the sea. Later they spend time together and rest in a beach camp. Shots of children taking part in a drawing competition organized by the holiday resort and of Piotr dancing with one of the girls. The family roasts sausages in the fire at the construction site of the house of the Broniszewski family (Milan, Jola and their daughter, Beata), with whom they have known each other since childhood. The visit of Piotr, Paweł and Ania to the hairdresser. Ania leaves the salon with a “Makepeace” hairstyle, then very fashionable thanks to the series Dempsey and Makepeace. Daniel (the son of Jola, Jacek’s cousin) and Piotr sing by the fountain. As Jacek recalls, the song sung by Daniel was the song In the Saski Garden. Jacek with his uncle, Bogdan, and the children sails on the Vistula Lagoon in a rented yacht.

 Part 5

Irmina takes Piotr to his first day at school. The boy sits with Michał Miszczyk, with whom he will be friends even after graduation.

 Part 6

A board with the inscription “autumn 1991”. Piotr walks in the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw with Sylwia, with whom he went to kindergarten, and her friend. Children collect autumn leaves. In the background, we can see the monument to Chopin and the Palace on the Isle. 

Part 7

Christening of Michał, Ania and Krzysztof’s son (Irmina’s sister and her husband). Shots of guests present at the party at Elżbieta’s house in Warsaw’s Groty. Among the gathered guests, we can see Krzysztof’s parents, Mrs. Marysia (Michał’s nanny), Magda (Michał’s sister), Irmina and Piotr. The family poses for the camera with the baptized boy.

(AT)