Wojciech Marczewski

Wojciech Marczewski is a director, screenwriter and teacher. He was born on 28th February 1944 in Łódź. In 1962, he began his studies at the Film and Television Direction Department of the Lodz Film School. After two years, he dropped out to study philosophy and history at the University of Łódź. He eventually returned to the film school and graduated in 1969. In 2001, he received the title of Professor of Film Art.

He worked with the Se-Ma-For Studio of Small Film Forms and Czołówka Film Studio, making shorts and television films. His feature debut, Nightmares (1978), based on the novel by Emil Zegadłowicz, won, among other accolades, the Silver Lions of Gdańsk at the 1979 Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk and the Andrzej Munk Award. Shivers (1981), written by himself, received the Silver Bear at the 1982 Berlin IFF and the Silver Lions of Gdańsk at the 1981 PFF in Gdańsk. Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema (1990) won the Golden Lions of Gdańsk at the 1990 PFF in Gdynia and awards at the Burgos FF and Avoriaz International Fantastic Film Festival. The screen adaptation of Paweł Huelle’s novel Weiser (2000) brought him the Polish Filmmakers Association Award for his creative depiction of contemporary times.

He has received much recognition for his lifetime achievement and outstanding artistic performance. In 1981, he received the Second Degree Award of the Minister of Culture and Art, and in 2002, the Award of the Minister of Culture in the field of film. At the 2006 Etiuda & Anima IFF in Kraków, he won the Special Golden Dinosaur, and at the 2008 FeFe Felliniada Festival in Warsaw, he received the Great FeFe Award. In 2011, he was decorated with the Order of Polonia Restituta Fourth Class, and in 2024, with the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.

Marczewski is a respected teacher. In the 1990s, he was dean of the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK. He also taught at the Film and TV Direction Department of the Lodz Film School. He has conducted film workshops in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Poland. He co-founded the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing, where he conducts classes with young filmmakers.

He has held many positions in the film industry, including vice-presidency of the Polish Filmmakers Association and membership in the Cinematography Committee. He is a member of the Polish Film Academy and the European Film Academy. From 2017 to 2020, he presided over the PFF Programme Council.

Selected films:

• 1968 Anatomy Lesson
• 1978 Nightmares
• 1981 Shivers
• 1990 Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema
• 1997 Time of Treason
• 2000 Weiser