On 14 January 2014 Stanislaw Puls, known as Stani, passed away at the age of 84 years. He was buried in his home town of Bydgoszcz.

Our whole small world of film, with UNICA at the top, is very sad at the loss of one of its best, most loyal and longest-standing representative. Throughout his life, Stani was closely connected with our movie hobby, and with the Polish Association, which he co-founded in the fifties and remained a colleague ever since. Throughout his life, he worked in support of non-professional films, like no one else. He was an avid filmmaker himself and an internationally recognized juror at many competitions and festivals.

Stani showed unbounded love for UNICA, where he was on the committee for more than 35 years, including ten years as Vice President. No sacrifice, no effort was too much for him to participate in annual meetings and committee meetings. Within our ranks he always found attentive listeners, and we were all able to learn much from him, thanks to his wisdom, his culture and his intelligence. It is hard to believe that we met him for the last time at the Congress in Fieberbrunn, 2013. His death is scarcely believable.

Portrait of Stani Puls.Stani was always a man of action, conviction and selfless commitment. What's more he was an honorable man, a true gentleman. He never sought laurels or formal distinctions. Instead, his commitment to the good cause was for him a duty, which, once completed, was for him the source from which he derived his energy and satisfaction. Thus, it is essentially due to him that the UNICA Congress was held in his homeland four times: first in 1975 in Torun, then 1997 and 2003 in Warsaw, and most recently in 2009 in Gdansk .

Stani was a shining example, unfortunately we can no longer count on his wise advice.  He will linger for a long time in our memory, a renowned connoisseur and lover of our hobby. The example he set  us in life, like his work, will, however, be with us forever.

We would like to offer condolences to the Polish Association of non-professional film-makers, all film clubs and film friends from Poland and elsewhere for the bitter loss. To his family, especially his wife, Jaga, and his son, Dariusz, we extend our deepest sympathy .

May he now rest in peace.
One voice on behalf of all
Luxembourg,  January 2014.
Georges Fondeur.

Wolfgang Freier attended the funeral as a representative of UNICA.