Andrzej Wajda: Man of Poland

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The American Cinematheque, in collaboration with the Wajda Film Centre in Poland, are proud to present six films celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Honorary Oscar awarded to Andrzej Wajda for lifetime achievement. Including 35mm prints of ASHES AND DIAMONDS and KANAŁ, these rarely screened films honor one of the world’s most important artists, whose work, deeply rooted in Polish history, carries a universal message and inspires reflection on values fundamental to every free society, remaining as vital today as at their premieres.

Andrzej Wajda’s work grows from the very core of the Polish experience – from the history, culture, and values that have shaped generations. Wajda came of age in the shadow of World War II, in a world marked by loss, heroism, and the necessity of moral choices. From this burden – and from Poland’s literary, painterly, and theatrical traditions – he built his own unique cinematic language.

His films blended romanticism with pragmatism, rebellion with compromise, memory with a vision of the future. His protagonists – soldiers, workers, artists – had to find their place in the dense web of history, ideology, and personal desires, and faced moral dilemmas that remain strikingly relevant in today’s world of tensions and divisions. Today, in an era of global debates on democracy, human rights, and civic responsibility, his films speak just as powerfully as they did on the day of their premieres.

For American audiences, Wajda’s work offers not only a record of Central and Eastern European history, but above all universal stories of courage, loyalty, and the search for meaning in a world without easy answers. These are values that connect audiences regardless of language or continent – and in the United States, where freedom is the foundation of national identity, they resonate in a particularly profound way. The project ‘Andrzej Wajda. Man of Poland’ is more than a film retrospective – it is an invitation to intercultural dialogue. Thanks to the collaboration between the Wajda Film Centre and the American Cinematheque, audiences in Los Angeles will be able to see both his most famous works and participate in meetings and discussions devoted to the director’s legacy. Each screening will be preceded by a short introduction delivered by experts.