Polish Directors

Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (1975) (The Staff), took the Grand Prix at Mannheim Film Festival. His first full-length feature was The Scar (1976) (The Scar). In 1978 he made the famous documentary From a Night Porter's Point of View (1979) (Night Porter's Point of View), and in 1979 - a feature Camera Buff (1979) (Camera Buff), which was acclaimed in Poland and abroad. Everything he did from that point was of highest artistic quality.

Andrzej Wajda is an Academy Award-winning director. He is the most prominent filmmaker in Poland known for The Promised Land (1975), Man of Iron (1981), and Katyn (2007).

He was Born on March 6, 1926, in Suwalki, Poland. His mother, Aniela Wajda, was a teacher at a Ukrainian school. His father, Jakub Wajda, was a captain in the Polish infantry. Wajda described his childhood as a happy pastoral country life before the Second World War. In 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. In 1940, Wajda's father was killed by Stalin's agents in the Katyn massacre.

Young Wajda survived the Second World War with his mother and his brother in Nazi-occupied Poland. In 1942, Wajda joined the Polish resistance and served in the Armia Krajowa until the war ended in 1945. In 1946 he moved to Kraków. There Wajda went to Academy of Fine Arts. He studied painting, particularly the impressionist and post-impressionist painting, and was especially fond of Paul Cezanne. From 1950-1954 he studied film directing at the High Film School in Lódz under directors Jerzy Toeplitz and Aleksander Ford. Later, Wajda described the influential and eye-opening experience from seeing French avant-garde films, like Ballet mécanique (1924) by artist-director Fernand Léger.

In 1955 he made his debut as director of full-length A Generation (1955), about the generation of youth coming of age during the Nazi occupation of Poland. His award-winning Kanal (1957) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958) concluded the trilogy about life in Poland during WWII. Although he was under pressure from the Soviet-dominated Polish authorities, Wajda positioned himself as an artist who was above the conflict. He still managed to show the undeclared civil war between two anti-Nazi Polish forces, which were divided by political ideology: the Polish communists and the partisans - folk heroes of the Home Army.

His Oscar-nominated The Promised Land (1975) was a work of multi-layered allegory and Symbolism. Wajda's witty depiction of the 19th century capitalism in Poland actually alluded to the contemporary Communist politics. The shooting of workers in the final scenes was actually unmasking of the official politics of killing workers in the Soviet Union in 1962, under Nikita Khrushchev, and in Poland a few years later. The story of a film student who traces the life of defamed "hero" in Man of Marble (1977) was a deconstruction of the false impressions that official propaganda was using to brainwash the public. The same main characters in Man of Iron (1981) continued unmasking the Communist regime's manipulations against working class people. In 1981, Wajda joined the "Solidarity" labor movement of Lech Walesa.

From 1989 to 1991 Wajda was elected Senator of the Republic of Poland. From 1992 to 1994 he was Member of Presidential Council for Culture. In 1994 he founded the Center of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków, and was awarded the Order of Rising Sun in Japan (1995). Wajda was President of Polish Film Association (1978-1983). He was Member of "Solidarity" Lech Walesa Council (1981-1989). He won an honorary Oscar (2000) for his contribution to cinema, and an honorary Golden Bear (2006) at the Berlin Film Festival.

Wajda's Katyn (2007) was nominated for Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2008, and received many other awards and nominations. The film shows historic events in Katyn during WWII, where Wajda's father was among thousands of Polish officers killed by Soviet communists under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Wajda's film was well received by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who initially opened the facts about Katyn to help people understand each other and overcome the tragic past.

"We never hoped to live to see the fall of the Soviet Union, to see Poland as a free country", said Andrzej Wajda.

Marcel Lozinski was born on 17 May 1940 in Paris, France. He is a director and writer, known for 89 mm od Europy (1993), Katyn Forest (1990) and Zeby nie bolalo (1998).

Tadeusz Konwicki was born on 22 June 1926 in Nowa Wilejka, Wilenskie, Poland [now Naujoji Vilnia, Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a writer and director, known for Lawa. Opowiesc o 'Dziadach' Adama Mickiewicza (1989), Dolina Issy (1982) and The Last Day of Summer (1958). He was married to Danuta Konwicka. He died on 7 January 2015 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.

Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.

His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years before World War II began. On Germany's invasion in 1939, as a family of mostly Jewish heritage, they were all sent to the Krakow ghetto. His parents were then captured and sent to two different concentration camps: His father to Mauthausen-Gusen in Austria, where he survived the war, and his mother to Auschwitz where she was murdered. Roman witnessed his father's capture and then, at only 7, managed to escape the ghetto and survive the war, at first wandering through the Polish countryside and pretending to be a Roman-Catholic kid visiting his relatives. Although this saved his life, he was severely mistreated suffering nearly fatal beating which left him with a fractured skull.

Local people usually ignored the cinemas where German films were shown, but Polanski seemed little concerned by the propaganda and often went to the movies. As the war progressed, Poland became increasingly war-torn and he lived his life as a tramp, hiding in barns and forests, eating whatever he could steal or find. Still under 12 years old, he encountered some Nazi soldiers who forced him to hold targets while they shot at them. At the war's end in 1945, he reunited with his father who sent him to a technical school, but young Polanski seemed to have already chosen another career. In the 1950s, he took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda's A Generation (1955) before studying at the Lodz Film School. His early shorts such as Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958), Le gros et le maigre (1961) and Mammals (1962), showed his taste for black humor and interest in bizarre human relationships. His feature debut, Knife in the Water (1962), was one of the first Polish post-war films not associated with the war theme. It was also the first movie from Poland to get an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. Though already a major Polish filmmaker, Polanski chose to leave the country and headed to France. While down-and-out in Paris, he befriended young scriptwriter, Gérard Brach, who eventually became his long-time collaborator. The next two films, Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-sac (1966), made in England and co-written by Brach, won respectively Silver and then Golden Bear awards at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller, Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again made a US release - it was Chinatown (1974).

It seemed the beginning of a promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the sodomy of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from he USA to avoid prison. After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his works in 1980s and 1990s became intermittent and rarely approached the caliber of his earlier films. It wasn't until The Pianist (2002) that Polanski came back to full form. For that movie, he won nearly all the most important film awards, including the Oscar for Best Director, Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, the BAFTA and Cesar Award.

He still likes to act in the films of other directors, sometimes with interesting results, as in A Pure Formality (1994).

Wojciech Wiszniewski was a son of a lawyer Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski, who died when the boy was only five. In order to make ends meet his mother Irena Czajkowska decided to rent rooms in their apartment to the students of the Film School in Lódz. Thanks to that her two sons got acquainted with a lot of future renowned film directors, such as Roman Polanski, Andrzej Kostenko, Stefan Schabenbeck or Henryk Kluba. The two brothers got so fascinated with cinema and carefree lives of film-makers that they decided to make their living in the same way. And they both succeeded in it. Wojciech became a director, while his elder brother Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski started his acting career.

Between 1965 and 1969 Wojciech Wiszniewski was a student at the world-famous PWSFTviT (Polish National Academy of Film, Theatre and TV in Lódz). The first two years he spent in the Department of Cinematography and then moved to the Department of Directing due to various health problems (bad eyesight, heart failures). Wiszniewski was one of the school's best and most promising students. His fellow students on the same year included Marcel Lozinski, Tomasz Zygadlo and Maciej Wojtyszko.

He managed to make merely 12 films (6 student shorts, 5 documentary short subjects and 1 TV feature) before his premature death of heart attack at the age of 34. In spite of this Wiszniewski has been considered one of the most outstanding personalities of his generation and without a doubt a classic of Polish documentary cinema. Although his shorts made him a master of innovative documentary film-making, most of them were shelved by the government censors, who also disabled him to eventually make his own feature debut. The last years of his life he spent fighting for making an adaptation of the novel "Królobójcy" ('King Slayers') by Jerzy Lojek about the kidnapping of King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski by the Bar Confederates. Wiszniewski died suddenly a few days before the shooting was scheduled to begin.

He is survived by his wife, painter Joanna Milobedzka-Wiszniewska, and their son Mateusz.

Born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Documentary and feature film director. Studied physics at Warsaw University and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Graduated from Lodz Film Academy in 1966. Amateur film maker. His school diploma film 'Death of a Provincial' (Smierc prowincjala (1968)) won an awards in Venice, Mannheim, Valladolid and Moscow in 1967. Other early films made for TV include: 'Next Door' (_Za sciana (1971)_), Grand Prix in San Remo; 'Hypothesis' (Hipoteza (1973)).

Scriptwriter or co-writer of all of his TV and cinema films. Other early feature films: 'Structure of a Crystal' (The Structure of Crystal (1969)), which won in Mar del Plata 1970; 'Family Life' (Zycie rodzinne (1971)), which won in Chicago 1971, Valladolid 1972 and Colombo 1973; 'Illumination' (The Illumination (1973)), Grand Prix in Locarno 1973, award in Gdansk 1974; 'Quarterly Balance' (A Woman's Decision (1975)); 'Camouflage' (Camouflage (1977)), Spiral (The Spiral (1978)).

Born in Kraków, Poland, in 1925. Feature film director. Graduated in 1946 from Cracow Film Institute, also studied painting. From 1947 to 1957 made a number of documentary shorts and educational films. Feature film debut: _The Noose_ (Petla, 1958, co-scr.). Other films: _Farewells_ (Pozegnania, 1958, co-scr.), awarded in Locarno and London 1959; _Roommates_ ((Wspolny pokoj, 1960, co-scr.); _Parting_ (Rozstanie, 1961); _Gold_ (Zloto, 1962); _How to Be Loved_ (Jak byc kochana, 1962), Polish Film Critics award, also awarded in San Francisco 1963 and beirut 1964; _The Saragossa Manuscript_ (Pamietnik znaleziony w Saragossie, 1964), awarded in San Sebastian and Edinburgh 1965, in Sitges 1966; _Codes_ (Szyfry, 1966), _The Doll_ (Lalka, 1968, co-scr.), awarded in Panama 1969; _The Sandglass_ (Sanatorium pod Klepsydra, 1973), awarded in Cannes 1973, Grand Prix in Trieste 1974.

Having graduated from FAMU in Prague film (1971), Agnieszka Holland returned to Poland and began her film career working with Krzysztof Zanussi as assistant director, and Andrzej Wajda as her mentor. Her first feature film was PROVINCIAL ACTORS (1978), one of the flagship pictures of the "cinema of moral disquiet" and the winner of the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980. Subsequently, she made the films FEVER (1980) and THE LONELY WOMAN (1981). In 1981, just before the declaration of the state of emergency in Poland, Agnieszka Holland emigrated to France.

She directed ANGRY HARVEST (1985) which was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar. Her film EUROPA EUROPA (1990) also received a U.S. Academy Award nomination (best screenplay) and IN DARKNESS (2011) was again nominated as best foreign-language film. She also collaborated with her friend Krzysztof Kieslowski on the screenplay of his trilogy, THREE COLOURS (1993).

Holland's other films include TO KILL A PRIEST (1988), OLIVIER, OLIVIER (1992), THE SECRET GARDEN (1993), TOTAL ECLIPSE (1995), WASHINGTON SQUARE (1997), THE THIRD MIRACLE (1999), SHOT IN THE HEART (2001), JULIE WALKING HOME (2001), COPYING BEETHOVEN (2006), IN DARKNESS (2011), BURNING BUSH (2013), SPOOR (2017), MR. JONES (2019) and CHARLATAN (2020). She also directed several episodes of many notable TV series, including THE WIRE, JAG, COLD CASE, TREME (for the pilot of the latter she was nominated for an Emmy) and HOUSE OF CARDS. Agnieszka Holland has also written or co-written screenplays for films made by other directors and directed plays for Polish television. She was elected chairwoman of the Board of the European Film Academy in 2014 and was elected as its President in 2021.

Marek Koterski is a renowned Polish movie, television, and theatre actor, as well as a director and screenwriter. He graduated from the National Film School in Lodz. Koterski is best known for creating the character Adam Miauczynski, the main protagonist in some of his most popular films such as Nothing Funny (1995), Day of the Wacko (2002), and Wszyscy jestesmy Chrystusami (2006). His films often explore themes of existential angst and social satire. Koterski's unique style and insightful storytelling have made him a significant figure in Polish cinema.

Born in Lódz, Poland, in 1938. Director, playwright, scriptwriter, and actor. Graduated in ethnology, literature and history from Warsaw University in 1959. Graduated from Lódz Film Academy in directing in 1962. Feature debut: _Identification Marks - None_ (Rysopis, 1964, scr., dir, act.), awarded in Warsaw 1964 and Arnhem 1965. Other films: _Walkover_ (Walkower, 1965, scr., act.), awarded in Mannheim; _The Barrier_ (Bariera, 1966, scr.), awarded in Bergamo 1966 and Valladolid 1968; _Le Depart_ (1967, scr., belg. prod.), Grand Prix in Wets Berlin); _Dialogue 20-40-60_ (Dialog 20-40-60, 1968, scr. - Polish part of "The Twenty Years Olds", czech. prod.); _Hands Up!_ (Rece do gory!, 1967)

Jerzy Kawalerowicz was born on 19 January 1922 in Gwozdziec, Stanislawowskie, Poland [now Hvizdets, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Night Train (1959), Mother Joan of the Angels (1961) and Death of a President (1977). He was married to Lucyna Winnicka, Maria Güntner and Malgorzata Dipont. He died on 27 December 2007 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.

Stanislaw Rózewicz was born on 16 August 1924 in Radomsko, Lódzkie, Poland. He was a director and writer, known for Kobieta w kapeluszu (1985), Drzwi w murze (1974) and Opadly liscie z drzew (1975). He was married to Irena Rózewiczowa. He died on 9 November 2008 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.

Zbigniew Rybczynski (Rib-chin-ski) was born on January 27, 1949, in Lodz, Poland, but was raised in Warsaw, where he attended an arts high school and was trained as a painter. He went on to study cinematography at the world-renowned Lodz Film School, where he began experimenting with the film medium. His first projects were Kwadrat (1972) and "Take Five" (1972). Along with his other works, they broke new ground in the use of pixelation, optical printing, animation and other compositional film devices. "Zbig", as he's known, was active in the avant-garde group Warsztat Formy Filmowej and he cooperated with Se-Ma-For Studios in Lodz, where his art movies were shot, including Plamuz (1973), Zupa (1975), Nowa ksiazka (1976) and Tango (1981). At the same time he worked as a cinematographer on several feature films, including shorts by 'Andrzej Baranski', Piotr Andrejew and the acclaimed The Dancing Hawk (1977) by 'Grzegorz Krolikiewicz'.

Between 1977 and 1983 Rybczynski worked in Austria, where Weg Zum Nachbarn (1977) and Mein Fenster (1979) were made. He also set up a visual effects studio in Vienna for Austrian TV. As the director of photography, co-writer and editor, he contributed to the cult horror feature Angst (1983) (also known as "Fear"), directed by Gerald Kargl. In the meantime, Zbig was involved in the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) movement in Poland. When martial law was declared, he received political asylum in Austria and it was there that he learned of his Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film nomination for "Tango". After winning the Oscar for that film in 1983, Zbig and his family emigrated to the US and settled in New York City. At his Manhattan and Hoboken (NJ) studios, equipped with state-of-the-art high definition video, Rybczynski conceived and produced - as the first filmmaker ever

• pioneer video films using HD technology. In 1984 he was assigned by

producer Lorne Michaels to create two short pieces, The Discreet Charm of Diplomacy (1983) and The Day Before (1983) (both produced by Alan Kleinberg) for NBC's _"The New Show" (1983)_ (v). In the Zbigq Vision Studios Rybczynski produced his most important and acclaimed works: Steps (1987); The Fourth Dimension (1988) produced by Robin O'Hara; The Orchestra (1990); and his favorite film, Kafka (1992). Zbig is the creator of more than 30 outstanding music videos, including John Lennon's "Imagine" and videos for artists such as The Art of Noise, Mick Jagger, Pet Shop Boys, Chuck Mangione and Lou Reed. He was honored with three MTV Music Video Awards and the MTV Video Vanguard Award for his role as "a visionary in the field of music video". His work in film and video has also earned him numerous other awards such as three American Video Awards, three Monitor Awards for Best Director, the 1986 Billboard Music Video Award for Most Innovative Video, the 1986 BPI Video of the Year Award, as well as grand prizes at the Festivals at Annecy, France, in 1981, the Oberhausen Film Festival in both 1979 and 1981, and the Rio International Film Festival in 1987. In 1990 Zbig won the Emmy Award for special effects in his film "The Orchestra", a one-hour classical music HDTV program for PBS. It was the first Emmy ever given to a High Definition production. Later that year he was honored by the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for his outstanding work in advancing the uses of HD technology. In Italy he was awarded the Premio Internazionale Leonardo for his overall contribution to video, and in France he was presented with the Paris Cite for outstanding achievement in HD. In 1992 Zbig completed work on the HD piece "Kafka". Produced for Telemax of Paris as a part of its Audio/Visual Encyclopedia series, the film won the 1992 Special Festival Prize at the International Electronic Cinema Festival Tokyo/Montreux and the Special Jury Award at the San Francisco International Festival in 1993. From 1994-2001 Rybczynski worked in Germany, first at the CBF Studios in Berlin, where he developed new production techniques in the areas of image compositing and motion control photography (he holds several innovative patents in that area and in computer programs). Later, in Cologne, he continued his research and was a Professor of Experimental Film at the Academy of Media Arts. After several years of being involved in movie technology such as motion control, optics, computer software and other instructive work, Zbig made the decision to return to his passion: making movies. That is what brought him back to Los Angeles, where he now resides. Thanks to many rewarding years of gaining knowledge and experience in the various artistic and technological aspects of filmmaking, Zbig firmly believes that the best is yet ahead of him. His dream is to collaborate with other filmmakers on creating stunning and ground-breaking films which - and he is convinced of this - will always be of interest to audiences worldwide.

Born in 1929 in Szopienice, Upper Silesia, to a railway worker's family. After graduating from secondary school he enrolled in the Directing Faculty at Theatre and Film School, graduating in 1954.

In 1959, he debuted with a film entitled Krzyz Walecznych (1959). He has gone on to direct over 20 feature films, including Nikt nie wola (1960), Panic on the Train (1961), _Sol ziemi czarnej (1970)_ , Perla w koronie (1972)_ , _Paciorki jednego rozanca (1980)_ and _Pulkownik Kwiatkowski (1996)_ . Worked in many theatres, most recently at Teatr Stary (Old Theatre) in Kraków and Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre) in Warsaw. He is a current-affairs commentator, writes about films and topics related to Silesia.

In 1972, he founded the Silesia Film Company in Katowice and, until 1978, was its Artistic Director. Between 1981 and 1983, he lectured in the Radio and Television Faculty at Silesian University in Katowice, and, between 1985 and 1991, taught directing at the Higher Theatre School in Krakow.

From 1987, he was Principal Director in the Polish Television Centre in Katowice and, between 1990 and 1991, headed the Centre. 1966 - founding member of the Association of Polish Filmmakers. Member of the Writers' Section of the Union of Stage Writers and Composers. Member of Senate (Higher Chamber of Polish Parliament) of 4th term. Deputy Chairman of Senate of 5th term.

Krzysztof Krauze was a Polish movie director and writer. In 1976, he completed his studies at the National Film School in Lodz. He started his career as a director of short movies and documentaries. His fame as a creator addressing social issues was established by the award-winning movies The Debt (1999) and Plac Zbawiciela (2006). He also directed the biographies of Nikifor Krynicki in Mój Nikifor (2004) and Bronislawa Wajs in Papusza (2013). In his movies, either fictionalized versions of true stories or biographies of real characters predominated, in which Christian values such as empathy, mercy, and forgiveness played a significant role. His last known script was a biographical movie about Czeslaw Niemen, which was never realized. His wife completed their joint project Birds Are Singing in Kigali (2017) after his death.

Andrzej Munk was born on 16 October 1920 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He was a director and writer, known for Passenger (1963), Eroica (1958) and Man on the Tracks (1957). He died on 20 September 1961 in Lowicz, Lódzkie, Poland.

Pawel Lozinski was born on 4 December 1965 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for The Balcony Movie (2021), Chemia (2009) and Sisters (1999).

Jan Jakub Kolski was born on 29 January 1956 in Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Venice (2010), Jancio Wodnik (1993) and Pardon (2018).

Dorota Kedzierzawska was born on 1 June 1957 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland. She is a director and writer, known for Nothing (1998), Jestem (2005) and Time to Die (2007).

Aleksander Ford was born on 24 November 1908 in Kiev, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Five from Barska Street (1954), Knights of the Teutonic Order (1960) and The Eighth Day of the Week (1958). He was married to Eleanor Griswold, Olga Minska and Janina Wieczerzynska. He died on 4 April 1980 in Naples, Florida, USA.

Andrzej Jakimowski was born on 17 August 1963 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Imagine (2012), Zmruz oczy (2002) and Sztuczki (2007).

Wojciech Marczewski was born on 28 February 1944 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland. He is a director and producer, known for Shivers (1981), Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema (1990) and Nightmares (1979). He is married to Teresa Marczewska. They have two children.

Andrzej Baranski was born on 2 April 1941 in Pinczów, Swietokrzyskie, Poland. He is a director and writer, known for Kobieta z prowincji (1985), A Few People, a Little Time (2005) and Nad rzeka, której nie ma (1991).

Stanislaw Bareja was born on 5 December 1929 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a director and actor, known for Teddy Bear (1981), Przygoda z piosenka (1969) and Maz swojej zony (1961). He was married to Hanna Kotkowska-Bareja. He died on 14 June 1987 in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.