Agnieszka Holland

Agnieszka Holland is a renowned Polish film and television director and screenwriter, lauded for her poignant portrayals within Polish cinema. Born on 28th November 1948, Holland's career started under the mentorship of prominent directors Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda. She later relocated to France before Poland's 1981 martial law imposition. Her work extends through several award-winning films including 'Europa Europa' (1990), 'The Secret Garden' (1993), 'Angry Harvest' and 'In Darkness'. The latter two were nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. In 2017, she attained the Alfred Bauer Prize (Silver Bear) for 'Spoor' at the Berlin International Film Festival and has consistently won at the Gdynia Film Festival. In 2020, she was elected as the President of the European Film Academy, and in 2023, her film 'Green Border' secured the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

Holland's works often explore the individual experiences of people amidst political events, with a critique of Nazi and communist crimes as a recurring theme. Born in Warsaw, Poland, she is the daughter of journalists Irena (née Rybczyńska) and Henryk Holland, a prominent Communist activist. During the Holocaust, Holland's mother, a Roman Catholic, assisted several Jews and was later awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal from the Yad Vashem Institute in Israel. Studying at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), Holland's initial screenplay caught Andrzej Wajda's attention, leading to her successful career, and making her a pillar of the Polish film industry.