Paweł Wendorff is a film director, cinematographer, and producer. He was born on 19th September 1965, in Włocławek. In 1990, he graduated from the Department of Photography & Television Production at the Lodz Film School.
Paweł Wendorff started his professional career as a cinematographer. In 1990, he participated in the filming of the full-length début film Seszele/Seychelles from Bogusław Linda.
Over the years, he was involved in making both feature films, such as Czarne słońca (1992) or Mało upalne lato (2004), and numerous documentaries, for example Tata Kazika (1993) or Obrazy z fabryki śmierci (2010).
In cooperation with Jacek Suchecki, he created the documentary film Szaman Eteru (2000), dedicated to Piotr Kaczkowski, popular Polish radio presenter of rock music, who worked for Radio Trójka for many long years. Four years later, he directed Tajemnica kwiatu paproci/The Secret of Fern Flower (2004), his first animated film.
His directing début was Szaleńcy/Madmen, a funny story about a young couple, who escaped from a psychiatric hospital. The film had its première at the Gdynia Film Festival, in 2004, in the Independent Film Competition. It took three years to release the film in cinemas, which finally happened in 2007. In Szaleńcy/Madmen, we can see Andrzej Nejman, a popular film actor, and Jacek Barciak.
In 2010, Paweł Wendorff released his successive film, namely the comedy Nie ten człowiek/Odd One Out, featuring an all-star cast. The film features performances by Piotr Adamczyk, Jan Frycz, Jacek Braciak, and Kinga Preis, to name just a few. It is a black and white film focusing on Kuba, a 30-year-old man, who decides to find his first ever job.
The latest release from the film director was Zajęcia rekreacyjne/Recreational Activities (2019), in which we see an employee of a zoological garden and a car mechanic, who spend time talking to each other, which helps them drift away from the mundane reality and ponder on different things. The main characters in the film are played by Roman Gancarczyk and Bartosz Turzyński.
Selected Filmography
As a film director:
- 2000 – “Szaman Eteru”
- 2004 – “Tajemnica kwiatu paproci”/”The Secret of Fern Flower”
- 2007 – “Szaleńcy”/”Madmen”
- 2010 – “Nie ten człowiek”/”Odd One Out”
- 2019 – “Zajęcia rekreacyjne”/”Recreational Activities”
As a cinematographer:
- 1990 – “Seszele”/”Seychelles”, dir. by Bogusław Linda
- 1992 – “Czarne słońca”, dir. by Jerzy Zalewski
- 1993 – “Tata Kazika”, dir. by Jerzy Zalewski
- 1994 – “Czas Komedy”, dir. by Robert Kaczmarek, Mariusz Kalinowski
- 1995 – “Gnoje”/”The Whipsters”, dir. by Jerzy Zalewski
- 2002 – “Kobieta z papugą na ramieniu”, dir. by Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
- 2003 – “Siedem przystanków na drodze do raju”, dir. by Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
- 2004 – “Mało upalne lato”, dir. by Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
- 2004-2006 – “Pensjonat pod Różą” (TV series)
- 2010 – “Belcanto”, dir. by Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
- 2010 – “Obrazy z fabryki śmierci”, dir. by Małgorzata Imielska
Selected Awards
International Children’s Film Festival in Lucknow – main prize for Gabriel; Children’s Film Festival in Cracow – award for the best full-length film Gabriel; Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival – special mention for Nie ten człowiek/Odd One Out; Pumelo International Film Festival – award for best script; Long Island International Film Expo – award for best foreign full-length film for Nie ten człowiek/Odd One Out; CineRockom International Film Festival – Gold Award in the full length category for Gabriel; Ogólnopolski Festiwal Filmów Komediowych (The All-Poland Festival of Comedy Films) in Lubomierz – the Brown Grenade Award for Nie ten człowiek/Odd One Out; The International Documentary Film Festival OFF CINEMA in Poznań – the Silver Castle Award for Siedem przystanków na drodze do raju; The International Documentary Film Festival OFF CINEMA in Poznań – the Silver Castle Award for Kobieta z papugą na ramieniu; Gdynia Film Festival – Grand Prix of the Independent Film Section for Kobieta z papugą na ramieniu.
