POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Film director. In the years 1945-1948, he studied at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. At the same time, he attended the Essential Filmmaking Course. His started working on film sets as an assistant to Leonard Buczkowski and Wanda Jakubowska. He made his debut in 1951, with the socialist realist film Gromada/The Gathering. His subsequent films – Celuloza/Cellulose (1953) and Pod gwiazdą frygijską/Under the Phrygian Star (1954) – referred to the model of Italian neo-realism and highlighted Kawalerowicz’s superior directorial skills. He further honed his filmmaking talent on the set of the film Cień/Shadow (1956), characterised by an unusual narrative, and the psychological drama Prawdziwy koniec wielkiej wojny/The Real End of the Great War (1957), which tackled the problem of the moral consequences of the war. Kawalerowicz won worldwide recognition with his contributions to the Polish Film School. His faultlessly executed Pociąg/Night Train (1959) offered a portrayal of Polish society of the late 1950s saturated with existential accents. He won the Silver Palm at Cannes festival for his ascetic, stunningly refined composition of Matka Joanna od Aniołów/Mother Joan of the Angels (1960), in which he examined the struggles of human spirituality.

The Oscar-nominated Faraon/Pharaoh (1965) was a stunning blockbuster with diligent recreation of the reality of ancient Egypt and a superb artistic quality. Kawalerowicz’s subsequent attempts to reconstruct worlds long gone include Austeria (1982) and Quo Vadis (2001). He also took great care with the historical drama Śmierć prezydenta/Death of a President (1977), in which he reconstructed the events surrounding the assassination of President Narutowicz.

The characteristic traits of the auteur cinema of Jerzy Kawalerowicz are his profound historiosophical reflection, careful psychological analysis, and observations of the internal struggles and transformations of the characters of the film; this is accompanied by a highly aesthetic form, achieved by the visual sensitivity of the artist, his pictorial talents and the perfection of the execution. For his artistic achievement, the director received honorary doctorates conferred by the University of Paris III – New Sorbonne (1998) and the State Film School in Łódź (2000).

From 1956, Jerzy Kawalerowicz served as the head of the “Kadr” Film Studio – one of the most important institutions in the history of Polish cinema. It was there that the most important works of the Polish Film School were made. Kawalerowicz supported his younger colleagues with his knowledge and directing experience, and he often used his authority to protect produced films from political interference. As a long-time president of the Association of Polish Filmmakers, he gained the recognition and respect of the entire film industry.

Seweryn Kuśmierczyk