Wajda, Andrzej [key], 1926–2016, Polish film director, leading member of the Polish Film School, which began in the 1950s. His films are typically studies of Poland's modern history, largely concentrating on the brutalities of World War II, the Nazi occupation, and Communist rule (including the rise of Solidarity), and often emphasize the national yearning for freedom. They include a trilogy about life in wartime and postwar Poland, A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958), as well as Man of Marble (1977), Man of Iron (1981), Danton (1983), Korczak (1990), Pan Tadeusz (1999), Katyn (2007), Tatarak (2009), Walesa (2013), and Afterimage (2016). Wajda was also a theater director, and was active in Polish politics after the end of Communist rule, serving in the senate (1989–91) and as chairman of Poland's Cultural Council (1992–94). In 2000 he received a lifetime-achievement Academy Award for his contribution to world filmmaking.
See his Double Vision: My Life in Film (1989) and Wajda on Film: A Master's Notes (3d ed. 1992), M. Karpinski, The Theater of Andrzej Wajda (1989), J. Orr and E. Ostrowska, The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda (2004), and J. Falkowska, The Political Films of Andrzej Wajda (2004) and Andrzej Wajda: History, Politics and Nostalgia in Polish Cinema (2006).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Film and Television: Biographies
