The award ceremony will be followed by a special screening of Wajda’s new film tribute to Lech Walesa titled Walesa, Man of Hope. The film was produced by Akson Studio in co-production with Canal + and supported by the Polish Film Institute. Films Boutique recently acquired world rights for the film. Walesa, Man of Hope screens out of competition in Venice before moving on to also screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

Andrzej Wajda both scripted and directed the film which follows the life of Lech Walesa over 20 years as leader of the 1980s Polish trade union Solidarity. Solidarity grew into a leading anti-communist protest movement that contributed to the downfall of communism in Poland. Walesa was eventually elected as Poland’s first post-communist president.

Wajda was one of the leading filmmakers in the 1980s period during the Solidarity protest movement and he later served as a Polish senator during the time that Lech Walesa was President in the early 1990s. He has said that he hopes that the film will convince young people today in Poland that they should be involved in political life.

Undoubtedly Poland’s most famous living filmmaker Wajda has received numerous international awards including four foreign language Oscar nominations for his films The Promised Land, The Young Girls of Wilko, Man of Iron and Katyn. He won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2000.