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Wajda: Voice of a Generation

Ian Christie explores the life and work of Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, from tales of wartime Warsaw to the Gdansk revolution and Lech Walesa.

Ian Christie explores the career and influence of the legendary Polish film director, Andrzej Wajda,

Andrzej Wajda is one of the twentieth century's greatest filmmakers. He burst into prominence in the early 1950s with his harrowing depictions of the Warsaw ghetto under Nazi occupation, such as A Generation and Kanal. When revolution swept through the shipyards of Gdansk, Wajda charted both the pre-revolutionary Soviet era through his tale of a stakhanovite worker, Man of Marble, pursuing the story through the revolution in Man of Iron. Today, with Poland a thriving democracy within the EU, and with a generation of younger filmmakers behind him, Wajda, at the age of 86 is still at work, making final adjustments to his latest film, Walesa, chronicling the hero of Gdansk.

Ian Christie, with the help of archive recordings, charts Wajda's career, and explores the influence he has exercised on European film for sixty years.

Producer: Simon Elmes.

Available now

20 minutes

Last on

Thu 17 Jan 2013 20:20

Broadcast

  • Thu 17 Jan 2013 20:20