One of the greatest Polish artists, renowned for his work as a creator of over 40 feature films, died on Sunday following lung failure.
The most prevalent theme in his films (Kanał, Katyń, Man of Marble) was that of Poland’s turbulent wartime and communist history. In 2000, Wajda was awarded an honorary Oscar for his contributions to the world cinema.
Wajda was born in 1926 in the north-eastern Polish town of Suwałki. He started his carrer as a filmmaker only after being rejected by the army in 1939, and, after the war, he attended Poland’s well-known Łódź Film School. His career took flight after winning the jury special prize at the Cannes film festival in 1957 for the aforementioned Kanał (Canal), which tackled the subject of the doomed 1944 Warsaw uprising by Polish partisans against the Nazis. It was because of this award that he could make his next film, Popiół i Diament (Ashes and Diamonds), in 1958, which cemented his position in Polish film. In 1981, he won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival for Man of Iron.
Wajda’s films were shown in Sweden during various film festivals and also in the cinemas. In the 1990s, he gave a broad interview to the Swedish Television (SVT), the author of which was Magdalena Pramfelt. Subsequently, SVT showed two of his films – Ashes and Diamonds and The Crowned-Eagle Ring.
Wajda’s last film Powidoki (Afterimage) tells the life story of the avant-garde painter Władysław Strzemiński, who suffered under the post-war Stalinist government in Poland. The film was chosen as Poland’s official entry for the best foreign language film at the 2017 Oscars.
Wajda is survived by his fourth wife, actress and stage designer Krystyna Zachwatowicz, and his daughter, Karolina.
(BBC, The Guardian)
