Witold Sobocinski


Director Of Photography

About

Birth Place
Poland
Born
October 15, 1929

Biography

This leading Polish cinematographer has worked repeatedly with such distinguished directors as Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polanski. Witold Sobocinski trained as a cameraman at the Lodz Film School, graduating in 1956. Even before his graduation, he was working as a lighting director and camera operator with Lodz TV, and, from 1959-1964, he worked at Czo...

Biography

This leading Polish cinematographer has worked repeatedly with such distinguished directors as Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polanski. Witold Sobocinski trained as a cameraman at the Lodz Film School, graduating in 1956. Even before his graduation, he was working as a lighting director and camera operator with Lodz TV, and, from 1959-1964, he worked at Czolowka Film Studios. By 1962, he was a director of photography on feature films, although it was not until Jerzy Skolimowski's "Recy do Gory/Hands Up!" (1967) that Sobocinski headed down the path of cinematography full time. He has often handled period pieces with great vibrancy. Sobocinski worked with Skolimowski again on "The Adventures of Gerard" (1970), a visually stunning, bustling spoof of the Napoleon era, and on "Torrents of Spring" (1989), an adaptation of an Ivan Turgenev story, that was full of yellow palettes. Sobocinski shared credit on Andrzej Wajda's "Ziemia Obiecana/Land of Promise" (1975), which earned an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign-Language Film.

Sobocinski graduated from the Lodz school a few years before Roman Polanski, but the two filmmakers had become acquainted. It was not until "Pirates" (1986), however, that they worked together. Robust in its look, the film was made in the Panavision wide-screen process and was a visual treat. Sobocinski worked with Polanski again two years later on "Frantic" (1988), which seemed almost a new direction for the cameraman with its very controlled, almost taut look and feel. More recently, Sobocinski was DP on "Bronsteins Kinder/Bronstein's Children" (1991), in which warm light bathes a tormented Jewish family in post-war Germany.

Sobocinski is also known in Poland as a jazz musician and the drummer for the country's first jazz band, Melomani. He has taught at the Lodz film school and was the father of the late cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski.

Life Events

1959

Worked at Czolowka Film Studios as assistant cameraman, then cameraman on documentary films

1962

First feature as cinematographer

1967

First worked with director Jerzy Skolimowski on "Rece do Gory/Hands Up!"

1967

First screen collaboration with Andrzej Wajda, "Everything for Sale/Wszystko Na Sprezedaz"

1971

Shot Krzystof Zanussi's "Zycie Rodzinne/Family Cycle"

1975

Was one of the directors of photography on Wajda's Oscar-nominated "Ziemia Obiecana/Land of Promise"

1986

Worked with long-time acquaintance Roman Polanski on "Pirates"

1988

Reteamed with Polanski on "Frantic"

1991

Was director of photography on "Bronsteins Kinder/Bronstein's Children"

Family

Piotr Sobocinski
Son
Director of photography. Born on February 3, 1958; died at age 43 on March 26, 2001.

Bibliography