Jerzy Skolimowski facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jerzy Skolimowski
Skolimowski at the 10th Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival in 2016
Born	(1938-05-05) 5 May 1938 (age 87) Łódź, Poland
Alma mater	Łódź Film School
Occupation	Filmmaker, director, screenwriter, actor, painter
Years active	1960–present
Spouse(s)	Elżbieta Czyżewska Joanna Szczerbic Ewa Piaskowska
Children	2

Jerzy Skolimowski (born 5 May 1938) is a famous Polish filmmaker, director, and actor. He also writes movie scripts and paints. He started his career by writing for a film called Innocent Sorcerers in 1960.

Since then, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty movies. In 1967, he won a big award called the Golden Bear for his Belgian film The Departure. Another well-known film he directed is Deep End from 1970.

He lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years, where he focused on painting. He also acted in movies sometimes. After a 17-year break, he returned to Poland and started making films again. His first film back was Four Nights with Anna in 2008.

In 2016, he received the Golden Lion Award for his amazing work over many years at the Venice Film Festival. His film EO (2022) won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, which is a very important award.

Growing Up: Jerzy Skolimowski's Early Life

Jerzy Skolimowski was born in Łódź, Poland. His mother's name was Maria, and his father, Stanisław Skolimowski, was an architect. Jerzy often said that his childhood was deeply affected by World War II.

As a young child, he saw many difficult things during the war. He was even rescued from the ruins of a house in Warsaw after it was bombed. His father was part of the Polish Resistance, a group that fought against the Nazis, and was sadly killed by them. His mother bravely hid a Jewish family in their home. Jerzy remembers having to take candy from the Nazis to make it seem like everything was normal.

After the war, his mother worked for the Polish embassy in Prague. Jerzy went to school in Poděbrady, a town near Prague. Some of his classmates were future famous filmmakers like Miloš Forman and Ivan Passer. Even Václav Havel, who later became president, was there.

Jerzy was known for being a bit of a troublemaker at school. He often played pranks that upset the teachers. Later, in college, he studied different subjects like ethnography (the study of cultures), history, and literature. He also started boxing. Boxing even became the topic of his first important film, a long documentary. Jerzy was interested in jazz music and became friends with composer Krzysztof Komeda. This led him to meet actors like Zbigniew Cybulski and directors such as Andrzej Munk and Roman Polanski.

Becoming a Writer and Actor

When Jerzy Skolimowski was in his early twenties, he was already a writer. He had published several books of poems, short stories, and even a play. Soon, he met Andrzej Wajda, a leading director in Poland at the time. Wajda was twelve years older than Skolimowski.

Wajda showed him a script about young people. Skolimowski wasn't very impressed with it. However, Wajda challenged him to write his own version. Skolimowski did, and his script became the basis for the film Innocent Sorcerers (1960). Wajda directed the film, and Skolimowski even acted in it, playing a boxer.

Skolimowski then joined the Łódź Film School. He wanted to become a feature film director without having to wait a long time. He used the film equipment available to him for student projects. Over several years, he filmed different scenes and later put them together to make a full-length movie. Even though he didn't get high grades in his coursework, he had already made a complete film by the end of his studies!

Making His Mark in Movies

After film school, Skolimowski worked with Roman Polanski. He helped write the dialogue for Polanski's film Knife in the Water (1962).

Between 1964 and 1984, Skolimowski made six films that were partly about his own life. These include Rysopis, Walkover, Barrier (1966), and Hands Up! (finished in 1967, released in 1981). He also made Moonlighting (1982) and Success Is the Best Revenge.

He also directed two other films, Le Départ (1967) and Deep End, both based on his own ideas. Barrier won a top award at the Bergamo International Film Festival. Le Départ won the Golden Bear at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival, which is a very important award.

Skolimowski lived and worked in many different countries. He also directed six larger movies between 1970 and 1992. These included international co-productions like The Adventures of Gerard, King, Queen, Knave, and The Shout. All these films clearly showed Skolimowski's unique style.

Filmmaking Around the World

After Barrier, Jerzy Skolimowski left Poland to make Le Départ in Belgium. This film was in French. He described Le Départ as a light film, not a deep comedy. He said it "does not have the serious layers that I like in my work."

Skolimowski returned to Poland to make Ręce do góry (Hands Up!). This film criticized the government at the time. Because of its themes, Hands Up! was banned, and Skolimowski had to leave Poland. He then moved to London, where he famously lived in the same building as musician Jimi Hendrix.

Between Hands Up! and his next film, The Adventures of Gerard (1970), Skolimowski contributed a story to a Czech film called Dialóg 20-40-60 (1968). In this film, three different directors used the same dialogue for their stories, but the main characters were twenty years apart in age. Skolimowski's part, "The Twenty Year Olds," seemed to continue the ideas from Le Départ.

Deep End (1970) was Skolimowski's second film not made in Poland that was based on his own original script. This movie is about growing up and has similar themes to Le Départ. His films The Shout (1978) and Moonlighting (1982) were very popular with critics. Moonlighting, made in the UK and starring Jeremy Irons, was his most successful film both with critics and financially.

Working in the United States

The Lightship was Skolimowski's first movie made in the US. It was based on a story by a German writer and starred famous actors Robert Duvall and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The film was set on a US Coast Guard ship and filmed in the North Sea. Even though it won the best film award at the Venice Film Festival, The Lightship was not widely released.

Torrents of Spring (1989) was a large European co-production. It was based on a story by Russian author Ivan Turgenev and starred Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski, and Valeria Golino. This film was a bit different from Skolimowski's usual style, as he often said he only made films to please himself.

Skolimowski is also a talented actor. He has appeared in several movies, playing different roles. For example, he played Colonel Chaikov, a tough KGB officer, in White Nights (1985). He was also Uncle Stepan in Eastern Promises (2007). In 2012, he played a villain in the superhero movie The Avengers, who was questioning Black Widow.

Recent Films and Awards

In 2008, after returning from America, Jerzy Skolimowski directed his first new film, Cztery noce z Anną (Four Nights with Anna).

In 2010, he directed Essential Killing, starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner. This film won many awards, including a special prize at the 67th Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Lions Award for Best Film at the Gdynia Film Festival. In 2015, he directed the thriller 11 Minutes. This film was chosen to represent Poland for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards.

In July 2016, at the Venice Film Festival, Skolimowski received the Golden Lion award for his lifetime of amazing work in film.

His film EO was shown for the first time at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Jury Prize there. This Polish-Italian film is a modern take on an older drama film from 1966. In 2022, he also helped write the script for director Roman Polanski's film The Palace.

Jerzy Skolimowski's Filmography

Awards and Recognitions

Jerzy Skolimowski has won many awards for his films and his work as a director, writer, and actor. Here are some of the most important ones:

See also

• Polish cinema
• List of Poles