Maja Komorowska to Receive the Marshal’s Film Award at Camerimage 2026
The outstanding stage and screen actress and educator has been named the 31st recipient of the Pola Negri Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region. She will receive the award at the closing ceremony of the Toruń Camerimage Festival.
The 34th ToruńCamerimage International Film Festival will take place from 7 to 14 November. The Kujawsko-Pomorskie regional government has been a principal partner and co-host of this celebration of cinema for many years.
Previous Recipients of the Marshal’s Film Award
Maja Komorowska was born on 23 December 1937 in Warsaw. Her twin brother was actor Piotr Komorowski, who passed away in 2017.
In 1960, she graduated from the Puppetry Department of the State Higher School of Theatre in Kraków and made her stage debut at the city’s Groteska Theatre. She subsequently joined the ensembles led by Jerzy Grotowski at the Theatre of 13 Rows in Opole and the Laboratory Theatre in Wrocław. In the following years, she performed on stages in Wrocław and Warsaw. Since 2025, she has been a member of the Nowy Teatr company in Warsaw.
She made her film debut in 1960, lending her voice to the fairy tale Marysia and the Dwarfs. A decade later, she played her first on-screen role in Krzysztof Zanussi’s Family Life. Her artistic collaboration with this acclaimed director continued for several decades, with Zanussi writing several screenplays specifically with her in mind. She twice received the Best Actress Award at the Polish Film Festival for her performances in his films Quarterly Balance (1975) and At Full Gallop (1996). Her portrayal of the eccentric Idalia Dobrowolska in the latter also earned her the Best Actress Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 1983, Zanussi filmed A Year of the Quiet Sun in Toruń and Grudziądz. The film tells the story of a romance between a Polish woman (Komorowska) and an American soldier (Scott Wilson), set against the difficult realities of post-war Poland. It went on to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
She also appeared in several films directed by Andrzej Wajda, including The Wedding (1972), The Maids of Wilko (1979), The Condemnation of Franciszek Kłos (2000) and Katyń (2007). She can currently be seen on the big screen as Mrs Zasławska in Maciej Kawalski’s new adaptation of The Doll.
Beginning in 1982, she taught acting at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw for more than 30 years. In 1991, she was awarded the academic title of Professor of Theatre Arts. In 2023, she received an honorary doctorate from the Łódź Film School.
Komorowska has also been actively involved in social and humanitarian causes. During the period of martial law in Poland, she worked with the Primate’s Social Council and the Committee for Aid to Internees and Their Families. She later became involved in the S.O.S. Foundation alongside Jacek Kuroń.
Throughout her career, she has received numerous Polish and international honours in recognition of her artistic achievements. These include the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2011) and the French distinction of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2010). In 2020, she received the Polish Film Award – the Eagle – for Lifetime Achievement. Two years earlier, she was presented with the Golden Angel Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 16th Tofifest International Film Festival in Toruń.
Dariusz Czołgowski
Promotion Department
26 October 2026