Akademik

(Studio Filmowe Tor)

   One of the most distinguished film producers in Poland. Founded in 1967 as a film unit (a film studio since 1989), Tor was originally managed by one of the most respected Polish School directors, Stanisław Różewicz, and drew a number of prominent directors such as Andrzej Wajda (who later headed his own film unit X), Janusz Majewski, and Krzysztof Zanussi — Tor's manager since 1979. The studio produced more than ninety feature films and several television films. The studio produced the majority of films directed by Zanussi and all the films directed by Różewicz since 1968. Its list of distinguished directors is extensive and includes Krzysztof Kieślowski, whose best-known works since Personnel (1975) were produced (or coproduced) by Tor, and Wojciech Marczewski, who made all his films there. Other directors include Janusz Majewski, Edward Żebrowski, Antoni Krauze, and Filip Bajon. The studio's list of notable films is equally impressive and includes several winners of the Festival of Polish Films, such as Camouflage (1977), Passion (1978, Różewicz), Camera Buff (1979), The Woman in the Hat (1985, Różewicz), A Short Film about Killing and A Short Film about Love (1988, Kieślowski), Escape from the "Freedom" Cinema (1990, Marczewski), The Sequence of Feelings (1993, Radosław Piwowarski), Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000, Zanussi), and The Welts (Pręgi, 2004, Magdalena Piekorz). The studio won several international film festivals for a number of films, including Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy (1993-1994) and Zanussi's Year of the Quiet Sun (1985).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof