Andrzej Wajda, Poland’s Leading Film Director, Dies at 90

The director won an honorary Academy Award in 2000

andrzej wajda

Andrew Wajda, the Academy Award-winning Polish film director, has died at 90, according to Polish media reports.

Wajda was one of Poland’s most revered directors.

Four of his films were nominated for the Oscar for best foreign film: “The Promised Land” (1976), “The Maids of Wilko” (1980), “Man of Iron” (1982), and “Katyn” (2008).

His new film “Afterimage” is Poland’s entry in this year’s Oscar foreign-language race. It’s the ninth time he’s represented Poland in the Academy competition.

In 2000, Wajda was awarded an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. He was the recipient of multiple other film awards, including the Palme d’Or in 198a for “Man of Iron.”

Wajda joined the Polish resistance during World War II, and later studied painting before entering Lodz Film School.
He was active politically in the anti-Communist opposition movement in Poland and his work frequently ran afoul of the country’s communist leadership in his depiction of the Warsaw Uprising and the 1980s Solidarity movement.
“Afterimage” is a look at the final years of Polish avant-garde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who was internationally acclaimed but who suffered from persecution at the hands of the communist government.

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