Polish producers and film experts Katarzyna Ślesicka, Grzegorz Skorupski and Artur Zaborski will discuss Wajda’s career, his ideals, the ways he circumvented censorship under communism, the influence of American cinema on his work, and his impact on directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
The retrospective will feature six of Wajda’s most acclaimed films: Canal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Everything for Sale (1969), Man of Marble (1977), Man of Iron (1981) and Katyń (2007).
The event, held under the motto “Andrzej Wajda – Man of Poland,” marks the 25th anniversary of the Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement awarded to Wajda. It is organized by the American Cinematheque in partnership with Poland’s Wajda Film Centre.
The American Cinematheque writes on its website that Wajda’s work "grows from the very core of the Polish experience – from the history, culture, and values that have shaped generations."
It notes that he "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.”
According to the American Cinematheque, Wajda's films "blended romanticism with pragmatism, rebellion with compromise, memory with a vision of the future … 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."
The retrospective runs until Sunday.
Wajda died in 2016 at the age of 90.
(mk/gs)