Marek Kondrat can be considered a legend of Polish cinema. He was only 10 years old when he appeared in front of the camera for the first time in “The History of the Yellow Shoe” (1961). Apparently all the men in his family were also actors, so it was obvious that he would try to follow that path himself.
In later years, the actor created unforgettable, multi-dimensional characters in films such as “Enchanted Areas” (1975), “Dogs” (1992), “Colonel Kwiatkowski” (1995), “Father’s Law” (1999), “Groundhog Day” (2002) or “We are all Christs” (2006).
During the 21st Extraordinary Film and Meetings Festival in Sandomierz, viewers could take part in many meetings with creators. The event culminated in a ceremonial presentation of awards. Among those distinguished were Marek Koterski (who received the Sandomierz Crown for the Extraordinary Director) and Marek Kondrat, with whom Koterski had once willingly collaborated. The actor who played Adaś Miauczyński in “Dzień świra” received the award for the Extraordinary Actor, known as the Stone of Optimism, during the festival.
In an interview with Dorota Wysocka in the program “Rozmowy niesymetrie”, Kondrat confessed why he has not appeared on screens for a dozen or so years and why he does not plan to return.
“We were still in an era in which art had some mission. (…) Today it is entertainment and everything is fine. Anyway, since the change of the system and since the moment when money started to mean something, it’s all art, I’m talking mainly about a film that requires investing a lot of money to later get it back from the audience, this is already the capitalist version” – he said in the program.
As we know, the actor devoted his free time to developing his own business – today he is one of the biggest names in the Polish wine industry, and his company is known to people from all over Europe.
In one of the last interviews, which we can read in the book by Jolanta Kwaśniewska and Jakub B. Bączek “The Same. Honestly about Loneliness”, the actor opened up about his love relationship with Antonina Turnau. He considers it unfair that he and his wife, who is 38 years younger than him, heard so many hurtful and disapproving words from their surroundings. The couple maintains a happy relationship to this day.
“Usually, a marriage with a large age difference is associated with business, necessity, or convenience… More stereotypes… And these are already very cliched and typical, and typicality is not close to me. My life is not typical” – He admitted.
Kondrat also touched upon the topic of loneliness, which is included in the title of the book:
“It is an astonishing aspect of our human nature that man fears loneliness, and yet very often condemns himself to it.”
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