Jerzy Skolimowski
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Jerzy Skolimowski (; born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist, actor and painter. Beginning as a screenwriter for
Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 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 "P ...
's '' Innocent Sorcerers'' (1960), Skolimowski has made more than twenty films since his directorial debut ''The Menacing Eye'' (1960). In 1967 he was awarded the
Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
prize for his Belgian film ''
The Departure The Departure was an English rock band from Northampton, formed in October 2003. Their debut album, '' Dirty Words'', was released 13 June 2005 by Parlophone. A second album, ''Inventions'', was expected to be released in early 2008, but was n ...
'' (1967). Among his other notable films is '' Deep End'' (1970), starring
Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her associatio ...
and John Moulder Brown. He lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years where he painted in a figurative, expressionist mode and occasionally acted in films. He returned to Poland, and to filmmaking as a writer and director, after a 17-year hiatus with '' Four Nights with Anna'' (2008). He received the
Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...
Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2016
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
. His film '' EO'' (2022) was awarded the Jury Prize at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
and was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
at the 95th Academy Awards.


Early life

Skolimowski was born in
Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
, Poland, the son of Maria (née Postnikoff) and Stanisław Skolimowski, an architect. He often recognized indications in his work to a childhood ineradicably scarred by the war. As a small child he witnessed the brutalities of war, even having been rescued from the rubble of a bombed-out house in Warsaw. His father, a member of the Polish Resistance, was executed by the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
. His mother hid a Polish Jewish family in the house and Skolimowski recalls being required to take candy from German soldiers to maintain appearances. After the war, his mother became the cultural attaché of the Polish embassy in Prague. His fellow pupils at school in
Poděbrady Poděbrady (; ) is a spa town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Elbe River. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument ...
, a spa town near Prague, included future film-makers
Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech Americans, Czech-American film film director, director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the Uni ...
and Ivan Passer, as well as
Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...
. Skolimowski was considered a trouble maker at school as he was the origin of many pranks which angered the authorities. At college he studied ethnography, history and literature and took up boxing, which was also the subject of a feature-length documentary, his first significant film. Skolimowski's interest in jazz and association with composer
Krzysztof Komeda Krzysztof Trzciński (27 April 1931 – 23 April 1969), known professionally as Krzysztof Komeda, was a Polish film score composer and jazz pianist widely regarded as one of the most influential Polish jazz musicians. He is best known for writin ...
brought him into contact with actor Zbigniew Cybulski and directors
Andrzej Munk Andrzej Munk (16 October 1921 – 20 September 1961) was a Polish film director, screen writer and documentalist. He was one of the most influential artists of the post-Stalinist period in the People's Republic of Poland. His feature films '' M ...
and
Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...
.


Writer and actor

In his early twenties Skolimowski was already a writer, having published several books of poems, short stories and a play. Soon Skolimowski met
Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 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 "P ...
, the leading director of the then dominant 'Polish school' and twelve years his senior, who showed him a script for a film about youth written by
Jerzy Andrzejewski Jerzy Andrzejewski (; 19 August 1909 – 19 April 1983) was a prolific Polish writer. His works confront controversial moral issues such as betrayal, the Jews and Auschwitz in the wartime. His novels, ''Ashes and Diamonds'' (about the immediate ...
, the author of the novel '' Ashes and Diamonds''. Skolimowski was not impressed and dismissed the script. However, in response to a challenge by Wajda, he produced his own version which became a basis for the finished film, '' Innocent Sorcerers '' (1960), directed by Wajda with Skolimowski playing a boxer. Skolimowski enrolled in the
Łódź Film School The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź (), commonly known as the Łódź Film School (), is a Polish film school for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators, and television staff. It was founded on 8 ...
with the intention of avoiding the long apprenticeship required before graduating to feature film direction. He used the film stock available to him for student exercises, and with initial advice from Andrzej Munk, he filmed over several years in such a way that the sequences were later clipped off and joined together into one piece of work. While scoring poorly in course work Skolimowski had a finished feature film by the end of the course.


Into the movie arena

Skolimowski then collaborated with Polański, writing the dialogue for the script of '' Knife in the Water'' (1962). Between 1964 and 1984 he completed six semi-autobiographical feature films: '' Rysopis'', ''
Walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over"), is awarded to the opposing team/player, etc., if there are no other players avail ...
'', '' Barrier'' (1966), '' Hands Up!'' (completed 1967, released 1981), '' Moonlighting'' (GB 1982) and '' Success Is the Best Revenge'', a segment in ''Dialóg'' and two other features '' Le Départ'' (1967) and '' Deep End'' based on his original screenplays. ''Barrier'' won Grand Prix at Bergamo International Film Festival. ''Le Départ'' won the
Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival. While living and working in many countries, he also completed another six relatively big budget productions, including four international co-productions, between 1970 and 1992 ('' The Adventures of Gerard'', ''
King, Queen, Knave ''King, Queen, Knave'' is the second novel written by Vladimir Nabokov (under his pen name V. Sirin) while living in Berlin and sojourning at resorts in the Baltic. Written in the years 1927–8, it was published as ''Король, дама, ва ...
'', '' The Shout'', ''The Lightship'', '' Torrents of Spring'' and '' Ferdydurke''), all distinctly bearing Skolimowski’s signature.


Film as life

After ''Barrier'' he left Poland to make ''Le Départ'' in Belgium in French. According to him ''Le Départ'' was a light film rather than a comedy, stating that it "does not have the serious layers that I like in my work." Skolimowski returned to Poland to make '' Ręce do góry'' (''Hands Up!''), the third film of the Andrzej trilogy and the fourth of his Polish sextet. The anti-Stalinist themes of ''Hands Up!'' resulted in that film being banned and him being effectively expelled from then communist Poland. He then resettled in London, notably having
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
as a neighbor in the same building. Between ''Hands Up!'' and his next feature,
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
’s '' The Adventures of Gerard'' (1970), Skolimowski contributed a story to a Czech-produced portmanteau film, ''Dialóg 20-40-60'' (1968), in which three different directors (with Zbyněk Brynych and Peter Solan) each devised their own story using identical dialogue even though the central characters in each section are separated in age by twenty years. Skolimowski's segment, "The Twenty Year Olds", would seem to be an extension of ''Le Départ'' with Jean-Pierre Léaud playing opposite Skolimowski's wife Joanna Szczerbic. '' Deep End'' (1970) was Skolimowski's second non-Polish feature to be based on his own original screenplay. The movie with a coming of age storyline bears distinctive thematic similarities to ''Le Départ''. His films ''The Shout'' (1978) and ''Moonlighting'' (1982) became critical successes, with ''Moonlighting'', made in the UK and starring
Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards, ...
, the fifth of his Polish sextet, being critically and commercially his most successful film.


In the United States

''The Lightship'', Skolimowski’s first US production, was adapted from a novella by the German writer
Siegfried Lenz Siegfried Lenz (; 17 March 19267 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's b ...
and starring
Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...
and Klaus Maria Brandauer. Set on a US Coast Guard ship it was filmed in the North Sea. It is suspended between psychological duel with a doppelgänger theme and a pure performance piece within the stage-like confines of the lightship. However, even though receiving the best film award at the Venice Film Festival, ''The Lightship'' had only a very limited release. ''Torrents of Spring'' (1989), adapted from a semi-autobiographical novella by Russian author
Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...
, was a big budget European co-production starring
Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees#Youngest winners 4, youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he ...
,
Nastassja Kinski Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; née Nakszynski, ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with '' Stay as You Are'' (1978). Sh ...
and Valeria Golino. It could be considered as Skolimowski's most impersonal 'generic' film, the only real departure from his expressed interest in making films only to please himself. Skolimowski is also an actor, having appearances as Colonel Chaikov, a ruthless yet composed
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
colonel, in '' White Nights'' (1985) and Uncle Stepan, a Russian expatriate in '' Eastern Promises'' (2007), among other roles. In 2012, he appeared in '' The Avengers'', as a villain interrogating Black Widow.


Later career

In 2008, he directed his first film after his return from the US '' Cztery noce z Anną'' (''Four Nights with Anna''). In 2010, he directed ''
Essential Killing ''Essential Killing'' is a 2010 Survival film, survival political thriller, political thriller film co-written and directed by Jerzy Skolimowski and starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner. Gallo stars as an Muslim, Islamic insurgent who fi ...
'' starring
Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo (born April 11, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He has won several accolades, including a Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and has been nominated for the Palme d'Or, the Golden Lion, and the Bronze Horse. Gallo was ...
and Emmanuelle Seigner. The film won multiple awards including Special Jury Prize at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, Golden Ástor Award at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival and the Golden Lions Award for Best Film at the
Gdynia Film Festival The Gdynia Film Festival aka FPFF (until 2011: Polish Film Festival, Polish: ''Festiwal Polskich Filmów Fabularnych w Gdyni'') is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk (1974–1986), now held in Gdynia, Poland. It has taken place every ...
. In 2011, he became the recipient of the Commander's Cross of the
Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...
and the French
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
. In 2015, he directed thriller film '' 11 Minutes'' starring Richard Dormer and
Andrzej Chyra Andrzej Chyra (, born 27 August 1964) is a Polish actor and theatre director. He is a member of the Polish Film Academy and the European Film Academy. In 2006, he received the Polish Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Feliks Fal ...
. It was selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards. In July 2016, at the
Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
, Skolimowski was honoured with the Golden Lion for "lifetime achievement". His film '' EO'' premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize. The Polish-Italian co-production is a contemporary interpretation of the 1966 drama film '' Au hasard Balthazar'' directed by
Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...
. Submitted by Poland, ''EO'' was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
at the 95th Academy Awards. In 2022, he co-wrote Roman Polański's drama film ''
The Palace ''The Palace'' is a British drama television series that aired on ITV (TV network), ITV in 2008. Produced by Company Pictures for the ITV network, it was created by Tom Grieves and follows a fictional British Royal Family in the aftermath of t ...
''.


Filmography


Awards


See also

*
Polish cinema The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography, and it has universally recognized achievements, even though Polish films tend to be less commercially available than films from several other European nations. A ...
*
List of Poles This is a partial list of notable Polish people, Polish or Polish language, Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited. Physics *Miedziak Antal * Czesław Białobrzesk ...


References

*
The Demons of Modernity: Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema
', John Orr,
Berghahn Books Berghahn Books is a New York and Oxford–based publisher of scholarly books and academic journals in the humanities and social sciences, with a special focus on social and cultural anthropology, European history, politics, and film and media ...
, 2014.


Further reading

* ''Jerzy Skolimowski - Entretien avec Jerzy Skolimowski'' In: ''Cahiers du cinéma'' (2011), no 666, pp. 23–28 * Jacques Déniel, Alain Keit, Marcos Uzal (eds.): ''Jerzy Skolimowski: Signes Particuliers'', Editions Yellow Now, Crisnée 2013 * Ewa Mazierska: ''Jerzy Skolimowski: The Cinema of a Nonconformist'', Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford 2010 (Paperback 2013)


External links


Jerzy Skolimowski
at culture.pl

*
'Two Paths, Little Glory For This Polish Director'
Anthony Paletta, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', 14 June 2011
External Wandering
Michael Atkinson, movingimagesource.us
Finding Zen in Poland: An Interview with Jerzy Skolimowski
Ben Sachs and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, MUBI
Photographs and literature on Jerzy Skolimowski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skolimowki, Jerzy 1938 births Living people Łódź Film School alumni Polish male actors 20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights Polish male dramatists and playwrights Polish film directors Polish screenwriters Film people from Łódź People from Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939) German Film Award winners Directors of Golden Bear winners Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients