JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI - LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO POLISH DIRECTOR WITH UNIQUE VISUAL SENSITIVITY

18th Edition of PLUS CAMERIMAGE Film Festival will commence on 27th November 2010. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award to Polish Director With Unique Visual Sensitivity will be presented to internationally acclaimed filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski. The renown director, scriptwriter and producer will be a honorary guest of the Festival. The organizers will also present a retrospective review of Jerzy Skolimowski's greatest achievements.



Jerzy Skolimowski
Photo by Tomek Bergmann

Jerzy Skolimowski graduated from ethnography faculty of the Warsaw University and studied directing at Lodz Film School. He worked with the most outstanding Polish filmmakers - wrote a screenplay for Andrzej Wajda'sInnocent Sorcerers, co-wrote the screenplay for the famous Knife in the Water directed by Roman Polanski. In 1964 Skolimowski made his debut as a director of the feature film Rysopis which was shot in parts as his graduation work. He described his next films Walkover and Barrier as a “mental landscape" that told stories of people searching in vain for their own place in society.

When communist censorship banned his movie Ręce do góry in 1967, he left Poland to work in Italy, Great Britain and USA. During this period he made films awarded at the biggest international film festivals. In 1967 he received the Golden Bear Award for the film Le Depart. Later his films were also recognized at Cannes Film Festival: The Shout was awarded by the Cannes Jury in 1978, Moonlighting was granted the award for the best script in 1982 and The Lightship received Jury's special award in 1985. Skolimowski is also a laureate of the Polish Film Award - Eagle, which was granted to him in 2003 for “independancy of a Polish filmmaker whose professional achievements in Poland and abroad have a world-wide dimension".

In 2008 the director decided to come back to Poland to shoot Four Nights with Anna, which won the Eagle award for best director. Also the film's DP, Adam Sikora won the Eagle for the best cinematography. The film was presented in the Main Competition and Polish Films Competition at Plus Camerimage 2008. In December 2009 he started shooting a political thriller Essential Killing starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner. The film has been lined up for this year's Venice Film Festival and will compete for the Golden Lion.

Jerzy Skolimowski, famous for his work as a filmmaker, is a versatile artist who published several books of poems, short stories and plays. He is also a successful painter. A book on his life and work will be published by the organizers of the 18th Edition of Plus Camerimage.

SELECTED FILMOPGRAPHY:

• 2010: Essential Killing, cin. Adam Sikora (script writer, director, producer)
• 2008: Four Nights with Anna, cin. Adam Sikora (script writer, director, producer)
• 1991: 30 Door Key, cin, Witold Adamek (director, script writer - adaptation)
• 1989:Torrents of Spring, cin. Witold Sobociński, Dante Spinotti (director, script writer - adaptation, actor)
• 1986: The Lightship, cin. Charly Steinberger (director)
• 1982: Moonlighting, cin. Tony Pierce Roberts (director, script writer)
• 1978: The Shout, cin. Mike Molloy (director, script writer)
• 1970: The Adventure of Gerard, cin. Witold Sobociński (director, script writer - adaptation)
• 1967: Le Depart, cin. Willy Kurant (director, script writer)
• 1966: Barrier, cin. Jan Laskowski (director, script writer)
• 1964: Rysopis, cin. Witold Mickiewicz (director, script writer, actor, art director)
• 1962: Knife in the Water, dir. Roman Polański, cin. Jerzy Lipman (script writer)
• 1960: Innocent Sorcerers, dir. Andrzej Wajda, cin. Krzysztof Winiewicz (script writer)