Jerzy Skolimowski, photo by Maksymilian Rigamonti/Reporter/East News
"For the commitment and courage of the opposition, in which you find yourself resistant to conformity, for the fact that you look at common dramas as an individual and personal matter, thus renewing the language of cinema - the seventh art", said Frédéric Mitterrand.
The French minister is an admirer of Skolimowski, he added:
"A nonconforming spirit, frantic in the '60s, if these days you are approaching contemplation, then your films express the insane power of life, resistance to any proposals. Free, forever in motion, gifted with intuition, cinema based in social reality of pure poetry - together with Andrzej Wajda and Milos Forman containing the eastern avant-garde where you still remain a colorful outsider".
The Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) is awarded to people - both citizens of France and foreigners - who "distinguish themselves through their artistic or literary activities and to those who have had significant contributions to the arts, literature or the propagation of these fields in France and the world". An Order of France, established in 1957 by the French Minister of Culture.
So far, the Polish members honoured with the Order of Arts and Letters are: artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, directors Andrzej Wajda and Andrzej Seweryn, actress Krystyna Janda and Maja Komorowska and illustrator, comics creator Grzegorz Rosiński.
Jerzy Skolimowski, film director, screenwriter, actor, also a poet and painter. A boxer in his youth. Born in 1938. He graduated from ethnography at the Warsaw University in 1959, and in 1963 from directing at the National Theatre and Film School (now the National Film, Television and Theatre School) in Lodz. His films from school already drew the attention of critics. His film "Boxing" received the Grand Prix at the International Sport Film Festival in 1962 in Budapest. As a writer his debut was in the 1960 with the film "Innocent Sorcerers" (directed by Andrzej Wajda), his directorial feature film debut in 1964 with "Identification Marks: None". His films include "Walkover" (1965), "Barrier" (1966), "Hands Up!" (1967), "The Shout" ("Scream", 1978), "30 Door Key" ("Ferdydurke" 1991), "Four Nights with Anna" (2008), "Essential Killing" (2010), through which the director has provided a unique position in the Polish cinema.
Source: www.sfp.org.pl
See also
Biography of Jerzy Skolimowski
Kinopolska in Paris