Andrzej Wajda, one of the most important film directors of the 20th century, died on October 9, in Warsaw. Recipient of a honorary Oscar and the Palme d’Or, many of his movies undertook essential issues of Polish-Jewish history (Samson, 1961; The Promised Land, 1975; Korczak, 1990; Holy Week, 1995 among others).

Roman Polanski, who started his acting career in Andrzej Wajda’s Pokolenie (A Generation, 1954), underlined the courage and originality of his older colleague from the Łódź Film School: “Wajda, with the fire of youth and a painter’s eye, set out to break the dreary official mold.” (Roman by Polanski, 1984)