About the film

The film tells about the life and art of Jacek Kaczmarski, a poet and a singer, often called the bard of Solidarity, despite his objections. His lyrics, full of allusions and hints to the political and social reality, shaped the views and sensibility of two generations. His lirycal poetry, seen mostly as protest songs, distributed in so called underground circulation and associated with the first Solidarity movement and the marshall law period, transcends the stereotype of anti-comunist opposition and embodies universal, always up-to-date truths. Kaczmarski writes and sings about the complexities of human nature and historical paradoxes. Kaczmarski himself was an ambiguous figure, full of contradictions, and such people usually fascinate the most. Even during his life he was called Master. His closest friends say he had many faces, and the real one was hidden behind different masks. On one hand, he was charismatic, capturing crowds, open and cordial. On the other self-concentrated, passion-torn, a difficult partner neglecting his family. These two so different portraits emerge from conversations with those related to Jacek Kaczmarski.

“Bard” is an attempt of reconstruction of an objective, complex and true portrait of the outstanding bard. And also an attempt of answering a few questons: to what extend was Kaczmarski shaped by his epoch? How did life experiences change him as a person? What was and is today the phenomenon of Jacek Kaczmarski as an artist?