The Maids of Wilko

Andrzej Wajda was born in Suwałki, Poland, in 1926. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1946 to 1949 and later trained as a film director at the Łódź Film School, graduating in 1953. Following Ashes and Diamonds (1958), he came to be regarded as one of the foremost directors in Polish and European cinema. A leading figure of the Polish Film School, he served as president of the Polish Filmmakers Association from 1978 to 1982. In 2000, Wajda received an Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to cinema. Seven of his films screened in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival and six at Cannes, where Man of Iron won the Palme d’Or in 1981. Yet Wajda’s place in film history rests not on the number of awards he received, but on the enduring power of his work, which has secured his status as a classic of world cinema.