Andrzej Wajda
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| Andrzej Wajda | |
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 Andrzej Wajda, Warsaw (Poland), May 2006 |
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| Born | 6 March 1926 Suwałki, Poland |
Andrzej Wajda (
anhören (help·info)) (born 6 March 1926) is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is perhaps the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School" (active circa 1955 to 1963). He is known especially for a trilogy of war films: A Generation (1954), Kanal (1956) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958).
A major figure of world and Central European cinema after World War II, Wajda made his reputation as a sensitive and uncompromising chronicler of his country's political and social evolution. He is currently listed as the 97th greatest director of all-time by film website They Shoot Pictures Don't They,[1] with four of his movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film: Land of Promise (1975), The Maids of Wilko (1979), Man of Iron (1981), and Katyń (2007).
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[edit] Life and work
A major figure of world and European cinema after World War II, Wajda has made his reputation as a sensitive and uncompromising chronicler of his country's political and social evolution. Once dubbed a symbol for a besieged country, Wajda is known for drawing from Poland's history to suit his tragic sensibility—crafting an oeuvre of work that devastates even as it informs.
Andrzej Wajda is famous of visual sides of his films, he sometimes made his own versions of Polish and European paintings and he also thinks by the images. He tries to give the right mood and atmosphere of times in which he sets the action and he refers to the paintings of that time as well. He has worked with Polish world known greatest cinematographers such as Jerzy Lipman, Jerzy Wójcik, Witold Sobociński, Edward KŁosiński, Zygmunt Samosiuk, Sławomir Idziak or Paweł Edelman, he also cooperated with Igor Luther or Roby Muller.
The son of a Polish cavalry officer murdered by the Soviets in 1940 in what became to be known as the Katyn massacre. After the war, he studied to be a painter at Kraków's Academy of Fine Arts before entering the Łódź Film School. On the heels of his apprenticeship to director Aleksander Ford, Wajda was given the opportunity to direct his own film. With A Generation (1955), the first-time director poured out his disillusionment over jingoism, using as his alter ego a young, James Dean-style antihero played by Zbigniew Cybulski, there was also 20 year old Roman Polanski, starring. A new generation was about to take over polish cinematography and polish film school was ready to begin. At the same time Andrzej Wajda began his work as a director in theatre. he showed some fantastic spectecles like Michael V. Gazzo's "Hatful of rain" (1959), "Hamlet" (1960), "Two On a Seasaw" by William Gibson (1963). Wajda went on to make two more increasingly accomplished films, which further developed the antiwar theme of A Generation: Kanal (1956)[ Silver Palm at Cannes Festival in 1957, ex equo with Bergman's "Seventh seal"] and Ashes and Diamonds (1958), with legendary role of Cybulski.
While capable of turning out mainstream commercial fare (often dismissed as "trivial" by his critics), Wajda was more interested in works of allegory and symbolism, and certain symbols (such as setting fire to a glass of liquor, representing the flame of youthful idealism that was extinguished by the war) recur often in his films, the very characteristic of Wajda's symbolism is film "Lotna" but he managed to explore some other field of existence making new wave style "Innocent Sorcerers" (1960) with music by Krzysztof Komeda, starring Roman Polański and Jerzy Skolimowski (who was also a co-script writer) in the episodes. Then Wajda directed film "Samson" a moving story about Jewish boy Jacob who wants to survive during Second World War's madness in occupied Poland. In the mid 60's Wajda showed the world an epic film "The Ashes" based on famous polish novel by Stefan Żeromski and directed some of the films abroad: "Love at Twenty" (1962), , "Siberian Lady Macbeth" (1962) or "Gates To Paradise" (1968).
In 1967, Cybulski was killed in a train accident, whereupon the director articulated his grief with what is considered one of his most personal films, which turned out to be a touching story about film maker's work on movie Everything For Sale (1968). Next year he directed an ironic satire "Hunting Flies" and a tv film based upon Stanisław Lem's short story "Roly Poly".
The 70's were the most lucrative artistic period for Wajda,who has made over ten films, some of them became one of his finest works like " Landscape After the Battle", "Pilat And others" (1971), "The Wedding" (1973)- the film version of polish most famous poetic drama by Stanisław Wyspiański, The Promised Land" (1974), "Man of Marble"(1976)- film taking place in two time periods, the first film showing the episodes of Stalinism in Poland, "The Shadow Line", "Rough treatment"( the other title: "Without Anesthesia)" (1978), "The Orchestra conductor" (1980), starring John Gielgud; or two, very touching,psychological and existential films based upon novels by polish famous writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz - "The Birch Wood" (1970) and "The Maids of Wilko" (1979).
Wajda continued his works in theatre where he has made one of his best spectacles, including "Play Strindberg", Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed" and "Nastasja Filippovna" -the Wajda's version of "Idiot", "November Night" by Wyspiański,"The Immigrants" by Sławomir Mrożek, "The Danton Affair" or "The Dreams of Reason". Wajda's later devotion to Poland's burgeoning Solidarity movement was manifested in Man of Iron (1981), sort of continuation of "The Man of Marble", with Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa appearing as himself in the latter film. The director's involvement in this movement would prompt the Polish government to force Wajda's production company out of business. For the film, Wajda wins the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1983 he directed "Danton", starring Gerard Depardieu in a title role , a film set in 1794 (Year Two) dealing with the Post-Revolutionary Terror. Wajda showed how easy revolution can change into terror and starts to "eat its own children. For this film Wajda was honoured by receiving very prestigious Louis Delluc Award, he also got couple of Cesare Awards. In the 80's he also made some important films like "Love in Germany", "The Chronicle of Amorous Incidents" - the adaptation of Tadeusz Konwicki's novel" or "The Possesed": based upon Dostojevsky's novel, in which the director showed how the terrorism begins. In theatre he prepared third very famous interpretation of Dostojevsky's "The Crime and punishment" (1984)and other unique spectacles such as "Antygone", his sequential "Hamlet" versions or an old Jewish play "The Dybbuk".
In 1990 Andrzej Wajda was honoured as the third director, after Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman by Felix - European Film Award for his lifetime achievement. In the early 1990s, he was elected a senator and also appointed artistic director of Warsaw's Teatr Powszechny. He continued to make films, he made another masterpiece "Korczak", a story about Jewish-Polish doctor who takes care of orphan children during the 2nd World Word and addressing the topic of World War II in 1993's "The Crowned-Eagle Ring" and 1995's "Holy Week" film about Jewish-Polish relations during the war. In 1996, the director went in a different direction with "Miss Nobody", a coming-of-age drama that explored the darker and more spiritual aspects of a relationship between three high-school girls. In 1999 Wajda presented a great epic film "Pan Tadeusz", based on the art of polish XIX th romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz.
One year later, at the 2000 Academy Awards, Wajda was presented with an honorary Oscar for his contribution to the world cinema; he subsequently donated the award to Kraków's Jagiellonian University. In 2002 Wajda directed comedy "Revenge", a film version of a theatre comedy which he showed on stage in the 80's, starring Roman Polański in one of the main roles. In February 2006, Wajda received an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2007 Wajda released "Katyń", a very important film about the Katyn massacre, in which his father was murdered but the director also shows the dramatic situation of those who await for their relatives (mothers, wives and children). This film was nominated for the Oscars 2008 as non-English film. The latest masterpiece of Wajda is "Tatarak" ("Sweet Rush)" with Krystyna Janda as a main character. It is partly based upon Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz short novel, there is also very important fragment taken from Janda's private life. "Sweet Rush" turns to be a sort of deep, calm and melancholic meditation about death and love. The film is dedicated to Edward KŁosiński, Janda's husband, very famous cinematographer and a long-time Andrzej Wajda's friend and co-worker who died of cancer the same year. For this film Andrzej Wajda was awarded by Alfred Bauer Prize at The Berlin Film Festival in 2009, recently he also got critics prize - Prix FIPRESCI during European Film Awards Ceremony.
Andrzej Wajda has founded The Japanese Centre of Art and Technology "Manggha" in Krakow/Cracow (1994) and has also founded (2002) (along with great polish film maker Wojciech Marczewski) and leads his own film school [http:www.wajdaschool.pl] in which students take part in different film courses led by famous european film makers.
Andrzej Wajda has been married four times. His third wife was popular actress Beata Tyszkiewicz with whom he has a daughter Karolina (born 1967). His fourth and current wife is theatre costume designer, and actress Krystyna Zachwatowicz.
[edit] Filmography
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Man of Iron won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981. Four of Wajda's works (The Promised Land, The Maids of Wilko, Man of Iron, and Katyń ) have been nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film. In 2000, Wajda received an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as another Pole who received the Award after Warner Brothers, Leopold Stokowski, Bronisław Kaper, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Janusz Kamiński, Allan Starski, Ewa Braun, Roman Polański or Jan A.P. Kaczmarek..
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andrzej Wajda |
- Andrzej Wajda's official website
- Andrzej Wajda at the Internet Movie Database
- Andrzej Wajda at the Internetowa Baza Filmu Polskiego (pl)
- Andrzej Wajda video at the Peoples Archive
- Katyń movie review by Anne Applebaum
- Andrzej Wajda - An Introduction - the complete text of a 90-minute lecture by Michael Brooke, given at London's BFI Southbank and the POSK Polish Cultural Centre in May 2008
- Interview with Wajda on Katyń - in the Krakow Post
- Works by or about Andrzej Wajda in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Wajda bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
- What was the Nationality of the Stuffed Teddy Bear, by Adam Michnik About the criticism towards Katyn in Le Monde, April 2008 origorinally published in Gazeta Wyborcza, English translaton by www.salon.eu.sk
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