Andrzej WajdaBirth Place: Suwalki, Poland Date of Birth: March 6, 1926 Heritage: Polish Famous for: Director of 'Danton' (1983) Contact Andrzej Wajda |
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Director of Danton Background: Famous Polish film director Andrzej Wajda first gained recognition with his trilogy of war films, “A Generation” (1955), “Kanal” (1957) and “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958). He continued to produce successful movies such as “Love at Twenty” (1962), “The Ashes” (1965), “Gates to Paradise” (1968), “Hunting Flies” (1969), “Landscape After Battle” (1970), “The Wedding” (1973), “The Promised Land” (1974), “Man of Marble” (1977), “Without Anesthesia” (1978), “The Maids of Wilko” (1979), “The Conductor” (1980), “Man of Iron” (1981), “The Possessed” (1988), “Miss Nobody” (1996), “The Revenge” (2002) and “Katyn” (2007). “The Promised Land,” “The Maids of Wilko,” “Man of Iron” and “Katyn” were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Wajda is also known for directing the biopic “Danton” (1983), in which he took home a BAFTA Award, a Cesar Award, a London Critics Circle Film Award, a Polish Film Festival Award and the Prix Louis Dellu Award. Wajda's recent movie, “Sweet Rush” (2009), earned the Alfred Bauer Award at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and a Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the same festival. In show business since the 1950s, Wajda was saluted with an honorary Oscar in 2000 thanks to his contributions to the cinematic industry. He subsequently donated the award to the Muzeum of Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The same year, he also received the Life Achievement Award from the Polish Film Awards. In February 2006, he was presented with an Honorary Golden Berlin Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival. Wajda also received the Crystal Iris at the 1999 Brussels International Film Festival, the Career Golden Lion at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, the Silver Berlin Bear for his Lifetime Contribution to the Art of Cinema at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival, the Life Achievement Award from the 1990 European Film Awards, the Academy Fellowship at the 1982 BAFTA Awards, a Special Award at the 1981 New York Film Critics Circle, the Luchino Visconti Award at the 1978 David di Donatello Awards, a 1973 Bambi Award and a Jussi Award for Foreign Film. Wajda established the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Krakow. He also set up and leads his own film school, the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Childhood and Family: Andrzej Wajda was born on March 6, 1926, in Suwalki, Poland, to Jakub Wajda, a captain in the Polish infantry, and Aniela Wajda, a school teacher. Young Andrzej had a happy upbringing until his father was killed during WW II in the Katyn Forest massacre in 1939. Along with his mother and his brother, Andrzej moved to Krakow in 1946. There he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and adored the work of French artist and Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne. He next attended the High Film School in Lodz from 1950 to 1954, where he studied film directing under directors Jerzy Toeplitz and Aleksander Ford. Andrzej has been married several times. He and his third wife, Beata Tyszkiewicz (born on August 14, 1938), have two children, including actress Karolina Wajda (born in 1967). His present wife is actress and costume designer Krystyna Zachwatowicz (born on May 16, 1930).
Career: Andrzej Wajda began making short films and documentaries while attending film school in Lodz. They included “The Bad Boy” (1950), “The Pottery at Ilza” (1951) and “While You're Asleep” (1952). He also co-wrote the film “Three Stories” in 1953 and served as an assistant to director Aleksander Ford for “Five Boys From Barska Street” the following year. After directing the documentary “I Walk in the Sun” (1955), Wajda made his feature film directorial debut with the based on novel “A Generation” (1955), the story of youths during the German occupation of Poland in the WW II. The war film starred Tadeusz Lomnicki as a young anti-hero named Stach Mazur, and Roman Polańsk and Urszula Modrzyńska as Dorota and Mundek, respectively. His sophomore effort, “Kanal/They Love Life,” the first film ever made about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, was shown at the Venice Film Festival in August 1957 and received the Jury Special Prize and a Golden Palm nomination at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. The success of the film cemented Wajda's position as a director in Poland. However, Wajda did not garner international attention until the release of “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958), which was adapted from Jerzy Andrzejewski's 1948 novel of the same name. He was handed a FIPRESCI Prize at the 1959 Venice Film Festival and a BAFTA nomination for Best Film from any Source (Poland) for his work in the film. “A Generation,” “Kanal” and “Ashes and Diamonds” have become known as Wajda's war film trilogy set in WW II. In 1959, Wajda made his debut as a stage director with “A Hatful of Rain.” The same year, he also wrote and directed the dramatic film “Lotna.” He then directed “Innocent Sorcerers” (1960, starred Tadeusz Lomnicki), “Siberian Lady Macbeth” (1961), based on Nikolai Leskov's novel “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,” the dark coming of age drama “Samson” (1961) and “Love at Twenty” (1962), which brought him a Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the 1962 Berlin International Film Festival, an honor he shared with directors François Truffaut, Renzo Rossellini, Shintarô Ishihara and Marcel Ophüls. The historical romance “The Ashes” (1965), adapted from the novel “Popioly” by Stefan Zeromski and starring Daniel Olbrychski, was entered into the 1966 Cannes Film Festival and ended up receiving a Golden Palm nomination. Throughout the reminder of the decade, he sat in the director's chair for “Gates to Paradise” (1968, earned a Golden Berlin Bear nomination), “Everything for Sale” (1969), and the comedy “Hunting Flies” (1969, received a Golden Palm nomination). He also helmed a 35 minute comedy for TV called “Layer Cake” (1968). The 1970s marked a banner decade for Wajda. He received a Golden Palm nomination at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival for “Landscape After Battle” (1970), a drama adapted from the writings of Holocaust survivor and author Tadeusz Borowski and starring Daniel Olbrychski, the Golden Prize at the 1971 Moscow International Film Festival for “The Birch Wood” (1970), and a Silver Seashell at the 1973 San Sebastián International Film Festival for “The Wedding” (1973), an adaptation of a play by the same name by Stanisław Wyspiański. His popularity increased with “The Promised Land” (1974), which he directed and also scripted based on a novel by Władysław Reymont. The drama was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Poland) and won several awards at the Polish Film Festival, including a Golden Lion for Wajda. He also picked up the Golden Prize at the 1975 Moscow International Film Festival and a Golden Spike at the 1976 Valladolid International Film Festival for his work in the film. Following “The Shadow Line,” which won the Silver Lion at the 1976 Polish Film Festival, and “Dead Class” (TV, both 1976), Wajda directed Jerzy Radziwilowicz and Krystyna Janda in the drama “Man of Marble” (1977) and took home a Critics Award at the 1977 Polish Film Festival and a FIPRESCI Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival for his efforts. It was followed by “Without Anesthesia” (1978), which was entered into the Cannes Film Festival in 1979. The drama brought Wajda a Golden Lion at the 1978 Polish Film Festival and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes. He closed out the 1970s with the acclaimed “The Maids of Wilko” (1979), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Production Design and Special Jury Prize (Wajda) at the 1979 Polish Film Festival. Also during the 1970s, Wajda helmed many popular theater productions, including his adaptations of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's “The Possessed” and “The Idiot,” “November Night,” “The Danton Affair,” “The Immigrants” and Friedrich Dürrenmatt's “Play Strindberg.” Opening the 1980s, Wajda directed John Gielgud in the drama “The Conductor” (1980), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 27, 1980, where the film was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear. It went on to win the FIPRESCI Prize and an OCIC Award at the 1980 San Sebastián International Film Festival. After “Man of Marble,” Wajda again showed his support toward Poland's rising solidarity movement in the movie “Man of Iron” (1981). It was nominated for a 1982 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the ALFS Award for Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 1982 London Critics Circle Film Awards, where Wajda also netted an honor for Director of the Year. At the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, “Man of Iron” was handed the Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Wajda gained further recognition with “Danton” (1983), a feature film adaptation of the Polish play “The Danton Case” by Stanislawa Przybyszewska. Starring Gerard Depardieu, the controversial biopic brought Wajda a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film (shared with Margaret Ménégoz and Barbara Pec-Slesicka), a Cesar for Best Director, the ALFS Award for Director of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, the Critics Award at the 1984 Polish Film Festival, and the 1982 Prix Louis Delluc. After “Danton,” Wajda made “A Love in Germany” (1983), which was adapted from Rolf Hochhuth's novel of the same title, “Chronicle of Amorous Accidents” (1986), and the French language “The Possessed” (1988, starred Isabelle Huppert), an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel that earned Wajda a Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival. He also contributed to the TV miniseries “The French as Seen by... “ (1988) and directed the stage production of Dostoyevsky's “Crime and Punishment.” In 1989, Wajda was elected as a Solidarity Party representative. Wajda returned to film with “Korczak” (1990), a biopic of Polish Jewish humanitarian Janusz Korczak, which was screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. It was followed by work in “Schuld und Sühne” (1992, TV), “The Ring with a Crowned Eagle” (1992), “Natasha” (1994), a drama based on the final chapter of Dosetevski's “The Idiot,” “Holy Week” (1995), “Miss Nobody” (1996, nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival) and “Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania” (1999), which was picked up as Poland's official entry for the Best Foreign-Language Academy Award. In the new millennium, Wajda helmed “Wyrok na Franciszka Klosa” (2000, TV), the documentary “The Lesson of Polish Cinema” (2002) and “Noc czerwcowa” (2002, TV). Still in 2002, he adapted Aleksander Fredro's popular stage comedy “Zemsta/The Revenge” for the big screen, with Roman Polański and Janusz Gajos starring as Papkin and Raptusiewicz, respectively. The film version received an Eagle nomination for Best Director at the 2003 Polish Film Awards and a Golden Dolphin nomination at the 2004 Festróia - Tróia International Film Festival. After directing a segment of “Man of Hope” (2005), Wajda was put back in the spotlight with the 2007 Polish film “Katyn,” which was about the 1940 Katyn massacre. Based on Andrzej Mularczyk's book “Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn,” the drama was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won a Golden Globe (Italy) for Best European Film. It also netted many awards at the Polish Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Costume Design and Best Cinematography, the Audience Award at the 2008 Ljubljana International Film Festival, the Prix d'Excellence at the 2008 European Film Awards, the Audience Award at the 2008 Washington DC Filmfest, a People's Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the 2008 Denver International Film Festival and a Czech Lion nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Recently, Wajda helmed “Tatarak/Sweet Rush” (2009), partially based on a short story by Polish writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. The film won the director the Alfred Bauer Award at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and a Golden Berlin Bear nomination.
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