The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź (Polish: Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa, Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. Leona Schillera w Łodzi), officially known as commonly known as Łódź Film School (Polish: Szkoła Filmowa w Łodzi) is a Polish film school for future actors, directors, photographers, camera operators, and television staff. It was founded on 8 March 1948 in Łódź (Lodz).
History
From 1945 Jerzy Toeplitz initiated the founding of a national Polish film school,[1] and in 1947, was one of the co-founders of the national film school in Poland, now known as Łódź Film School.[1] It was officially founded on 8 March 1948 in Łódź (Lodz).[citation needed] Other founding professors were Jerzy Bossak, Wanda Jakubowska, Stanislaw Wohl, and Antoni Bohdziewicz.[2] Toeplitz was first a lecturer and director of the school from 1949 to 1952, and then rector from 1957 to 1968.[1]
Until 1958, the school existed as two separate schools: one for actors and the other for filmmakers. The schools and the Polish cinema industry were moved from Warsaw to the nearby city of Łódź after World War II. This move was initially seen as a temporary measure, thus the name of the actors' school was The National Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw with seat in Łódź. Its creator and the first rector was the Polish actor Leon Schiller, current namesake of the school. In 1949, it was divided into two branches; one actually moved to Warsaw and the other one remained in Łódź under the directorship of Kazimierz Dejmek (since 1950).[3]
The years leading up to the merger in 1958 were those in which notable artists of the Polish Film School created the reputation of the Łódź Film School as the most liberal and least Communist institution of higher education in Poland. Among the most notable alumni of that period were Andrzej Munk, Janusz Morgenstern, Andrzej Wajda, and Kazimierz Kutz. In 1954, they were joined by Roman Polanski.[4]
After 1958, the school became a cultural think-tank of Poland, with many outsiders and artists not supported by the Communist authorities joining it. Various discussion clubs and relative liberty of speech promoted by the new rector, Jerzy Toeplitz, added to its value. For instance, two of the students of the university (Jerzy Matuszkiewicz and Witold Sobociński) became the first jazz musicians in Poland after World War II to be allowed by the authorities to organize a concert. Kirk Douglas visited the school in 1966. His visit was documented in the self-titled documentary Kirk Douglas.[5]
