WAJDA: Re-visions: The Promised Land

We celebrate the 100th birthday of one of the most outstanding creators of world cinema, Andrzej Wajda, with a review of “WAJDA: re-visions”, as part of which we watch 10 films of the master on the big screen! It is not only a tribute to the director's achievements, but also a fresh look at his works: read anew today, in a different historical and social context, they continue to move, provoke and inspire.

WAJDA: Re-visions: The Promised Land

November 18, 2026, 5:00 p.m.

Forum Cinema, 5 Legionowa Street

tickets: PLN 20 — normal, PLN 18 — special “family” (min. 3 people) — at the cinema box office and online

Andrzej Wajda is the only Polish filmmaker honored with an Oscar for his lifetime of work and at the same time one of the most important figures in world cinema. Director, screenwriter, theater director, artistic director of the legendary Film Ensemble “X”, educator, activist of the democratic opposition, for whom cinema was an artistic, civic and moral obligation.

Although today he may be seen as a monumental creator, belonging to the past, Wajda remains a surprisingly modern director. His films still impress today with their narrative mastery, rhythmic dynamics, painterly sensibility and intense metaphorism.

“WAJDA: Re-visions” is an invitation to dialogue with the classics — to meet again with the films that have contributed to our sensibility and the language of cinema. The review is aimed at both viewers who grew up with Wajda's films, and the younger audience, for whom this will be the first encounter with his work on the big screen.

PROMISED LAND

Poland 1974, 179′

director: Andrzej Wajda

screenplay: Andrzej Wajda based on the novel by Władysław Reymont

cinematography: Witold Sobociński, Edward Kłosinski, Wacław Dybowski

music: Wojciech Kilar

cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka, Kalina Jędrusik

Awards: Golden Lions at FPFF in Gdansk, Grand Prix at IFF in Moscow, Valladolid and Cartagena, Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film

Bravely executed adaptation of an almost forgotten novel by Władysław Reymont, depicting the fate of three friends against the backdrop of Łódź, rapidly developing at the end of the 19th century: the German Max, the Jew Moryc and the Pole Karol.

The heroes decide to set up their own textile factory in the city, which is not to the taste of Jewish, German and Russian competition. Along the way, Karol Borowiecki seduces Lucy Zuckerowa, the alluring wife of an old factory worker, using the romance to raise capital, and Moryc Welt conducts risky financial and commercial speculation in the Jewish community, balancing on the verge of bankruptcy and fraud. At the same time, Maks Baum negotiates with German industrialists in an attempt to save a failing family business, while the great financiers Bucholz, Grünspan and Müller try to win over the young and ambitious for their business. In the end, Borowiecki decides to sell his family property, move his fiancée Anka to Łódź and surrender his lofty values to the wolf rules of capitalism.

This dazzling film in terms of art, narrative and acting wins in all rankings for the best film in the history of Polish cinema. The strength of Andrzej Wajda's directing, the ability to accommodate so many plots in one film and the enormous wealth of staging deserved the highest laurels. The sequence itself in the theater is today perceived as one of the greatest achievements of cinematic narration, within the framework of which the director, in a small space, managed to combine several dozen characters and plots. Among the awards, only the Oscar was missing, because although the film was the favorite, as a result of unauthorized accusations of anti-Semitism, he lost the fight for this statuette.

Review Schedule

MARCH — Ash and Diamond (1958)

APRIL — The Wedding (1972)

May — Innocent Wizards (1960)

June — The Marble Man (1977)

JULY — Brzezina (1970)

AUGUST — Chronicle of Love Accidents (1985)

SEPTEMBER — Landscape after the Battle (1970)

OCTOBER — No Anesthesia (1978)

November — The Promised Land (1974)

DECEMBER — Everything for Sale (1968)

Organizer: Studio Cinemas Association

Curator of the review: Prof. Rafał Syska

Poster: Plaquiat/Maks Bereski

Main Partner: Documentary and Feature Film Production

Project financed by: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage