As a student of Kraków's Academy of Fine Arts in 1946-1949, Andrzej Wajda graduated from the Polish National Film, Television and Theater School in Łódź in 1953 with a major in Directing. He made his debut two years later with the film Pokolenie / Generation. The story of youngsters in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation was soon followed by Kanał / Canal (1957) and Popiół i diament / Ashes and Diamonds (1958), the latter based on a novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski. These two films earned Wajda the reputation among the new generation of European filmmakers and gave rise to the famous Polish School of filmmaking, a movement which challenged the national tradition of martyrdom and romantic heroism in art.

Wajda's first colour film, Lotna(1959) was an adaptation of the novel by Wojciech Żukrowski. 1960 saw Niewinni czarodzieje / Innocent Sorcerers, a story of young people of the jazz age, alienated from greater society and rebellious. The next year brought Samson, a movie based on a novel by Kazimierz Brandys, which told the story of a Jew who had escaped from the ghetto. This was followed by two foreign productions beginning in 1962: Sibirska Ledi Magbet / Powiatowa Lady Makbet / Siberian Lady Macbeth (Yugoslavia) and L'amour à vingt ans / Miłość dwudziestolatków / Love at Twenty (France/Germany).

Wajda's next film, Popioły / Ashes (1965), based on a novel by Stefan Żeromski, triggered the noisiest debate in Wajda's ten-year filmmaking career. It was a picture filled with historiosophical reflection, re-defining once more the attitudes towards "Polishness" and tradition. Critic Andrzej Jarecki wrote about the film:

My first reaction was fear. I felt a shudder at the realisation that I too belonged to the nation whose behaviour was being shown up there on the screen. Would anyone else have had the same cruel courage to present one's own nation in such a way? There is presumably no one else in the world who would be able to depict in such an exhibitionist manner how cruel and stupid yet faithful and brave we are, what beautiful deaths we can die and how immortal we are, like in the hymn which opens the movie: 'Poland will not die as long as we live...'. We are a nation without brains and without politicians, thoughtlessly moving towards perdition and death, and equipped only with hearts and heavy fists for hitting.

- in Sztandar Młodych, October 25, 1965

In 1967 Wajda returned to Yugoslavia to make another film, The Gates to Paradise, after Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel of children crusades (Bramy Raju). 1968 was marked by two pictures, Przekładaniec / Roly Poly, after a story by Stanisław Lem, and Wszystko na sprzedaż / Everything for Sale, a film about movie people inspired by the tragic death of Zbigniew Cybulski, the legendary Maciek Chełmicki of Ashes and Diamonds. A satirical social drama Polowanie na muchy / Hunting Flies (1970) was followed that same year by an adaptation of Tadeusz Borowski's story Krajobraz po bitwie / Landscape After the Battle which once again took up the topic of war and a return to poetry was pronounced with Brzezina / Birch Wood based on a story by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Two years later, Wajda made his first movie in Germany, Pilatus und andere / Piłat i inni / Pilate and Others (1972) based on Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.

1973 saw the production of Wesele / The Wedding after a play by Stanisław Wyspiański.

This film could have expanded the play, added color to it, fulfilled the dreams of set designers by being made even more wonderfully colourful, yet Wajda went in the other direction, making the fabric of the drama palpable and material. The wedding room in Wajda's film is cramped, stuffy and overcrowded, the hall is narrow, the yard is bleak and muddy, the Host's unfinished canvases lie around discarded in the shed alongside farming equipment. And then this material reality suddenly breaks through the convention of the theatre: theatre cannot happen in such surroundings; life, that is, film can.

- Krzysztof T. Toeplitz in Miesięcznik Literacki, 1/1973

Two years later Wajda mad the Oscar-nominated Ziemia obiecana / The Promised Land. Based on the novel by Władysław Reymont, it is one of Wajda's top cinematic achievements.

Fascinated as Wajda may seem by the three young heroes' unbounded vitality, energy and their enterprising, as well as by their lack of inhibitions and appetite for life and sex, he exposes the sheer emptiness of their lives, with its cover of dynamic infantilism and automatic drive to make big money.

- Tomasz Burek in Kino, 12/1974

Wajda created a unique fresco, its protagonists being not only the three heroes but equally the town itself: 19th-century Łódź, filthy yet wonderful and poised for a great civilisational leap. The movie starred Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak and Andrzej Seweryn, actors who were among Wajda's favourites and who appeared a number of times both in his earlier and later films.

In 1976 Wajda made Smuga cienia / The Shadow Line, a Polish-British co-production based on a story by Joseph Conrad. A year later came out Człowiek z marmuru / Man of Marble, the story of Mateusz Birkut, the estimable worker, whose life back in the 1950s is retraced by a female journalist twenty years later. Incidentally, the film's script was written by Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski several years before, but censorship halted the making of the film. Man of Marble had its sequel in Człowiek z żelaza / Man of Iron (1981), a movie vibrant with the contemporary Polish life, with the action taking place in the memorable August of 1980.

The 1970s brought two more films by Wajda: Bez znieczulenia / Rough Treatment (1978), a reference to the film-making movement of "moral unrest", and Panny z Wilka / The Maids from Wilko (1979), another superb adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz's prose and Wajda's second Oscar-nominated movie. 1980 was marked by the production of Dyrygent / The Orchestra Conductor, starring John Gielgud, the distinguished English actor.

Throughout the 1980s Wajda was mostly involved with foreign productions. It was in France that he made Danton (1983) after Sprawa Dantona / The Danton Case by Stanisława Przybyszewska, starring Gerard Depardieu and Wojciech Pszoniak, and Les Possédes / Biesy / The Possessed (1988) based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, with Isabelle Huppert, Omar Shariff and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. The Wajda went to Germany to direct Eine Liebe in Deutschland / Miłość w Niemczech / Love in Germany in 1983. His only 1980s film made in Poland was Kronika wypadków miłosnych / A Chronicle of Amorous Incidents based on a book by Tadeusz Konwicki.

Despite an outward similarity, it takes us quite far from Wajda films based on books by Iwaszkiewicz. Unlike 'Birch wood', this movie does not deal with death and its questioning of human existence, nor does it talk about time destroying feelings and dreams. The true essence of the protagonists - the essence which entirely determines their fates - is history with a capital H. Here it is looked at from a singular perspective.

- Jerzy Niecikowski in Film, 1/1987

Wajda's later films were unsuccessful attempts at sparking a dialogue with the audience. Indeed, the viewers and the critics both reacted rather dispassionately to his films throughout the 1990s, even though the director extended his reach to a number of themes. In 1990 he made Korczak, a biographical film, and in 1994 directed Nastazja / Nastassya, based on Dostoyevsky's Idiot and starring the Japanese actors Tamasaburo Bando and Toshiyuki Nagashima. 1994 and 1995 marked Wajda's return to the battleground, with Pierścionek z orłem w koronie / The Crowned-Eagle Ring, believed by the cinema historian Jerzy Płażewski to end the Polish school of film-making of the 1950s, and Wielki Tydzień / Holy Week. Finally, in 1996, came Wajda's screening of Tomek Tryzna's popular modern novel, Panna Nikt / Miss Nothing.

Wajda managed to recapture a genuine rapport with his audience in 1998 following his production of Pan Tadeusz, based on the acclaimed novel by Adam Mickiewicz. This grand-scale project was taken up while Polish cinemas were overflowing with super-productions of national prose works on the obligatory reading list, and Wajda's Pan Tadeusz proved the only true achievement of them all. Paradoxically, Wajda, who many a time depicted the national tradition and its myths through a skewed looking glass, made a warm, gentle film which perfectly conveyed the climate of Mickiewicz's epic poem at the same time. This beautiful picture, in which all the good and bad things alike are wrapped in a delicate mist of nostalgia, was what won audiences back.

Wajda's two latest movies are Wyrok na Franciszka Kłosa / Franciszek Kłos' Sentence from 2000 and Zemsta / Revenge after a comedy play by Aleksander Fredro, made two years later.

Wajda's debut in the theatre took place in 1959 with the staging of Kapelusz pełen deszczu / A Hat Full of Rain by Michael Vincente Gazzo at the Gdynia Drama Theatre. In 1963 Wajda began directing at the Kraków's Stary Teatr, an aliance that started with Stanisław Wyspiański's Wesele / The Wedding and was to continue for many years to come. The 1960s also saw Wajda direct at Warsaw's Ateneum Theatre and at a number of theatres abroad.

In 1971 Wajda staged Biesy / The Possessed, a play by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Starring Jan Nowicki and Wojciech Pszoniak, it was "a great performance with a pulsating, dynamic, somewhat hysterical tempo", wrote Joanna Godlewska in "Najnowsza historia teatru polskiego", Wrocław 1999. Next followed the 1974 staging of Stanisław Wyspiański's Noc listopadowa / November Night.

Wajda had employed ascetic film-making means to show the tragedy of Maciek Chełmicki's generation and used a wealth of theatrical resources, as well as a musical score that verged on the operatic to present the tragedy of Maciek's peers in 1831. Yet the tragedy was the same.

- Maciej Karpiński in Andrzej Wajda - teatr, Warszawa, 1980

Another major stage production directed by Wajda was that of The Danton Case after a play by Stanisława Przybyszewska. This 1976 performance at the Warsaw's Powszechny Theatre was scant in theatrical effects; instead, the attention of the audience seated on two sides of the acting space was focused on the protagonists, played by Wojciech Pszoniak and Bronisław Pawlik. Indeed, the audience took part, playing the parts of the deputies to the Convention and members of the Tribunal.

The following year brought the Wajda-directed premiere of Antonio Buero Vallejo's Gdy rozum śpi... / The Dreams of Reason at the Warsaw's Teatr na Woli, with the superb role of Tadeusz Łomnicki as Francisco Goya. Indeed, this as well as other 1970s performances, including Z biegiem lat, z biegiem dni... / As Years Go by, as Days Go by..., a spectacular play about Kraków at the time of the Young Poland Movement, and Nastassya Filippovna after Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Idiot, with brilliant roles of Jerzy Radziwiłowicz and Jan Nowicki, secured Wajda's position of one of the leading Polish theatre directors. Teresa Krzemień wrote, "if Wajda's directing of 'Nastassia' had been limited to no more than casting actors in these two great roles, this in itself would have been great directing" (Kultura, 1977, no. 3).

As in his films, Wajda not afraid to enter the very core of political conflicts in the theatre , as evidenced by Sophocles' Antigone, which he staged at Kraków's Stary Theatre in 1984 in the midst of the realities of the martial law. Likewise, he was not afraid of experimenting and cast Teresa Budzisz-Krzyżanowska as Hamlet in the 1989 performance at the Stary Theatre, and Tamasaburo Bando, the Japanese Kabuki star playing female roles, as the leading protagonist in the staging of Nastassya at Tokyo's Benisan Theatre the same year.

Other theatre plays directed by Wajda in the 1980s and 1990s included: August Strindberg's Panna Julia / Miss Julia (1988, Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw); Szymon An-ski's Dybbuk (1988, Stary Theatre in Kraków); Mishima Yuko's Mishima (1994, Stary Theatre in Kraków); Tadeusz Różewicz's Improwizacja wrocławska / Wrocław Improvisation (1996, Teatr Polski in Wrocław); and Stanisław Wyspiański's Klątwa / The Curse (1997, Stary Teatr in Kraków).

Wajda adapted some of his theatre productions for television, including The November Night in 1978 and As Years Go by, as Days Go by... was made into a TV series in 1980. In 1977 Wajda adapted Tadeusz Kantor's famous performance of Umarła klasa / Dead Class by Teatr Cricot 2 to the screen. More recently, he televised Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski's Bigda idzie! / Bigda is coming! in 1999, based on a historic text from the inter-war period, which still managed to carry sentiments about contemporary Poland.

Major awards and distinctions:

• 1955 - Polish State Award for directing the film Generation
   
• 1957 - Special Jury Award at the Cannes International Film Festival for Kanal
   
• 1959 - Jury and FIPRESCI Award at the International Film Festival in Venice for Ashes and Diamonds
   
• 1968 - Polish Radio and Television Committee Award for directing the TV film Roly Poly
   
• 1971 - Minister of Art and Culture 1st Degree Award for Recent Directing Projects
   
• 1973 - Silver Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for directing The Wedding
   
• 1974 - won viewers' poll at the 6th Łagów Film Summer for the best debut of the past thirty years, for Generation; Polish State Award of 1st Degree for outstanding achievement in film directing; The Yeast Award of the "Polityka" weekly; Golden Camera Award of the "Film" monthly for The Wedding as the best feature film
   
• 1975 - main prize at the Opole Theatrical Confrontations for the staging of Stanisława Przybyszewska's The Danton Case at Warsaw's Teatr Powszechny; Minister of Art and Culture 1st Degree Award; Golden Lions at the 2nd Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdańsk for The Promised Land; 2nd Class Order of the Labour Standard on the occasion of 30th anniversary of cinematography in the People's Republic of Poland
   
• 1976 - Journalists Award at the 3rd Brussels International Film Festival for The Promised Land; Golden Spike for The Promised Land at the Valladolid Film Week; Diploma of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for outstanding contribution to the promotion of Polish culture abroad; Chairman of the Polish Radio and Television Committee Award
   
• 1978 - Premio David di Donatello "Luchino Visconti" for artistic merit of films, variety of topics and life achievement; Jury Award and Best Director Award at the 18th International Film Festival at Cartagena, Columbia, for The Promised Land; Jury Award at the 19th International Neorealist Film Festival at Avelino, Italy, for The Promised Land; Gdańsk Golden Lions at the 5th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdańsk for Rough Treatment; FIPRESCI Award at the Cannes International Film Festival for Man of Marble
   
• 1979 - Gdansk Golden Lions at the 6th Polish Feature Film Festival for The Maids from Wilko; Ecumenical Jury Award at the Cannes International Film Festival for Rough Treatment
   
• 1979 - Life Achievement Award at the La Rochelle International Film Festival; Order of Cyril and Methodius for contribution to the development of Polish-Bulgarian cultural co-operation
   
• 1980 - Special Golden Bunch of Grapes at the 12th Lubuskie Film Summer at Łagów for discovering and supporting the development of new acting talent; Chairman of the Polish Radio and Television Committee 1st Degree Award for achievement of particular value and for co-operation with Polish public television; FIPRESCI, OCIC and Basque Cultural Society awards at the San Sebastian International Film Festival for The Orchestra Conductor
   
• 1981 - Doctor Honoris Causa of the American University in Washington; Palme d'Or and Ecumenical Jury Award at the Cannes International Film Festival for Man of Iron
   
• 1982 - France's Legion d'Honneur; Onassis Foundation Award for work for human rights and dignity
   
• 1983 - Cesar Award of the French Academy of Film Art and Technology for Danton
   
• 1985 - The Gottfried Herder Prize for contribution to strengthening cultural relations with nations of Eastern and Southern Europe
   
• 1986 - The Luigi Pirandello Award for activity and achievement in the area of theatre
   
• 1987 - Kyoto Prize of the Japanese Inamori Foundation for contribution to the development of science, technology and ideas
   
• 1989 - Doctor Honoris Causa of Jagiellonian University
   
• 1990 - European Felix Award for life achievement; mention of the Jury for Korczak, outstanding achievement and artistic conduct at the Cannes International Film Festival
   
• 1991 - BESEF'91 diploma for life achievement at the 1st Central-European Film Festival at Belgrade (BESEF); Chairman of the Cinematography Commission at the Ministry of Culture Award for directing Korczak
   
• 1993 - Honorary Member Diploma of the Playwrights and Theatre Critics Association (on the occasion of the Association's 75th anniversary); award at the 18th Opole Theatre Confrontations for directing Stanisław Wyspiański's The Wedding at Kraków's Stary Teatr
   
• 1994 - French Order of Fine Arts and Humanities; title of an honorary professor of Kraków's Fine Arts Academy; Artur Award of the Łódź Museum of Cinematography
   
• 1995 - Japanese Order of the Rising Sun; Doctor Honoris Causa of Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; award of the Polish ITI centre for the promotion of the Polish theatre abroad; Doctor Honoris Causa of the Lyon 2 Lumière University in Lyon, France
   
• 1996 - Super Golden Duck - "Film" magazine readers' award for The Promised Land; Praemium Imperiale Award of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Art; Warsaw Literary Premiere Award for the book "Wajda: The Films"; Silver Berlin Bear for life achievement and, specifically, for Holy Week, at the 46th International Film Festival in Berlin
   
• 1997 - Best Director Award for Miss Nothing at the 13th International Film Festival in Troi, Portugal
   
• 1998 - Minister of Art and Culture Award for films; title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Łódź; Golden Lions for life achievement and outstanding contribution to the history of the cinema at the International Film Festival in Venice
   
• 1999 - Freedom Award for film-making and for "unparalleled commitment to freedom" at the Freedom Film Festival in Berlin; the Crystal Iris for life achievement at the National Film Festival in Brussels; the title of the Małopolanin of the Year 1999; the Diamond Ticket of the Polish Film Association for Pan Tadeusz, the film with the largest audience
   
• 2000 - Warsaw's 400th Anniversary Medal; Special Jury Award for the Director-Operator Team (Andrzej Wajda - Witold Sobocinski) at the 8th CAMERIMAGE Festival in Łódź; title of Kraków's Honorary Citizen of 1999 for "emotions sparked off by his films"; The Gazeta Krakowska plebiscite's Man of the Year 1999 title; Doctor Honoris Causa of the Polish National Film, Television and Theater School in Łódź; the Teatr Magazine Konrad Swinarski Award for directing the TV production of Juliusz Kaden-Bandrowski Bigda is coming!; Doctor Honoris Causa of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts; title of the Honorary Citizen of Radom; title of the Honorary Citizen of Gdynia; Honorary Award for the best adaptation of Polish classics for the TV Theatre for Bigda is coming! at the 25th Opole Theatre Confrontations; The Polish Eagle Film Award for life achievement; the American Film Academy Oscar Award for life achievement; Golden Film Award of the Film Script Group at the Polish Film Association for Pan Tadeusz; the 1999 Grand Award of the Culture Foundation for outstanding achievement in the area of culture for Pan Tadeusz and Bigda is coming!; title of the Most Famous Pole of the Year 1999 awarded by the Polish Radio listeners; title of the Honorary Citizen of Suwałki; Man of the Year of the "Życie" daily newspaper; title of Super Wiktor; Man of the Year 1999 of the "Wprost" magazine
   
• 2001 - Commander's Cross of Legion d'Honneur of the French Republic; German Great Cross of the Order of Merit; Doctor Honoris Causa of the Moscow Theatre Academy (GITIS); Grand Prix in the TV Theatre Category for Bigda is coming! at the Sopot Two Theatres Festival; Human Matters Improvement Award of the Czech Pangea Foundation for artistic output and its ethical values
   
• 2002 - The Little Prince's Rose - awarded for special contribution to national and global culture; Doctor Honoris Causa of Łódź University; Business Centre Club's Special Award for contribution to the development of business and market economy in Poland
• 2007 – American Film Academy Oscar nomination for best Foreign Language film for "Katyń"

Author: Monika Mokrzycka-Pokora, August 2003. Updated September 2010.