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 Wajda won international acclaim for "Man of Iron" (1981),
which tells the story of the anti-Communist Solidarity movement,
and the film's subversive predecessor "Man of Marble" (1977).
Fans, film-makers and political leaders rushed online to pay
tribute after his death was announced late on Sunday.
"We all stem from Wajda. We looked at Poland and at ourselves
through him. And we understood better. Now it will be more
difficult," Poland's former prime minister and the current head
of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said on social media.
Communist authorities censored the "Man of Marble", angered by
its portrayal of political corruption in the early 1950s
Stalinist period, shown through the fall from grace of a
Stakhanovite bricklayer.
"Man of Iron," which portrays the 1980 strikes that led to the
creation of the Solidarity union and the fall of communism, was
awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes festival.
In 2000, Wajda received an Academy Honorary Award in 2000, in
recognition of five decades of work, the first eastern European
director to win the lifetime achievement Oscar.
Wajda's films also won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International
Film Festival and four nominations for Academy Awards, among
other prizes.
"ONE OF THE GREATEST"
"He was one of the greatest Polish artists, one of the best
known in the world. Poland was his passion," film director and
head of the Polish Filmmakers' Association Jacek Bromski told
TVN24 broadcaster.
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"For us, for the community he was a pillar of strength, everybody
gathered around him. He was always present in the life of the
film-making community, he was a mentor, a paragon."
Wajda's last film, "Afterimage", a biopic about avant-garde painter
Władysław Strzemiński, tells a story of an artist struggling to
overcome the pressures of Stalinist dogma on art shortly after World
War Two.
Wajda, who has spent decades using subtle cinematic language and
hidden meanings to avoid overt clashes with the communist
authorities, has drawn parallels between Strzemiński's efforts and
the current conservative government's policy of promoting "national
culture".
"We are facing a moment when the authorities are trying to influence
art," Wajda, who has criticized the Law and Justice (PiS) government
on several occasions, told the local PAP news agency in September.
"'National art' is being discussed, what is art and what isn't. I
made a film about the past which says that influencing art is not
the role of a government. Artists should do art, not the
authorities."
"Afterimage" has been submitted as Poland's candidate for best
Foreign Language Oscar.
(Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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