Legendary director Andrzej Wajda’s final film is a passionate portrait of renowned avant-garde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who challenged Stalinist orthodoxy. In post-war Poland, Strzeminski (Boguslaw Linda) works as a professor at the National School of Fine Arts in Lodz. His students treat him like the “messiah of modern painting,” but university authorities and the Ministry of Culture have a differing opinion. Refusing to comply with 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.

Premiering in the Masters Programme at the Toronto International Film Festival, AFTERIMAGE was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Polish Film Festival.

“Angry, vivid, passionate... depicts an appalling system, filled with complicit go-along-to-get-along citizens, grinding down Strzeminski, a real-life figure.” –The New York Times (Critic's Pick)

DIRECTED BY ANDRZEJ WAJDA
POLAND | 2016 | POLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES