How did the world-renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s lifelong interest in painting influence his work? Polish film historian and cinephile Maciej Gil will guide you through the director’s artistic world.

After World War II, Wajda initially studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, but gradually his desire to explore a new medium—one through which he could express his artistic visions—prevailed. He always carried a sketchbook with him and drew practically every day: portraits, snapshots from his travels, ideas. His drawings helped him develop his cinematic imagination and the central themes of his films.

Maciej Gil (*1981), a Polish film historian and long-time promoter of film culture, and a member of the expert committee of the Polish National Film Archive. From 2006 to 2012, he headed the Polish Federation of Film Discussion Clubs, and since 2005 has served as program director for the Kino na Granicy festival in Cieszyn, with which he continues to collaborate on the Polish program; he has also helped organize the Summer Film Academy in Zwierzyniec and the European Express Film Festival in Kyiv. He has served on the juries of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Gdynia International Film Festival, and the Kraków Film Festival. His articles on film have appeared in the magazines *Kino*, *Tygodnik Powszechny*, and *EKRANy*.  

Lecture in Polish with interpretation into Czech.