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SUMMARY:Andrzej Wajda Month at Cinema Spiegel
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/telaviv/en/2026/11/02/andrzej-wajda-month-at-cinema-spiegel/
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DTSTAMP:20261103T193000
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20261103T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20261124T193000
DESCRIPTION:Spanning more than six decades, Wajda’s work made him one of the central
voices of Polish cinema after the Second World War. His films repeatedly
explored the intersections of personal and national history, memory,
identity and politics, examining how historical events and political
realities shape the lives of individuals and entire societies. His work
received wide international recognition, and in 2000 he was awarded an
Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to world cinema.
Throughout November, four of Wajda’s most important films will be
screened, representing different periods in his career and offering an
opportunity to revisit the themes that occupied him throughout his life.
The screenings will be accompanied by introductions from film scholar Prof.
Yair Lev, filmmaker Laura Bialis and film director, cinema scholar and
lecturer Benjamin Friedenberg, who will offer different perspectives on
Wajda’s work and the historical and cultural contexts in which the films
were made.
The closing evening, on 24 November, will also focus on a dialogue between
Wajda’s work and a new generation of filmmakers. As part of a
collaboration between the Polish Institute and the Bezalel Academy of Arts
and Design, a special course entitled The Social and the Political as
Cinematic Images – A Tribute to Andrzej Wajda was held in October. The
course was led by Benjamin Friedenberg and included film and academic
professionals from Poland. As part of the course, students created short
films inspired by Wajda’s work, which will be screened during the closing
evening. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring
directors Dani Rosenberg, Netali Braun and Bissan Tibi, alongside film
critic Shani Kiniso. The evening will conclude with a screening of
Wajda’s film Afterimage (2016), his final film, about Polish artist
Władysław Strzemiński and his confrontation with the communist regime in
Poland.
 
Screening Programme
Tuesday, 3 November | 19:30 – Man of Marble 
Poland, 1977 | Directed by Andrzej Wajda, 157 min
Polish with English subtitles
A young film student sets out to investigate the story of Mateusz Birkut, a
bricklayer celebrated as a working-class hero in the 1950s who later
vanished from public view. Through newsreels, interviews and archival
footage, she uncovers the gulf between a state-manufactured legend and the
life behind it. Wajda turns a filmmaker’s investigation into a gripping
political drama about the creation and erasure of heroes and the camera’s
power to challenge official history.
Introduction in Hebrew: Benjamin Freidenberg
 
Tuesday, 10 November | 19:30 – Man of Iron 
Poland, 1981 | Directed by Andrzej Wajda, 153 min
Polish with English subtitles
Gdańsk, summer 1980. As shipyard workers go on strike, a radio journalist
is sent to gather material discrediting a prominent labour activist. But
encounters with the strikers and those closest to his subject unsettle his
loyalties and force a crisis of conscience. In this sequel to Man of
Marble, Wajda brings together fiction, historical footage and appearances
by members of Solidarity, capturing a moment when the struggle for
workers’ rights becomes a demand for freedom and political change.
Introduction in English: Laura Bialis (in English)
 
Tuesday, 17 November | 19:30 – The Promised Land 
Poland, 1975 | Directed by Andrzej Wajda, 180 min
Polish with English subtitles
In the booming industrial city of Łódź at the end of the nineteenth
century, three friends - a Pole, a Jew and a German - join forces to build
a textile factory and pursue their dreams of wealth. Amid ruthless
competition, shady dealings and turbulent desires, ambition tests their
friendship and moral boundaries. Adapting Władysław Reymont’s novel,
Wajda creates a visually dazzling epic: a portrait of a city where
everything has a price, and industrial progress is built on exploitation
and human lives.
Introdution in Hebrew: Prof. Yair Lev
 
Tuesday, 24 November – Closing Evening
19:30 – Afterimage (2016)
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Wajda’s final film
In post-war Poland, painter and avant-garde artist Władysław Strzemiński
refuses to subordinate his work to the dictates of Socialist Realism. While
his students are drawn to his artistic vision, the authorities gradually
strip him of his ability to teach, create and make a living.
Andrzej Wajda’s final film is a poignant and moving portrait of an artist
fighting to preserve his independence of vision and thought, and a
cinematic meditation on artistic freedom, a teacher’s responsibility and
the personal cost of remaining true to one’s convictions.
The film screening will be preceded by a panel discussion featuring
filmmakers Bissan Tibi, Shai Carmeli-Pollak and Neta Shoshani.
 
All screenings will take place at Cinema Spiegel, Sam Spiegel Film and
Television School, Jerusalem.
For more information and tickets, visit the Cinema Spiegel website.
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