Wiesława Czapińska was born in 1932, in Bydgoszcz. She was a film critic, film historian, screenwriter, journalist, writer, and organiser of cultural activities.
For many years, she worked for the Polish film weekly ‘Ekran’, and she also cooperated with Akademia Filmu i Telewizji (Academy of Film & Television) in Warsaw. She was the person behind the idea to establish the Zbigniew Cybulski Award (in 1969), which is given to young actors and actresses with outstanding personalities. Daniel Olbrychski was the first ever winner of this award. Over the years, the award was given to great many actors and actresses connected to the region, for example to: Adrianna Biedrzyńska (1989), Piotr Głowacki (2006, 2012, 2013), Bogusław Linda (2009), Magdalena Czerwińska (2011), Roma Gąsiorowska (2011), Jakub Gierszał (2011), Julian Świeżewski (2017), or Tomasz Ziętek (2010/2021).
Wiesława Czapińska was an expert in the life and artistic achievements of Pola Negri, who was born in Lipno. She was also an author of her biographies. The first one – titled ‘Polita’ – was published in 1989, followed by the second one ‘Pola Negri – polska królowa Hollywood’ released in 1996. Her fascination with Pola Negri bore another fruit: in 2007, Wiesława Czapińska became the artistic director of the 1st edition of ‘Pola i inni’ Film Review held in Lipno, which she helped initiate.
In her private life, she was married to Mieczysław Kalenik, the actor who played Zbyszko Bogdaniec in the film adaptation of the book ‘The Teutonic Knights’ penned by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Wiesław Czapińska died on 26th September 2010, in Warsaw.
