Andrzej Wajda

Known for: the Polish War Trilogy (1955–1958), Man of Iron (1981)

Andrzej Wajda began the Polish Film School with his War Trilogy — A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958) — which addressed the trauma of World War II and Polish occupation with a formal intensity that had no precedent in Polish cinema. He continued working through the Solidarity era and into the post-Communist period, directing more than 40 films across six decades. He received an honorary Academy Award in 2000.