This award-winning documentary is about Anna Walentynowicz, a crane operator at the shipyard in Gdansk, Poland from 1954 to 1980, and founder of the polish union Solidarnosc.

I came across her name in a footnote in Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics in 1999 and decided to find her. I travelled to Gdansk and when I met this remarkable woman, I knew immediately that I wanted to make a film about her.

I began writing a screenplay for a feature film, and got funding to make this documentary. The feature film screenplay also won several awards, most notably an Emmy in 2000 (you’ll find the screenplay on this website under screenplays), and was produced three years later, directed by Volker Schlöndorff and released as Strajk.

Title: Who is Anna Walentynowicz?

Language: Polish/German with English subtitles

Year: 2001

Format: Video

Duration: 58:30 min