Andrzej Wajda died
Andrzej Wajda, Poland's most famous film director, winner of an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, died on Sunday, 9th October in Krakow. He was 90.
Andrzej Wajda was born on 6th March 1926 in Suwałki. After the World War II, he began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow but later he moved to Łódź to study at the Film School.
He debuted as a film director in 1955 with "The Generations". His second film "Kanał" (Canal) from 1956 about heroic fight of men and women in the Warsaw Uprising, earned him international recognition and Palm d'Argent award at the Cannes Film Festival. For "Ashes and Diamonds" he received FIPRESCI Award of the 20th IFF Venice in 1959.
For his film focused on the rise of Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity trade union "Man of Iron" Andrzej Wajda received Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981.
Four of Wajda's works ("The Promised Land" - 1975, "The Maids of Wilko" - 1979, "Man of Iron" - 1981 and "Katyń" - 2007) have been nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) for best foreign language film. His last film "Afterimage," is based on the life of Polish avant-garde artist Władyslaw Strzemiński who was persecuted for refusing to follow the communist party line during the Stalinist era. Poland's Oscar Commission, selected it as Poland's official entry for an Oscar in the best foreign language film category.
In 2000 Andrzej Wajda received honorary Academy Award in 2000 (he donated the prestigious award to a Krakow Jagiellonian University museum, where it remains on display).
Renowned Polish filmmaker received numerous awards including: "Feliks" European Film Awards-Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, Japanese Imperial Prize in 1996 and Lifetime Achievent awards from the film festivals in Venice in 1998 and Berlin in 2006.
The artist also worked as a theater director cooperating closely with Stary Theater in Krakow where he directed, among others, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Sophocles' "Antigone".
He was the co-founder of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow. This unique museum was created, on the initiative of Andrzej Wajda, in 1994.
Andrzej Wajda was a member of the Académie Française. He was awarded an honorary doctorates from, among others, University of Bolognia, University of Lyon, American University in Washington and Jagiellonian University in Krakow and Warsaw University.
