Jan Holoubek

“In creating a film, I think solely of the viewer. I want to be honest with them. I desire to convey something and reach them, not deceive them”, declared Jan Holoubek in an interview with NaEkranie.pl.

He began his filmmaking career as a cinematographer. His first directorial effort was 18 years ago when he made the intimate documentary “Sun and Shade.” In a few months, the premiere of a grand spectacle will take place, in which Holoubek takes on the greatest tragedy of Polish passenger shipping, the sinking of the Heweliusz ferry. This is not the first time the director has tackled a topic inspired by a true story. He is behind the successes of such films as “25 Years of Innocence” and series like “High Water” and the “Rojst” trilogy.

According to a legend repeated by the media, at the age of twelve, he secretly borrowed his parents’ newly acquired video camera and declared that he saw his future in cinema. The son of legendary Polish actors Magdalena Zawadzka and Gustaw Holoubek, he graduated in 2001 from the Cinematography Department of the Łódź Film School. His work includes cinematography for the television theater play directed by his father, “King Oedipus.” He also worked as a camera operator on films by Juliusz Machulski, Krzysztof Zanussi, and Jerzy Stuhr. Familiarity with the specifics of various film professions greatly facilitates his directorial work, he would later tell “Newsweek”.

As a director, he made his debut with the documentary “Sun and Shade” (2007), a documentary portrait of his father, Gustaw Holoubek. As he mentioned in interviews, he undertook this film to deal with the expectations that the surroundings had of him due to his surname. “Two gentlemen, friends for at least forty years, walk along a forest path, conversing, lighting cigarettes. Konwicki mainly listens, nods, smiles, sometimes gently supports his hunched friend. Holoubek monologues. When he speaks, he gains strength,” described Tadeusz Sobolewski for “Gazeta Wyborcza.” “You see how it is? We used to talk about soccer, about girls, and now about ultimate matters.” “This is a strange period in our lives,” Konwicki nods in agreement.

The film was met with enthusiastic reception. “This is not about spying on an old actor but rather a conversation among three men. The third, invisible one is the son, the cameraman holding the camera,” reads Sobolewski’s review. “The film rejects sentimentality, focusing on form and distance, on the passion of helplessness, and old age, experienced in a masculine, conscious way, without becoming maudlin.”

“Man passes away,” said Gustaw Holoubek in the film, “and with him, his thoughts and imaginations fade. Only that which he has preserved in form, in word, in image, in sound remains. It remains and not only bears witness to the person who has passed but also develops and exists in its own time.”

In 2014, Jan Holoubek once again took on the role of director, creating a subversive mockumentary for TVP titled “Postcards from the Republic of Absurd.” In it, he presented an alternate version of history where, due to the failure of the Round Table and the transformation, communism still reigns in Poland.

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Anna Sundgren, a young Swedish director, arrives in Warsaw amidst celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Polish People’s Republic. Her intention is to produce a documentary film that reconstructs the reality of Poland, aiming to portray her contemporaries who endured life under communism. In the city adorned with propaganda posters, a plenary session of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) takes place. Plac Zbawiciela is decorated with a floral installation symbolizing the hammer and sickle, while towering above the city center stand two majestic Palaces of Culture.

The film depicts a Poland where omnipresent queues and physical education classes—masking gas masks on their heads—are the norm. In dining establishments, coffee costs 170,000 zł, while internet cafes feature the Chinese equivalent of Facebook in its Russian version, connecting citizens of Eastern Bloc countries within a digital network. Mobile phones are only available on ration cards. This is the Poland Anna encounters, assisted by Maria—who serves as her translator and guide through Warsaw—and Julia and Karol, who, regardless of the consequences, share with her their day-to-day existence.

The film was produced through a co-production between Telewizja Polska, the National Audiovisual Institute, and TVP2. Archival materials from Telewizja Polska S.A. were utilized, including footage of strikes in 1988 and the Round Table negotiations in 1989, alongside photographs by Chris Niedenthal.

A breakthrough and widespread recognition came for Holoubek four years later, with the debut season of the series “Rojst” (2018), which expanded into a trilogy, with subsequent seasons released in 2021 and 2024.

The series, co-created with Kasper Bajon, transports viewers to a fictional town in the “reclaimed lands” in the late 1980s. Two journalists—one young, one old (Dawid Ogrodnik and Andrzej Seweryn)—greet us with the tagline: “We welcome you into the Polish swamp,” as the promotional slogan for the series proclaimed. In an interview with Antyradio.pl, Holoubek explains: “The 1980s are both fascinating and the darkest of all the decades I’ve experienced. That’s why it seemed to me an ideal setting to embed a crime story—and indeed a very mysterious story—specifically into that period. These years were practically made for it.”

In “Rojst,” we follow two criminal storylines: one involves unraveling the mystery behind the suicide of two teenagers—Justyna (Nel Kaczmarek) and Karol (Jan Cięciara)—and the other revolves around the murder of a young prostitute and a local party official who controls a community sports club. “The period around 1985 has been vividly painted here with incredible attention to detail. There’s no room for compromise. Rojst is a remarkable postcard from those years. A postcard that is by no means faded. It’s a study of Poland on the brink of revolutionary socio-economic changes. It also offers a cross-section of different character types. You can see the school realities of those times: the music people listened to, objects of desire, school romances, affections, and antipathies. There’s the newsroom of the daily newspaper, where the typewriter tapping is synchronized with the rhythm of drinking liters of black coffee straight from a glass with a saucer,” reads Maciej Żółciński’s review for Filmweb. “An outstanding production distinguished by its intrigue, imagery, and sound. The performances are superb, with a palpable chemistry and naturalness among the actors. No one here is entirely who they seem to be, and following the intertwined storylines is simply captivating.”

The second season of the series, “Rojst ‘97,” is set against the backdrop of the “flood of the century,” which both literally and metaphorically uncovers forgotten crimes and family secrets. The waters reveal buried in the forest unidentified, ancient human remains, along with the body of a teenage boy, presumed to be an accidental victim of the flood. The investigation is led by Anna Jass (Magdalena Różczka)—a relentless cop from Warsaw—and local inspector Adam Mika (Łukasz Simlat). Meanwhile, Piotr Zarzycki (Dawid Ogrodnik) returns to the town to assume the role of the new editor-in-chief of “Kurier.” At the same time, Witold Wanycz (Andrzej Seweryn) appears to hold the answers to most of the police’s questions. However, his life is consumed by memories that refuse to let him find peace.

Michał Piepiórka, in his review for Filmweb, observes that, much like in the first part, the creators paid meticulous attention to authentic dialogue and detailed reconstruction of the era: “Innocent chauvinistic jokes, which we might now call boomer humor, frequent homosexual prejudices, and early-capitalist jargon—these elements perfectly complement the carefully crafted costumes, set design, and music.” Once again, critics emphasized the outstanding work Holoubek did with the actors.

The finale of the “Rojst Millennium” trilogy (2024) is set across two periods: the end of 1999 and the 1960s, when the characters were young. It begins with a mysterious discovery made by archaeologists near the town at the end of the millennium. It turns out to be an artifact from a distant past that will intertwine the fates of the characters. Not only those we already know, as news of the find brings Jassijej (played by Janusz Gajos) and a young Jassijej (Tomasz Schuchardt) to the town.

Gradually, we uncover the connections between what transpired in ancient times and the present day. “You can feel this impending change in date everywhere in the series,” notes Jacek Słowik from Onet.pl, highlighting that the creators “frequently reward us with easter eggs from the bygone era. A major asset is the superb, expansive gallery of characters: Łukasz Simlat steals the show. Filip Pławiak also deserves mention for his portrayal of the young hotel manager,” states Onet.pl.

The “Rojst” series has become a pop culture phenomena, with critics universally describing it as a “chronicle of Poland’s transformative era” and a “collective portrait of the nation’s anxiety.”

In 2020, Holoubek directed his first feature film, instantly captivating audiences and making a strong impact on the big screen. “25 Years of Innocence: The Case of Tomasz Komenda” (2020), scripted by Andrzej Gołaś, tells the story of a man wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit, serving 25 years in prison.

The film combines documentary-style reconstruction with a family drama. Holoubek emphasizes that his goal was not only to restore justice for the protagonist but also to treat the story as a warning against injustice. This was no easy task, as the narrative of Tomasz Komenda’s fate was widely known across Poland. On New Year’s Eve 1996/97, in Miłoszyce near Wrocław, a teenage girl was raped and murdered. The media erupted with outrage, and public opinion demanded the capture of the perpetrator and justice for the victim. To meet societal expectations, the police arrested Tomasz Komenda, a young man with no higher education, no steady job, and insufficient funds for a good defense. Despite witnesses testifying in his favor and evidence showing he was elsewhere at the time of the murder, law enforcement officials initially coerced him into confessing with force, fabricated evidence, and ultimately sentenced an innocent man to prison.

Despite the complex challenge of telling a story about which almost every viewer held their own opinion, the creators executed it superbly. The film received numerous awards, including at festivals in Gdynia and Koszalin, and earned Piotr Trojan a prize for the best male role alongside Holoubek’s nomination for the “Polityka” Passport (which he would win two years later for “High Water”). “This film brings a sense of purification. Everything is rooted in emotion— the feelings of the characters that Holoubek fills the screen with,” wrote Bartosz Staszczyszyn for culture.pl. It was also a significant commercial success, drawing in 700,000 viewers to cinemas.

Another production directed by Holoubek also centered on a story that resonated throughout Poland. “High Water” (2022), co-directed with Bartłomiej Ignaciuk and scripted by Kasper Bajon and Kinga Krzemińska, is a drama inspired by the devastating flood in Wrocław in 1997.

In the office of the Lower Silesian Voivode, a meeting is underway ahead of the papal pilgrimage. Officials are preoccupied with the routes of the papamobile and dismiss a fax from J. Tremer analyzing the flood threat to Wrocław. A week later, we meet the author of the warning—Jasmina Tremer (Agnieszka Żulewska), a hydrologist living on the Vistula Spit. Her measurements indicate an impending disaster.

Disrupted into the crisis management headquarters by the local politician Jakub Marczak (Tomasz Schuchardt), the scientist is compelled to confront not only the impending catastrophe and panic sweeping through the city but also the past she left behind within it. The series was a hit on Netflix across 78 countries. According to data shared by the platform, it attracted over 10 million viewers in its first week of release.

“High Water becomes more immersive with each episode. The grandeur does not overshadow the story. In July 1997, Wrocław was struck by a millennium flood. Around 40% of the city’s surface was inundated, and 2,583 residential buildings were damaged or submerged. With just a few clicks, we can access archival footage from that time, witness testimonies, and even entire reports dedicated to this tragedy. Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk had a wealth of sources to draw from, allowing them to reconstruct the realities of that period as accurately as possible. However, the strength of ‘High Water’ is not in strictly adhering to encyclopedic notes — for detailed facts, it’s better to consult the aforementioned materials. Thanks to the directors, viewers can truly feel the story as they accompany characters who must navigate it,” wrote Maciej Wernio for Noizz.pl.

A reunion with the big screen and screenwriter Andrzej Gołaś came with “Doppelganger. The Double” (2024), a film inspired by stories of PRL secret agents who stole others’ identities, forging false relationships to develop their espionage careers. The main character, Hans (Jakub Gierszał), appears in Strasbourg at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, infiltrating the life of the Steiner family as a long-lost son after being missing for thirty years. His story sounds convincing: shortly after the war, he was adopted in Poland and only recently learned the truth about himself. With his uncle’s protection, Hans finds a job at the European Parliament, falls in love, and builds a new, comfortable life in the “decaying” West. The harsh and oppressive image of the PRL now seems like a distant memory.

But it is precisely there and at the same time that Jan Bitner (Tomasz Schuchardt) from Gdańsk learns that as a child he was adopted, and that his biological parents were a Soviet officer and a German woman who was expelled from Poland after the war. From that moment on, Jan desperately attempts to unravel the mystery of his origins.

“It’s a story about an anti-hero — about an agent serving a wrong cause. I am interested in finding within him areas of potential goodness, as well as exploring the reasons why he became exactly who he became,” the director explained in an interview with NaEkranie.pl. “The plot, based only partially on facts, focuses on the psychological degradation of a person who loses sight of their true self. There must be consequences to a game in which someone pretends to be someone they’re not.”

In “Doppelganger,” Holoubek does not follow the path of a typical American espionage thriller like “Mission: Impossible”; instead, he focuses on the internal tension of the characters, crafting a film about the quest for one’s true self, shared by both Hans and Jan.

This November, Netflix will premiere Holoubek’s latest series — “Heweliusz,” a project that brought together the team from “High Water”: Kasper Bajon (screenwriter) and Anna Kępińska (producer). “It is a story about a maritime tragedy and the fight for memory and justice,” the creators announce.

The series is inspired by the greatest catastrophe in the history of post-war civilian shipping in Poland. In January 1993, during a fierce storm in the Baltic Sea, the ferry Jan Heweliusz sank, claiming the lives of 36 passengers and 20 crew members. Only nine people survived the disaster. Its causes remain ambiguous to this day, and the questions raised after the tragedy will be revisited in this five-episode series.

“Heweliusz” is promoted as a blend of courtroom drama and disaster series. The stories of the main characters are set against the backdrop of a collapsing state system following the fall of the Polish People’s Republic. The authorities attempt to place full responsibility for the tragedy on captain Andrzej Ułasiewicz and the ferry crew. In the Maritime Court, a battle unfolds among widows fighting for the truth, justice, and the memory of the deceased. “Heweliusz features meticulous formal precision, but also deep emotional intensity. It is a story that is, on one hand, catastrophic — happening amidst a deadly natural force — and, on the other, incredibly human. We tell a story about tragedy and loneliness. And about dignity, which, despite everything, is preserved,” explains Jan Holoubek.

Beyond the family of captain Andrzej Ułasiewicz, whose names and identities have been retained with the consent of the relatives, other characters have been created by the producers — embodying various attitudes and experiences, with some tailored specifically for the series’ narrative. The cast, alongside Borys Szyc (playing Captain Ułasiewicz), includes Magdalena Różczka, Michał Żurawski, Konrad Eleryk, Justyna Wasilewska, Andrzej Konopka, Jacek Koman, and Tomasz Schuchardt.

Jan Holoubek’s upcoming projects are linked to the TVN Warner Bros. Discovery group. Filming has just begun on a fact-based series, whose “plot revolves around one of the most notorious criminal cases in Polish history,” according to a press statement from the broadcaster. Holoubek also plans a feature film with Warner—”Wild Wild East.” Its main cast will include Itay Tiran, Robert Więckiewicz, Piotr Trojan, Jan Błow, and Jacek Beller. “The production will transport viewers to Poland in 1943 — a time of everyday tragedy for the Jews,” the producer reveals.