Wajda / Schlöndorff: 1980-1989-2009
October 15, 2009
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the system change in Poland and the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, the Polish Institute and the Austrian Film Museum have invited the two Academy Award winning directors Andrzej Wajda and Volker Schlöndorff to a round table discussion. Following this public talk Andrzej Wajda will present Man of Iron, his classical film on the Solidarność movement which was awarded the Golden Palm in Cannes in 1981.
Andrzej Wajda was born in Suwalki, Poland in 1926 and has been considered one of the most notable European directors since the release of the acclaimed Ashes and Diamonds in 1958. In a career spanning more than fifty years he has frequently cast a critical eye on the politically charged issues surrounding his home country. His sharp and analytical work often provoked conflicts with the Censorship board and his films were intermittently banned from the cinemas. Wajda was forced into exile and continued making films in France and Germany before returning to Poland after the fall of communism in 1989.
Volker Schlöndorff, born in 1939 in Wiesbaden starting making films in the early sixties and is one of the central figures of the “New German Cinema”. Women battling against the system have repeatedly inspired him and led him to make acclaimed films such as The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975). His film Strike (2007) tells the story of Anna Walentynowicz, a courageous crane operator from the shipyards of Gdańsk, whoselayoff in 1980 caused a strike which eventually led to the birth of Solidarność. She was subsequently excluded from the union on the grounds of her uncompromising behaviour and disappeared from the political memory of Poland.
On October 15th the two filmmakers will discuss topics such as censorship, artistic freedom, the collapse of communism and the role of the Polish workers as well as noble intentions and dirty politics, symbolic figures, heroes and losers.
