Happy Birthday, Andrzej Munk! Born today in 1921, this Polish documentalist, cinematographer, screenwriter and director was one of the most influential artists of the post-Stalinist period in the People's Republic of Poland. Munk was born in Kraków to a Jewish family.
Years later, in June 1939, shortly before World War II, Munk graduated from a local gymnasium.
During the German occupation of Poland, he moved to Warsaw, where he was forced to hide. Using a nom de guerre, he worked as a construction worker.
In the summer of 1944, Munk took part in the Warsaw Uprising. This was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance, led by the Armia Krajowa (Home Army) to liberate Warsaw from German occupation.
Post-capitulation, Munk managed to leave the city and return to Kraków and later Kasprowy Wierch, where he started working as a janitor at the ropeway station.
In 1948, Munk had joined the communist ranks of the Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR (Polish United Workers' Party, PUWP).
After the war, Munk returned to Warsaw and joined the reopened Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology.
However, because of poor health, he left the university and later studied law at Warsaw University. Finally, Munk moved to Łódź,
This was where he joined the National Film Schooli in Łódź). This is the leading Polish academy for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators and television staff.
Munk eventually graduated alma mater in 1951. Afterwards, he started working as a cameraman for the Polska Kronika Filmowa (Polish Film Chronicle).
During this period, Munk finished several short films and documents. Although still a member of the PUWP, he was expelled the following year in 1952 for "blameworthy behaviour".
Four years later, Munk finished co-writing and directing the first film of which he is known. This was the 1956 Polish black and white drama film 'Człowiek na torze' ('Man of the Tracks'). Today, it is considered to be one of the most important Polish films of the 1950s.
In 1957, Munk started giving lectures at his alma mater. One year later, he finished directing the second film of which he is known. This was the 1958 Polish black and white/drama film 'Eroica' (released in some territories as 'Heroism').
Two years later, Munk finished directing the third film of which he is known. This was the 1960 Polish black and white comedy film 'Zezowate szczęście' ('Bad Luck').
A tragicomical story, the film was entered into the 13th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or, but didn't win.
The following year, Munk died as a result of a car crash in a head-on collision with a truck near Łowicz. This had occurred in Kompina, Poland on September 20, 1961. Munk was 39. This was while he was on his way home from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
It was there where he had been shooting the film of which he is best known for co-writing and directing. This was the 1963 Polish black and white drama/history war film 'Pasażerka' ('Passenger').
However, it was later released in its partially complete form, with a runtime of only a little over an hour.
In this unfinished film, Liza (Aleksandra Śląska) is a woman whose past is reawakened when she recognizes Marta (Anna Ciepielewska), a fellow passenger on an ocean liner.
Liza, a former concentration camp guard, gives her husband a distorted version of her relationship with the woman, who had been her prisoner at Auschwitz.
Eventually however, as brutal scenes of the prison camp are reenacted in flashbacks, Liza's cruelty and Marta's courage become clearer.
Due to Munk's passing, 'Passenger' and the completed scenes were combined from parts of original footage and screenplay sketches. These were provided by Polish film director and screenwriter Witold Lesiewicz, of whom also co-directed.
The methods used are explained in a voiceover during the course of the film, so its unfinished state itself takes a documentary form.
Parts of the film were shot at Auschwitz. The source for the film was a 1959 radio drama entitled "Pasażerka z kabiny 45" ("Passenger from Cabin Number 45").
This had been written by Polish journalist, novelist and author Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka. Her play was later reworked into a novel. It was published three years later as the 1962 fiction novel Pasażerka.
Posmysz-Piasecka herself was a resistance fighter in World War II and survived imprisonment at the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps. She had also co-written the screenplay for 'Passenger' along with Munk.
The following year, Munk's 'Passenger' was entered into the 17th Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. However, it didn't win. Nonetheless, Munk won a Special Mention award for his whole works.
Later that same year, 'Passenger' won the Pasinetti Award for Parallel Sections at the 25th Venice Film Festival.
The film was also selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film. This occurred at the 37th Academy Awards in early April 1965.
Since 1965, the Łódź Film School awards the best debut with the Andrzej Munk Film Award.
During the 49th Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale) in 2001, a retrospective festival of his films were organized in Venice, Italy.
One decade later, a retrospective of Munk and his films were held at the 11th New Horizons Film Festival during July 2011 in Wrocław, Poland.
Noted for his unsentimental view of wartime subjects, Munk was a contemporary of Polish screenwriter, producer and film and theatre director Andrzej Wajda ('Ashes and Diamonds', 'Man of Marble', 'Man of Iron').
Today, Munk’s films ‘Man on the Tracks',‘Eroica', 'Bad Luck, and 'Passenger' are considered classics of the Polish Film School.
Munk may well have gained an equally international reputation, had he not passed in an automobile wreck.
Nonetheless, he remains a key figure in Polish New Wave cinema, noted for his intelligent and ironic views of life in modern Poland.
Munk had been active from 1949–1963.
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