Wajda died on October 9, 2016 at the age of 90.
In an obituary, Polish critic Barbara Hollender wrote at the time: "For the Polish people Wajda was more than just a director. He belonged to a generation that believed that art could change the world. His films really changed us. We walked out of the cinema stronger."
This year, which also marks the centenary of his birth, has been celebrated as the Year of Andrzej Wajda, with a wide range of special events focusing on his artistic output, including film retrospectives, exhibitions, academic sessions and panel discussions.
They have been held in venues including Wajda’s birthplace of Suwałki in northeastern Poland, the town of Radom, where he lived from 1935 to 1946 and attended school, the southern city of Kraków, where he studied at the Fine Arts Academy, as well as the central city of Łódź, where he graduated in film directing.
In his features, primarily Canal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Man of Marble (1977), Man of Iron (1981) and Katyn (2007), he probed into the key issues of Poland’s 20th-century history, from the tragedy of the German occupation and the experience of World War II, the realities of the Stalinist period to the social and political processes leading to the birth of the Solidarity freedom movement and the fall of communism.
Events celebrating Wajda's legacy have also been held abroad.
The American Cinematheque, which hosted a Wajda retrospective in Los Angeles, wrote on its website that "his work grows from the very core of the Polish experience – from the history, culture, and values that have shaped generations."
It added: "For American audiences, Wajda’s work offers not only a record of Central and Eastern European history, but above all universal stories of courage, loyalty, and the search for meaning in a world without easy answers."
In 2000, Wajda received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.
Four of his films have been nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film: The Promised Land (1975), The Maids of Wilko (1979), Man of Iron and Katyn.
Among Wajda’s many honours was the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state distinction.
(mk/gs)