Lech Majewski (pronounced , ‘Ma-yev-ski’) (born 30 August 1953) is a Polish film and theatre director, writer, poet, and painter.

Life and career

Born in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Majewski studied at the

Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw ( pl, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie) is a public university of visual arts and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw ...

. In the 1970s, he then studied at the

National Film School in Łódź National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, notably as a student of

Wojciech Has Wojciech Jerzy Has (1 April 1925, Kraków – 3 October 2000, Łódź) was a Polish film director, screenwriter and film producer. Early life and studies Wojciech Jerzy Has was born in Kraków. Has himself was agnostic. However, his family ...

, who taught Majewski directing. In the early 80s, after completing ''The Knight'' and as martial law was declared in Poland, Majewski emigrated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and then to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, where he lived for most of the late Communist era. Majewski is a dual U.S.-Polish citizen, and travels often between those and other countries. He is a member of the American and European film academies and the Polish

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...

. Majewski speaks fluent, and excellent, English, but often works with English-speaking natives on his script. That was the initial role that

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

had on '' Basquiat'', before Majewski abandoned the project and Schnabel took it over. In 2006, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

in New York City hosted a retrospective of Majewski's work. This was their first ever full retrospective of a Polish filmmaker, and one of their only ever mid-career retrospectives. For that program, Majewski created the film eventually called ''Glass Lips'', though initially it was known as ''Blood of a Poet''.

Filmography

* ''Zwiastowanie'' (1978) * ''The Knight (Rycerz)'' (1980) * ''The Flight of the Spruce Goose (Lot Świerkowej Gęsi)'' (1986) * ''

Prisoner of Rio ''Prisoner of Rio'' is a 1988 drama film directed by Lech Majewski and starring Steven Berkoff, Paul Freeman and Peter Firth. It shows the flight of the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs to Brazil and the attempts of Scotland Yard detectives t ...

(Więzień Rio)'' (1988), produced between England and Brazil, a fictionalized story of

Ronnie Biggs Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 ye ...

, mastermind of The

Great Train Robbery of 1963 The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghams ...

* ''The Gospel According to Harry (Ewangelia według Harry'ego)'' (1992) * ''Basquiat'' (developed project, eventually credited as co-writer and co-producer) (1996) * ''The Roe's Room (Pokój Saren)'' (1998) * ''Wypadek'' (1998) * '' Wojaczek'' (aka ''Life Hurts'') (1999) * ''Angelus'' (2001) * '' The Garden of Earthly Delights'' (2004) * '' Glass Lips'' (2007) (feature film version of the ''Blood of a Poet'' installation (2006)) * ''

The Mill and the Cross ''The Mill and the Cross'' ( pl, Młyn i krzyż) is a 2011 drama film directed by Lech Majewski and starring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael York. It is inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1564 painting ''The Procession to Calvar ...

'' (2011) * '' Field of Dogs'' (2014) * '' Valley of the Gods'' (2019)

Sources

The original version of this article was an adaptation o
Google’s machine-translation
o
this version
(2007-02-15) of the German Wikipedia article :de:Lech Majewski.

External links

Personal home page
*
Photographanother photographbiography
(Vancouver)

(New York)
ŻAK Gallery - ''Blood of a Poet'' installationPersonal Polish Home Pageculture.plfilmpolski.plLech Majewski personal siteepoznan.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majewski, Lech Living people 1953 births People from Katowice Polish film directors Polish cinematographers Polish screenwriters Polish film producers Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw alumni