Andrzej Wajda: Portraits of History and Humanity
Sun 3 - Sun 31 May
‘Wajda had a long, creative career and left behind an extraordinary legacy. His works were inspiring around the world.’
– Martin Scorsese
Andrzej Wajda was the recipient of every major international film honour, including the Palme d’Or and Academy Award®. His cinema is located within the fabric of Polish history and society, reflecting how major historical events shape an individual and a nation, and initiating debates about national identity.
He was equally committed to portraying complex human relationships, moral responsibility and fortitude – often under duress – as he was in exploring the role of art and artists in revealing suppressed truths. Setting many films around sensitive national moments, his cinema sought a powerful visual language and remains both relevant and influential.
To mark the centenary of Wajda’s birth and 10 years since his passing, we celebrate this visionary filmmaker, who was not only an important storyteller of Polish culture and history, but also of the human condition.
- Aga Baranowska, BFI season curator
The Wajda Picture: get 15% off the regular ticket price when you book tickets for three or more screenings in our Andrzej Wajda: Portraits of History and Humanity season. Discount automatically applied at checkout.
Upcoming screenings in this season
Ashes and Diamonds
classified 12ASubtitled screening
In the last days of the Second World War, Maciek, a Polish resistance fighter, is tasked with the assassination of a Communist official.
Innocent Sorcerers
classified 12Subtitled screening
When hipster doctor Bazyli meets out-of-towner Pelagia in a nightclub, they spend a night in his flat flirting to the jazz tunes of Krzysztof Komeda.
Man of Marble
classified USubtitled screening
In the 1970s, young filmmaker Agnieszka investigates the life of a 1950s bricklayer and worker’s hero. When she learns that the facts behind his story were suppressed, she has to decide whether to pursue the truth or not.
Man of Iron
classified 12ASubtitled screening
The Palme d’Or-winning follow-up to Man of Marble sees Winkel, a Communist-friendly radio journalist, charged with finding compromising information about a Solidarity opposition leader.
Afterimage
classified 12ASubtitled screening
In his final film, Andrzej Wajda returns to previously explored themes of personal and artistic resistance to an authoritarian state and ideology.