Platinum Lions
Allan Starski
Production designer. Born on 1st January 1943 in Warsaw, he graduated from the Faculty of Interior Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1969. A year later, he started out in the film industry as a set decorator – on location, in the Warsaw Steelworks – for Bohdan Poręba’s psychological drama, Facing the Truth. In 1973, he debuted with the production design for Ryszard Ber’s The Boys and merely three years later, he started his long-lasting collaboration with Andrzej Wajda by designing the sets of The Shadow Line. Since then, Starski has co-created the most iconic works of Wajda, such as Man of Marble, Man of Iron and Danton. In 1979, he shared an award for set design at the PFF in Gdańsk with Maria Osiecka-Kuminek for The Maids of Wilko.
Allan Starski has worked with numerous Polish and foreign directors, such as Agnieszka Holland (production design for Europa Europa), Krzysztof Kieślowski (No End), Jerzy Stuhr (Love Stories), Peter Webber (Hannibal Rising) and Stijn Coninx (Daens).
He has received many prestigious awards, the most important of which is the Oscar for Art Direction for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Three-time Eagle-winner for his work on Pan Tadeusz (dir. Andrzej Wajda), Aftermath (dir. Władysław Pasikowski), and The Pianist (dir. Roman Polański), for which he also received the César Award.
A successful stage designer for multiple theatrical plays, Television Theatre and the 2006 European Film Academy Ceremony, he conducts international film workshops and gives masterclasses in production design. Author of Scenografia, a handbook renowned by budding filmmakers.
Recently, Starski designed the sets of The Cut (dir. Fatih Akin) and The Coldest Game (dir. Łukasz Kośmicki) starring Bill Pullman, presented at the 2019 PFF in Gdynia.
In 2013, he was decorated with the Order of Polonia Restituta Second Class for his “outstanding contribution to Polish and world culture and achievements in creative work and arts”. A year later, he received the Golden Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis. On 11th April 2015, Allan Starski’s star was revealed in Stars Avenue on Piotrkowska Street in Łódź.
Apart from being an Executive Board member of the Polish Filmmakers Association since 2007, he’s also a member of the Polish Film Academy, European Film Academy and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
