Three years ago the Organizers of the Plus Camerimage Film Festival established a special award presented to a production designer. The reason for that was to emphasise the contribution of those who conceive and prepare a set design and then supervise the production. Until now, the Award has been collected by Dante Ferretti (Interview with the Vampire, Gangs of New York, Aviator, Casino), John Myhre (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Ali, Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha), Lilly Kilvert (The Last Samurai, Crucible, The Strange Days, Legends of the Fall), and Arthur Max (Gladiator, Se7en, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster). This year’s recipient of the Special Award is Allan Starski, who will be a special guest of Plus Camerimage 2009.

Allan Starski
photo by Lidia Sokal / Fabrykaobrazu.pl

Allan Starski is a Polish production designer, whose work has gained an unquestionable international recognition. He has been awarded many prestigious prizes, among which the most important is The Academy Award for his production design for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List . The projects for Schindler’s List were also honoured with Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award. Starski’s work for The Pianist won recognition in the form of two awards - the French Cesar and the Polish Eagle. His project for Andrzej Wajda’s film Pan Tadeusz also received the Eagle Award. In film circles, Allan Starski is considered a specialist in the field of the 19th-century production design as well as the one illustrating the time of World War Two and Holocaust.

Schindler’s List , dir. Steven Spielberg (1993)

The Pianist, dir. Roman Polański (2002)

Allan Starski was born in Warsaw, on January 1, 1943. He is the son of Ludwik Starski, a famous screenwriter and author of songs. In 1968, he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with a degree in the art of exhibition, and started to work at trade and exhibition companies. Next, he took up work on film sets. In 1973, he made his debut with his projects for a film Chłopcy dir. Ryszard Ber. The film Smuga cienia (1975) began a very fruitful and long-lasting cooperation with film director Andrzej Wajda. Starski made projects for such Wajda’s masterpieces as: Man of Marble, The Maids from Wilko, Man of Iron, Danton, A Love in Germany, and Korczak. On film sets he has also collaborated with the following directors: Krzysztof Kieślowski (No End), Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europe, Washington Square), Roman Polański (The Pianist, Oliver Twist), Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List), Fritz Lehner (Notturno), Jack Gold (Escape from Sobibor), Tadeusz Konwicki (Lawa), John Irving (Eminent Domain), Gonzalo Suarez (The Detective and Death), and recently Peter Webber (Hannibal Rising).

Oliver Twist, dir. Roman Polański (2005)

Hannibal. , dir. Peter Webber (2007)

Allan Starski is also a stage designer for stage and TV theatre productions. His most famous stage projects have been for two TV theatre productions: Wujaszek Wania (Uncle Vanya) directed by Aleksander Bardini, and Czarownice z Salem (The Crucible) directed by Zygmunt Hübner, as well as for a theatre play at Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, Rozmowy z katem (Conversations with an Executioner) directed by Andrzej Wajda.


Selected filmography:

2007: Hannibal Rising, dir. Peter Webber
2005: Oliver Twist, dir. Roman Polański
2002: The Pianist, dir. Roman Polański
1999: Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1997: Washington Square, dir. Agnieszka Holland
1993: Schindler’s List, dir. Steven Spielberg
1990: Europa Europe, dir. Agnieszka Holland
1990: Korczak, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1985: No End, dir. Krzyszof Kieślowski
1983: A Love in Germany, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1983: Danton, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1981: Man of Iron, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1979: The Maids from Wilko, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1978: Rough Treatment, dir. Andrzej Wajda
1977: Man of Marble, dir. Andrzej Wajda



Photos Courtesy of Allan Starski (private archives)