Presented in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Andrzej Wajda’s honorary Oscar, this screening shows the legendary director's final film, a passionate portrait of renowned avantgarde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who challenged Stalinist orthodoxy. In post-war Poland, Strzeminski works as a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Łódź. His students revere him as a genius, but university authorities and the Ministry of Culture have a differing opinion. Refusing to comply with Communist Party regulations, he is eventually expelled from the university and the artists union. As the Communist authorities continue their efforts to ruin him, Strzeminski remains steadfast in his political and artistic convictions. (Andrzej Wajda, 2016, DCP, Polish with English subtitles, 100 minutes)  

Organized in partnership with the Embassy of Poland. 

Image caption: Still from Andrzej Wajda’s Afterimage (Powidocki), courtesy The Film Movement