Polish film director Kazimierz Kutz dies at 89
Kazimierz Kutz, one of Poland’s most respected film directors has died at the age of 89, his wife Iwona Świętochowska-Kutz has informed PAP.
The film director died on Tuesday, in a hospital near Warsaw, after a long illness.
Kazimierz Kutz was born on February 16, 1929 in Szopienice, in the region of Silesia. He graduated from the Film Directing Department at the State Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1955 and soon thereafter began working with Andrzej Wajda, one of the most prominent filmmakers in Poland.
His debut film was Cross of Valor (1959) and since then he completed more than 20 films, including six about his home region – Silesia. He is best known for directing the so-called Silesian Trilogy which included "Salt of the Black Earth," "Pearl in the Crown" and "Beads of a Rosary".
Kutz was also a respected theatre director and politician.
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Gliński stressed that the death of the director is "a great loss for Polish culture." As he said, Kutz was "a prominent creator of the Polish film school."
He emphasised that Kutz was first and foremost "an outstanding artist, director, an uncompromising man, sharp-tongued, and in many ways, so defiant." He pointed out that first of all, we should remember him for his films, because the filmmaker defended himself with what he created, and "the vast majority of Kutz's films are those which are remembered and which were important," he emphasised. (PAP)
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