Mariusz Hermanowicz was born in 1950 Olsztyn, Poland, in the family which has been moved there from Wilno today's Vilnius under the Yalta agreements adjoining this part of historic Lithuania and populated mainly by the Polish population, to the Soviet Union. Fascinated from the young age by film and photography, Hermanowicz went to study at the Cinematography Dept. of the National Polish Film School in Łódź (Master of Arts, 1974).