Jan Komasa was born in 1981 in Poznań, Poland. His father, Wiesław Komasa, is a theatre actor[1] and professor at National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw.[2] His mother is a singer and music producer who worked for a television channel. His brother is a bass-baritone singer,[1]Szymon Komasa.[3]
Komasa was raised in Warsaw, where his family moved in 1988.[1]
In the upcoming years he focused on directing music videos, commercials with the exception of full-length documentary film The Flow (2007) which premiered at Kraków Film Festival and television film Wroclaw's Golgotha (2008) which won lead actor's award at Monte-Carlo Television Festival along with Grand Prix and 5 other awards at Polish Radio and Television Dramatic Art “Two Theatres” Festival.
He created a concept of a unique full-length documentary he directed - Warsaw Uprising (2014) which was a critical and box office success with 700.000 viewers in Polish cinemas. The film received very good reviews from Los Angeles Times (“Warsaw Uprising” is not only a unique, remarkably assembled documentary-narrative hybrid but also a powerful look at the personal and public devastation that can occur during wartime. Movies rarely feel as authentic as this”[12]) to Village Voice (Despite its context in a global conflict, “Uprising” is a strangely intimate film.[13]) to Times of Israel(…a mesmerizing account of the fierce house-to-house fighting against the German.[14]) Warsaw Uprising was awarded with Golden Reel Award 2015 for Best Documentary[15] and Polish Film Award for Best Documentary and Best Sound Design.[citation needed]
His biggest box office success came with a blockbuster he wrote and directed - an epic period film Warsaw 44 (2014). He wrote the script in January 2006 and the film took 8 years to produce. Warsaw 44 depicts a tragic story of young people fighting in Warsaw Uprising. The film premiered at Busan Film Festival,[16] won Golden Lions for Best Actress, Best Sound, Best Special Effects at Gdynia Film Festival, received Polish Film Awards for Discovery of the Year, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Film award at China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers FF and was followed by 1.800.000 admissions to Polish cinemas and a worldwide distribution.[citation needed]
In 2015 he directed second season of crime series Blood Of The Blood, a format based on Dutch series Penose starring Agata Kulesza.[citation needed]
2016 was a year in which Komasa switched from film set to a theater stage to create an epic contemporary dance multimedia show Ksenophony at Malta Festival Poznań to commemorate 60th anniversary of his hometown's Poznań protests of 1956.[17]
His film The Hater (2020) became one of the first movies disrupted by COVID-19 outbreak premiering on 6 March 2020 in Poland before the cinemas in the country were closed down 6 days later due to partial national lockdown administered by the Polish government. To mitigate inevitable losses and take advantage of still ongoing advertising campaign The Hater began being distributed on VOD platforms domestically on 18 March. The Hater was selected to International Main Competition at 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, which ultimately went online due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The film won Best International Narrative Feature[30][31] award and its world rights were acquired by Netflix.[32]
^autori, Giornate degli. "GdA Awards 2019". giornatedegliautori.com (in Italian). Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
