Lech Majewski (pronounced , ‘Ma-yev-ski’) (born 30 August 1953) is a Polish film and theatre director, writer, poet, and painter.

Life and career

Born in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland, Majewski studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In the 1970s, he then studied at the

National Film School in Łódź National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, notably as a student of Wojciech Has, who taught Majewski directing. In the early 80s, after completing ''The Knight'' and as martial law was declared in Poland, Majewski emigrated to England and then to the United States, where he lived for most of the late Communist era. Majewski is a dual U.S.-Polish citizen, and travels often between those and other countries. He is a member of the American and European film academies and the Polish

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. Majewski speaks fluent, and excellent, English, but often works with English-speaking natives on his script. That was the initial role that Julian Schnabel had on '' Basquiat'', before Majewski abandoned the project and Schnabel took it over. In 2006, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City hosted a retrospective of Majewski's work. This was their first ever full retrospective of a Polish filmmaker, and one of their only ever mid-career retrospectives. For that program, Majewski created the film eventually called ''Glass Lips'', though initially it was known as ''Blood of a Poet''.

Filmography

* ''Zwiastowanie'' (1978) * ''The Knight (Rycerz)'' (1980) * ''The Flight of the Spruce Goose (Lot Świerkowej Gęsi)'' (1986) * '' Prisoner of Rio (Więzień Rio)'' (1988), produced between England and Brazil, a fictionalized story of Ronnie Biggs, mastermind of The

Great Train Robbery of 1963 The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshi ...

* ''The Gospel According to Harry (Ewangelia według Harry'ego)'' (1992) * ''Basquiat'' (developed project, eventually credited as co-writer and co-producer) (1996) * ''The Roe's Room (Pokój Saren)'' (1998) * ''Wypadek'' (1998) * '' Wojaczek'' (aka ''Life Hurts'') (1999) * ''Angelus'' (2001) * '' The Garden of Earthly Delights'' (2004) * '' Glass Lips'' (2007) (feature film version of the ''Blood of a Poet'' installation (2006)) * ''

The Mill and the Cross ''The Mill and the Cross'' ( pl, Młyn i krzyż) is a 2011 drama film directed by Lech Majewski and starring Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling, and Michael York. It is inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder's 1564 painting '' The Procession to Calva ...

'' (2011) * ''

Field of Dogs Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

'' (2014) * '' Valley of the Gods'' (2019)

Sources

The original version of this article was an adaptation o
Google’s machine-translation
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this version
(2007-02-15) of the German Wikipedia article :de:Lech Majewski.

External links

Personal home page
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Photographanother photographbiography
(Vancouver)

(New York)
ŻAK Gallery - ''Blood of a Poet'' installationPersonal Polish Home Pageculture.plfilmpolski.plLech Majewski personal siteepoznan.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majewski, Lech Living people 1953 births People from Katowice Polish film directors Polish cinematographers Polish screenwriters Polish film producers Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw alumni