Maciej Bochniak

Maciek Bochniak (born in 1984) is a Polish film director and screenwriter, and a graduate of the Screenwriting Faculty at the Polish National Film School in Lodz as well as the Directing Department at the University of Silesia in Katowice. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Poland and one of the most dynamic voices in contemporary Polish cinema. Bochniak made his directorial debut in 2009 with the short documentary The Reception (2011), produced as part of the "First Documentary" program at Munk Studio. He gained wider recognition with his short feature The Room, which won multiple awards, including Best Independent Film at the 37th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, and was named one of the Top 10 Polish films of 2012 by Dziennik Polski. His feature debut Disco Polo became a box office hit, attracting nearly 900,000 viewers in less than six weeks. For this film, Bochniak received the Janusz "Kuba" Morgenstern "Perspective" Award for the most promising debut. He is also the director of several acclaimed documentaries, including One Billion Happy People (HBO), exploring the Chinese adventure of the Polish band Bayer Full, and Ethiopiques - Revolt of the Soul (HBO), which premiered at IDFA and tells the forgotten story of Ethiopian jazz musicians during the reign of Haile Selassie. His second feature film Magnesia, a visually striking genre hybrid, won the Golden Claw Award at the 45th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia. Maciek's latest feature, Freestyle (Netflix), achieved international popularity, entering the Top 10 in over 20 countries, and was featured in the Main Competition at the 48th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia. Bochniak has directed hit TV series such as Belfer (Canal+), Diagnosis (TVN), and The Office PL, whose fifth season is set to premiere this fall on Canal+.