culture.pl: The Art of Seeing: Richard Peña on Andrzej Wajda’s Cinematic Eye
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Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "Polish Film School". He was known especially for his trilogy of war films consisting of A Generation (1955), Kanał (1957) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958).
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culture · Polish film director (1926–2016) · director · screenwriter · film director · theatre director · film producer · television director · politician · painter · theatre manager · theatre designer · also Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Witold Wajda, Wajda
Born 6 March 1926 · Died 9 October 2016 · Q106685
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2026· 2 entries
The Guardian: Ashes and Diamonds review – Poland faces bleak postwar realities in Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 masterpiece
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2024· 1 entry
The Guardian: The Promised Land review – Andrzej Wajda’s anti-capitalist comic opera is still razor sharp
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2017· 1 entry
The Village Voice: A Tribute to Andrzej Wajda: Diamonds in the Ashes
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2016· 16 entries
The Guardian: Andrzej Wajda’s portrayal of grim reality opened my eyes to the power of cinema | Letter
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NPR: Polish Filmmaker Andrzej Wajda Dies At 90
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The Washington Post: Andrzej Wajda’s films were clarion calls for freedom and against tyranny
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The Guardian: The Guardian view on Andrzej Wajda: a voice for humanity | Editorial
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The Washington Post: Andrzej Wajda, visionary Polish filmmaker, dies at 90
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The Guardian: Andrzej Wajda obituary
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The Guardian: Andrzej Wajda: great director had Poland written on his heart | Peter Bradshaw
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Deadline.com: Andrzej Wajda: European Industry Mourns Master Filmmaker’s Passing
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The Guardian: Acclaimed Polish film director Andrzej Wajda dies aged 90
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San Diego Union-Tribune: Fallece el director de cine polaco Andrzej Wajda
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Yahoo: Leading Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda dies at 90
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Yahoo: Andrzej Wajda Dies: Oscar & Palme d’Or-Winning Director Was 90
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IndieWire: Andrzej Wajda, Academy Award–Winning Icon of Polish Cinema, Dies at 90
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Died 2016-10-09.
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Awarded honorary citizen of Gdańsk (2016).
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Wajda died in Warsaw on 9 October 2016 at the age of 90 from pulmonary failure.
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2012· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary (2012).
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2011· 3 entries
Awarded Order of the White Eagle (2011).
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Awarded Order of the Three Stars, 3rd Class (2011).
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The Guardian: Andrzej Wajda film will shine new light on Lech Walesa
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2010· 1 entry
Awarded Order of Friendship (2010).
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2009· 1 entry
Awarded Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (2009).
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2008· 2 entries
Awarded Polish Academy Award for Best Film for Katyń (2008).
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Awarded Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class (2008).
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2007· 2 entries
Katyń was released, a well-received film about the Katyń massacre, in which Wajda's father was murdered; the director also shows the dramatic situation of those who await their relatives (mothers, wives and children)
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“I thought I would die in that system. It was so surprising and so extraordinary that I lived to see freedom.”
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2006· 2 entries
Awarded Commander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania (2006).
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Awarded Commander with Star of the Order of Merit of Hungary (2006).
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2005· 1 entry
Won Golden Medal for Merit to Culture (2005).
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2002· 2 entries
Founded and led his own film school with Polish filmmaker Wojciech Marczewski
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Wajda directed The Revenge, a film version of his 1980s comedy theatre production, with Roman Polanski in one of the main roles
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2001· 2 entries
Awarded Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2001).
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Awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour (2001).
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2000· 2 entries
Awarded Polish Academy Life Achievement Award (2000).
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Awarded Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2000).
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1999· 3 entries
Awarded Academy Honorary Award (1999).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1999).
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Wajda released the epic film Pan Tadeusz, based on the epic poem of the Polish 19th-century romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz
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1996· 2 entries
Awarded Praemium Imperiale (1996).
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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
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1995· 1 entry
Awarded Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class (1995).
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1994· 1 entry
Wajda presented his own film version of Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot in the fim Nastasja, starring Japanese actor Tamasoburo Bando in the double role of Prince Mishkin and Nastasja
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1990· 2 entries
Awarded European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990).
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Andrzej Wajda was honoured by the European Film Awards for his lifetime achievement, only the third director to be so honoured, after Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman
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1989· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow (1989).
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Was the president of the jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival
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Career landmark: Member of the Senate of the Republic of Poland (1989–1991).
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1987· 1 entry
Awarded Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy (1987).
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1985· 1 entry
Awarded Herder Prize (1985).
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1984· 1 entry
Awarded BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language for Danton (1984).
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1983· 3 entries
Awarded César Award for Best Director for Danton (1983).
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Awarded London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year for Danton (1983).
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Directed Danton, starring Gérard Depardieu in the title role, a film set in 1794 (Year Two of the French Republican calendar) dealing with the Post-Revolutionary Terror
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1982· 3 entries
Awarded Louis Delluc Prize for Danton (1982).
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Awarded Honorary César (1982).
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Awarded BAFTA Fellowship (1982).
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1981· 3 entries
Awarded London Film Critics Circle Award for Director of the Year for Man of Iron (1981).
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Awarded Palme d'Or for Man of Iron (1981).
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“the good Lord gave the director two eyes - one to look into the camera, the other to be alert to everything that is going on around him.”
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1978· 1 entry
Awarded David di Donatello Luchino Visconti (1978).
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1975· 1 entry
Awarded Work Flag Order, 2nd class (1975).
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1967· 1 entry
Cybulski, a popular screen actor at the time, was killed in a train accident, whereupon the director articulated his grief with Everything for Sale (1968), considered one of his most personal films, using the technique o
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1964· 1 entry
Awarded Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1964).
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1959· 1 entry
Awarded Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1959).
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1957· 2 entries
Awarded Jury Prize for Canal (1957).
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Shared with Bergman's The Seventh Seal) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958) with Zbigniew Cybulski
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1953· 1 entry
Studied at National Film School in Łódź (1950–1953).
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1950· 1 entry
Studied at Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (1946–1950).
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1942· 1 entry
Joined the Polish resistance and served in the Home Army
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1926· 1 entry
Born 1926-03-06.
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