Maria_i_Bogdan_Kalinowscy_na_dworcu_Poznań_Główny

Maria_i_Bogdan_Kalinowscy,_Stary_Browar,_Poznan

Maria Makowska-Kalinowska (1945 – 14 November 2020) and Bogdan Kalinowski (1939 – 9 November 2017) were a married couple from

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

, Poland, known as the most avid filmgoers in Poland. They watched films in cinemas of Poznań regularly from 1973 on. In 2010 alone they watched 563 films. Altogether, between 1973 and 2010 they had viewed over 11,000 films together; by mid-2015 the total exceeded 13,000.

Biography

The couple met in 1973 during a library course. They married 13 years later, in 1986. Both spent most of their lives working in school libraries in Poznań before retiring. As the couple had to leave the flat they occupied, in 2010 they received a small flat above the Muza cinema from the city of Poznań. The refurbishment of the flat was financed through public fundraising and through not-for-profit screenings of various films in the Muza cinema. The first film they watched together was ''

King, Queen, Knave ''King, Queen, Knave'' was the second novel written by Vladimir Nabokov (under his pen name V. Sirin) while living in Berlin and sojourning at resorts in the Baltic. Written in the years 1927–8, it was published as ''Король, дама, � ...

'' by

Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wykol' ...

in April 1973. For Maria it was the 1,798th film in her moviegoers' career: the first she noted in her notebook was a Soviet comedy ''

A Girl with Guitar ''A Girl with Guitar'' (russian: Девушка с гитарой) is 1958 Soviet musical comedy film directed by Alexander Feinzimmer. After the success of the film ''Carnival Night'' starring Lyudmila Gurchenko the script of the film ''A Gir ...

'' from 1958. Bogdan started to keep a record of films watched. In 2008 they recorded their 10,000th entry; after the movie finished, the cinema held a small ceremony to commemorate this event. Bogdan died in November 2017; Maria died in November 2020.

Recognition

The couple's passion for movies was a subject of numerous documentary films, including ''Rekord absolutny'' ("Absolute Record",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

) and ''Jeden dzień bliżej kina'' ("One Day Closer to the Cinema",

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

). In 2006, to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: *Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, a ...

' invention, the mayor of Poznań,

Ryszard Grobelny Ryszard Grobelny (born 17 April 1963 in Poznań) is a Polish politician and economist, who was the Mayor of Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland from 1998 to 2014). Life and career He attended primary school no. 71 with a sporting profile ...

sent the Kalinowskis a congratulatory letter. In 2008 they received a special prize at the Prowincjonalia film festival. They were honored guests at numerous Polish film festivals, and received free passes for many Polish cinemas.

Biography

Recognition

See also