Andrzej Wajda (born 1926) - director, member of the Immortal Circle of the French Academie des Beaux Arts. He was honoured with the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 for his contribution to cinema. He also won a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2000. He has held a wide range of social and political offices. For many years he was President of the Association of Polish Film-makers (1978-83) and a Senator in the Polish Senate (1989-1991). He is the principal representative of the Polish film school. He best films are 'Generation' (1955), 'Canal' (1957, awarded the Silver Palm at Cannes), 'Man of Marble' (1977), 'The Land of Promise' (1974, nominated for an Oscar, won awards in Gdańsk and Moscow) 'The Maids from Wilko' (1979), 'The Conductor' (1980), 'Man of Iron' (1981, awarded the Golden Palm at Cannes), 'Danton' (1985, won the Prix Delluc), 'Korczak' (1990), 'Pan Tadeusz' (1999), and 'Revenge' (2001). He has also directed plays based on works by Sławomir Mrożek, Dostoyevsky, Witkacy, and Shakespeare. He has been awarded the French Legion d'Honneur and the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun. In 1996 he was awarded the Silver Bear in Berlin. In 2001 the President of Germany awarded him the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
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