Munk, Andrzej

Born Oct. 16, 1921, in Kraków; died Sept. 20, 1961, near Ośwęcim. Polish film director.

In 1951, Munk graduated from the Higher School of Cinematography and Theatrical Art in -Lodz. From 1949 he was a cameraman and director for newsreels. He photographed the films Destination—Nowa Huta (1951), The Railroad Man Speaks (1953), and Stars Must Shine (1954, with V. Lesiewicz), to name a few. In 1955 he directed his first feature film. Fame came to Munk with the films Man on Rails (1957), Eroica (1958), and Bad Luck (1960, shown in the Soviet Union under the title Six Transformations of Jan Piszczik). Munk’s last film, The Passenger (after the novella of the same name by Z. Posmysz), was completed by Lesiewicz in 1963. Munk’s films reveal the characters of the protagonists in critical and tense situations. A number of his works have been awarded prizes at international film festivals in Venice (1955, 1958), Karlovy Vary (1957), and elsewhere.