Wajda spoke in Polish, his acceptance speech at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium translated into English in subtitles.

CNN: Entertainment - 'American Beauty' comes up with five roses

Those that survived showed only American blockbusters, and Mr Wajda's first capitalist films were critical and commercial flops.

ECONOMIST: A Pole apart

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda was given an Honorary Oscar for his four decades' work in films set in the aftermath of World War II.

CNN: Entertainment - 'American Beauty' comes up with five roses

Ten years ago, both Mr Wajda and Polish cinema looked finished.

ECONOMIST: A Pole apart

For the Germans, Poles and Jews who made their fortunes here, Lodz was the promised land depicted in Andrzej Wajda's epic film of the same name.

ECONOMIST: Poland��s second city

But Mr Antal has learned the lessons of east European cinematic realism, a school that encompasses stylists as different as Mr Polanski, Andrzej Wajda, Milos Forman and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

ECONOMIST: A flawless horror-thriller. Watch it if you dare