Paweł Hejbudzki was born in 1980, in Toruń. He is a graduate of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM) and the Department of Film Directing of the Warsaw Film School. He started his career in the arts working iat the UWM FM Student’s Radio Station in Olsztyn, during which time he directed and edited radio dramas. At the same time, he was also involved in editing experimental films.
He gained popularity among the community of independent filmmakers when he made Stan Umysłu, a short documentary, in 2006. The protagonists in the film are Irena and Jan Grabowscy, grandparents of the film Director. In the film, Hejbudzki recorded both the bad and joyful moments in their relationship.
In the same year, Hajbudzki made his second short documentary entitled Opłaciłam Ducha Świętego za darmo, in which he once again focused on his family, this time showing the everyday life of his retired aunt, who suffered from schizophrenia, and lived with her son in a small apartment, in a block of flats.
It took two years for Hejbudzki to make his next documentary, in 2008. That year, he released Robin bezpańskich psów, the film made in Thessaloniki, Greece. The protagonist in the film is a Greek, Jimmi Samaras, 78, who once worked with great cinema stars from Hollywood. It the autumn of his life; he started helping stray dogs in Greece, just like Robin Hood helped the people. In 2013, Hejbudzki made the controversial documentary entitled Jestem Polakiem, in which he looked at the March of Independence from the inside.
So far, his greatest film success has been the short fiction entitled Charon, made in 2015, as a school project for the Warsaw Film School. The film discusses the serious subject of the moral aspects of abortion.
Selected filmography
- 2006 – „Stan umysłu”
- 2011 – „Reszta jest milczeniem”
- 2012 – „Edmond”
- 2013 – „Kołysanka”
- 2013 – „Jestem Polakiem”
- 2015 – „Charon”
Selected awards
The Gdynia Film Festival – The Lucjan Bokiniec Award for the Best Film in the Young Cinema competition; the Summer Film Festival in Zamość – an award for Best Film; the Grand Prix in the “Dolina Kreatywna TVP” project and the “Silver Lock” Award at the film festival in Poznań. The Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles – an award for Adam Bobik for his role in Charon, and the Piotr Łazarkiewicz Award for a Young Talent, and nomination for the Jan Machulski Award of the Polish Independent Cinema.
