SYNOPSIS
In post-war Poland, renowned painter Wladyslaw Strzemiński works as a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Łódź. A great artist and co-creator of the theory of Unism, Strzemiński became famous before the Second World War. His students still treat him like the “messiah of modern painting”, but university authorities and the Ministry of Culture have a very different opinion. Unlike artists loyal to the doctrines of socialist realism and fulfilling Party tasks, Strzemiński does not compromise his art. He refuses to comply with Party regulations, and he is eventually expelled from the university and the artists’ union. But Strzemiński’s students continue to support him, visiting him for private lectures. They pen down his Theory of Vision and listen to his critique of their work. But jobless Strzemiński, impaired due to a missing arm and leg, soon falls into poverty and poor health as the Communist authorities remain persistent in their actions to ruin him.
CAST & CREW
Andrzej Wajda
Director
Producer(s)
Michał Kwieciński
Script
Andrzej Mularczyk
Director of Photography
Paweł Edelman
Production designer
Marek Warszewski
Music by
Andrzej Panufnik
Sound
Maria Chilarecka, Kacper Habisiak, Marcin Kasiński
Edit
Grażyna Gradoń
Cast
Boguslaw Linda, Aleksandra Justa, Bronislawa Zamachowska.
Production company(ies)
Akson Studio TVP - Telewizja Polska National Audiovisual Institute (NINA) PISF, Tumult Foundation
Andrzej Wajda
Film and theatre director. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kracow and the Film School in Łódź. Senator of the Republic of Poland from 1989 to 1991. Wajda received numerous awards and prizes, including: BAFTA Fellowship 1982; Onassis Prize, Greece, 1982; Officier of the Légion d'Honneur, France, 1982; Cesar Award, France, 1983; Pirandello Artistic Award, Italy, 1986; Kyoto Prize, Japan, 1987; Felix European Film Awards- Lifetime Achievement Award, 1990; Order of Rising Sun, Japan, 1995; Premium Imperiale, Japan, 1997; Golden Lion Life Achievement Award, Venice IFF, 1998; Oscar Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - Lifetime Achievement Award, USA, 2000; Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur, France, 2001; Golden Bear Life Achievement Award, Berlin IFF, 2006.
Filmography
The Bad Boy (1950), The Pottery at Ilza (1951), While You’re Asleep (1952), A Generation (1955), I Walk in the Sun (1955), Kanal (1957), Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Lotna (1959), Innocent Sorcerers (1960), Siberian Lady Macbeth (1961), Samson (1961), Love at Twenty (1962), Ashes (1965), Everything for Sale (1968), Roly Poly (1968, TV), Gates to Paradise (1968), Hunting Flies (1969), The Birch Wood (1970), Landscape after the Battle (1970), Pilate and Others (1972), The Wedding (1973), The Promised Land (1975), The Shadow Line (1976), Dead Class (1977, TV), Man of Marble (1977), Rough Treatment (1978), Einlandung zur Besichtigung von Innenraumen (1978), Pogoda domu niechaj będzie z Toba (1979), The Maids of Wilko (1979), As Years Go by, As Days Go by (1980, TV series), The Orchestra Conductor (1980), Man of Iron (1981), Danton (1983), Love in Germany (1983), A Chronicle of Amorous Accidents (1986), The French as Seen by... (1988, TV mini-series), The Possessed (1988), Korczak (1990), Schuld und Suhne (1992, TV), The Ring with a Crowned-Eagle (1992), Nastasja (1994), The Holy Week (1995), Miss Nobody (1996), Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania (1999), The Condemnation of Franciszek Klos (2000, TV), June night (2001, TV), The Lesson of Polish Cinema (2002), The Revenge (2002), Solidqarność, Solidarność (segment Man of Hope, 2005), Katyń (2007), Sweet Rush (2008), Kręć! Jak kochasz, to kręć! (2010, doc.), Wałęsa. Man of Hope (2013), Afterimage (2016).
