The name giver of our Foundation

Wladyslaw Slesicki (1927–2008), a film director and a screenwriter, was one of the leading makers of Polish documentary films in the 1950s and 1960s.The most important Slesicki’s documentaries include: „Ludzie z pustego obszaru” („People of the Vacant Area”, 1957, together with Kazimierz Karabasz), „Wśród Ludzi” („Among Men”, 1960), „Plyna tratwy” („Rafts float”, 1962), „Zanim Opadną Liście” („Before the leaves fall”, 1964) or „Rodzina człowiecza” („The Family of Man”, 1966) awarded Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival. In 1968 he made his debut as a feature film director with „Ruchome Piaski” („Shifting Sands”).

The most famous film of his was „W pustyni i w puszczy” („In Desert and Wilderness”, 1973). It won massive popularity in Poland and was watched by over 30 million people (second at the box office of all time in Poland). He also made feature films: „A Long Way to Go”, „Songs Over Dew” as well as a TV series „Summer of the forest people”. Wladyslaw Slesicki’s films were awarded at international festivals, e.g. in Venice (Grand Prix and Golden Lion), Leipzig, Cordoba (Grand Prix), Buenos Aires, Bergamo, Guadalajara, Oberhausen, Krakow ( „Golden Dragon”, „Silver Lajkonik”).

During the Second World War Wladyslaw Slesicki was a soldier of the Grey Ranks – part of the anti-Nazi underground Polish Home Army and a participant in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

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