Wieslaw Saniewski

Wieslaw Saniewski, born 1948, graduated in mathematics at the Wroclaw University and went on to study screenwriting at the Lodz Film School. After writing several screenplays, he worked as an assistant for Andrzej Wajda. In 1971, he graduated with the short film Wielki Swiat (The Great World), based on Alberto Moravia's "Smells and a Bone". His first feature film was finished in 1981 : Wolny Strzelec (The Free Lancer). It was his next film, Nadzor (Custody), made in 1983 that gave him international renown. The film received several prizes and awards at various film festivals, among which the FIPRESCI Prize at the Mannheim Festival and a Gdansk Lion for the best debut, the best actress and the best cinematography. Saniewski's films brought him into conflict with the authorities and his films were banned, to be shown in Poland only after the socialist regime had fallen.