Jerzy Toeplitz

Jerzy Bonawentura Toeplitz[1] was born in 24 November 1909[2] in Kharkov (Kharkiv), then in the Russian Empire, now in Ukraine.

He was one of four children of social activist and town planner Teodor Toeplitz and his wife Halina (née Odrzywolska), who were Jewish.

[2] In 1970 he was headhunted by Australian writer and broadcaster Phillip Adams and polymath and politician Barry Jones, who were campaigning for the establishment of a government-supported film school in Sydney.

[3][7] The British head of UCLA's department of theatre arts, Colin Young, had recommended Toeplitz to Adams and Jones, and he visited Australia as a consultant at the end of 1970 for three weeks.

In 1974, Jacquelene Rees, writing in The Canberra Times, wrote that Toeplitz is "generally accredited with having laid the basis of the 1950s renascence of Polish cinema through his brave and innovatory administration" as well as being "an eminent teacher, historian, and international film juror".

[17][3] At the time of Toeplitz's departure, the library held over 5,000 video titles, scripts, and screenplays, along with books and periodicals.

[2] Toeplitz married Izabella Gornicka in 1943, and with World War II imminent, both feared that, as Polish Jews, they would die.

Toeplitz played a key role in developing the curriculum, with the school later producing filmmakers like Roman Polanski and Jerzy Skolimowski.

[3] His impact on the new generation of filmmakers who were trained at AFTRS was also immense, starting with Gillian Armstrong, Philip Noyce, Chris Noonan, and Jane Campion, to name a few.