FILM DIRECTOR

Andrzej Wajda

1926 - 2016

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Andrzej Witold Wajda (Polish: [ˈandʐɛj ˈvajda]; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "Polish Film School". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Andrzej Wajda has received more than 985,776 page views. His biography is available in 68 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 67 in 2019). Andrzej Wajda is the 34th most popular film director (up from 39th in 2019), the 35th most popular biography from Poland (up from 58th in 2019) and the most popular Polish Film Director.

Andrzej Wajda is most famous for being a Polish film director. He is best known for his 1975 film "The Promised Land" which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Memorability Metrics

  • 990k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 71.25

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 68

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.80

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.63

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Andrzej Wajda ranks 34 out of 2,041. Before him are George Lucas, Miloš Forman, Konstantin Stanislavski, Fritz Lang, Roger Vadim, and Quentin Tarantino. After him are Tinto Brass, Tim Burton, Ken Loach, John Ford, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and James Cameron.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1926, Andrzej Wajda ranks 11. Before him are Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ingvar Kamprad, Jiang Zemin, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Leslie Nielsen, and Dario Fo. After him are Svetlana Alliluyeva, René Goscinny, Klaus Kinski, Sathya Sai Baba, Chuck Berry, and Miles Davis. Among people deceased in 2016, Andrzej Wajda ranks 15. Before him are Alan Rickman, Bhumibol Adulyadej, Leonard Cohen, Zaha Hadid, Imre Kertész, and Dario Fo. After him are Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Islam Karimov, Cesare Maldini, Carlos Alberto Torres, João Havelange, and George Michael.

Others Born in 1926

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Others Deceased in 2016

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In Poland

Among people born in Poland, Andrzej Wajda ranks 35 out of 1,694. Before him are Ernst Cassirer (1874), Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846), Zygmunt Bauman (1925), Yitzhak Shamir (1915), Sigismund II Augustus (1520), and Günther von Kluge (1882). After him are Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906), Maximilian Kolbe (1894), Kurt Lewin (1890), Christian Wolff (1679), Vladislaus II of Hungary (1456), and Irena Sendler (1910).

Others born in Poland

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In Poland

Among film directors born in Poland, Andrzej Wajda ranks 1. After him are Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941), Billy Wilder (1906), Dziga Vertov (1896), Fred Zinnemann (1907), Jerzy Grotowski (1933), Jerzy Skolimowski (1938), Agnieszka Holland (1948), Robert Wiene (1873), Jean Epstein (1897), Jerzy Stuhr (1947), and Krzysztof Zanussi (1939).

Polish born Film Directors

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Filmography

Ashes and Diamonds
Director
A young academy soldier, Maciek Chelmicki, is ordered to shoot the secretary of the KW PPR. A coincidence causes him to kill someone else. Meeting face to face with his victim, he gets a shock. He faces the necessity of repeating the assassination. He meets Krystyna, a girl working as a barmaid in the restaurant of the "Monopol" hotel. His affection for her makes him even more aware of the senselessness of killing at the end of the war. Loyalty to the oath he took, and thus the obligation to obey the order, tips the scales.
Oct 3o 19587.4 / 10
Katyn
Director
On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.
Sep 21o 20076.7 / 10
Danton
Director
Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not accept such a challenge, even from a friend and colleague, and he blocked out a plan for the capture and execution of Danton and his allies.
Jan 12o 19836.9 / 10