Władysław Ślesicki

The director of feature films and documentaries. He was born on January 5, 1927, in Warsaw and died on December 9, 2008, also in Warsaw. During the war he participated in the Warsaw Uprising. He was a commander in the Gray Ranks and a soldier of the Home Army. After the war he studied art history at the University of Warsaw. In 1955 he graduated in Directing from PWSTiF in Łódź (diploma obtained in 1959). Then, he worked in the Warsaw Documentary Film Studio where he made documentaries, many of which were received awards in Poland and abroad. It was not until 1969 that he made his feature film directorial debut. Moreover, he was a screenwriter and co-writer in all his films. In 2007 he was awarded the Polish Filmmakers Association Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement.

In his documentaries people appear in the closest connection with nature, which is their natural environment, and thus shapes their fate and personality. Similarly, his feature films reflect the prominent role of nature. The two-part film based on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s prose W pustyni i w puszczy (In Desert and Wilderness) brought him popular recognition and fame (over 30 million viewers in Poland).