LOS ANGELES (AP) – Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski went from directing a black-and-white movie that inspires silent contemplation to being at the “epicenter of noise,” the Oscars, he said visibly amused, as he accepted the prize for best foreign film for “Ida”.
“How did I get here,” he said.
The win marks the first foreign language Oscar for Poland despite nine previous nominations and a rich history of filmmaking, including by renowned directors like Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski. But the tautly made “Ida,” a period film that plunges into a dark chapter of Polish history of German occupation during World War II via a young nun who discovers her family’s secrets from the era, emerged as one of the critical hits of 2014. Pawlikowski’s film also was nominated for its cinematography.
The director had criticized the press days before for labeling his film a “Holocaust movie,” going so far as to say “Ida” had been “hijacked for other purposes” because of all the “fuss and attention.”
On-stage Sunday night, he made no mention of his concerns.