Sylwester Checinski

Sylwester Chęciński was a Polish film and television director and screenwriter, known mainly for his comedies such as Sami swoi and Rozmowy kontrolowane. He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2021). He graduated from the Directing Department of the State Film School in Łódź in 1956. He made his debut with the youth film Historia żółtej ciżemki (1961), which featured Marek Kondrat for the first time on screen. He achieved artistic success with the unique folk comedy Sami swoi (1967), which depicted the mutual quarrels between two Zabużańskie families on the Recovered Territories: Pawlaks and Karguls. He returned to their fate in the following comedies Nie ma mocnych (1974) and Kochaj albo rzuć (1977). In the meantime, he also made genre films, such as crime films (Tylko umarły odpowie, 1969), war films (Legenda, 1970), adventure films (Diament radży, 1971) and social films (the series Droga, 1973; Roman i Magda, 1978). After the comedy Bo oszalałem dla niej (1980) he became famous for the acclaimed thriller Wielki Szu (1982), with Jan Nowicki as an aging hustler who returns to the profession after leaving prison. Wielki Szu earned him the Golden Duck for the best film. After the political transformation in Poland, he directed the comedy Rozmowy kontrolowane (1991), based on the script by Stanisław Tym, the second part of the trilogy about Ryszard Ochódzki (Tym), a typical Polish communist apparatchik who adapts well to any political reality. He received the Platinum Lions for lifetime achievement at the 39th Gdynia Film Festival (2014) and the Polish Academy Life Achievement Award (2017). He died in Wrocław on 8 December 2021, at the age of 91.