The French New Wave meets postwar Warsaw in this freewheeling boy-meets-girl comedy about a bohemian doctor-cum-jazz-drummer and his long, crazy night with a gamine beauty (Krystyna Stypulkowska in her screen debut). An early Andrzej Wajda gem, Innocent Sorcerers boasts an all-star cast of Polish cinematic luminaries, including Roman Polanski as a squeaky-voiced jazz band leader, Jerzy Skolimowski (also the film’s co-screenwriter) as a disgruntled boxer, Zbigniew Cybulski as an irascible taxi driver, and composer Krzysztof Komeda as, well, himself. A subtle ode to the modern world, with its electric razors, motorscooters and casual sex, Innocent Sorcerers is a fascinating time capsule of a generation.

1960, 88 minutes, black and white, DCP | Written by Jerzy Andrzejewski, Jerzy Skolimowski; directed by Andrzej Wajda; with Tadeusz Lomnicki, Krystyna Stypulkowska, Wanda Koczeska, Kalina Jedrusik, Teresa Szmigielówna, Roman Polanski.

Introduction by: Janusz Kaminski
In turn-of-the-century Łódź , three friends — a Polish nobleman, Karol Borowiecki; a German, Max Baum; and a Jew, Moritz Welt — shrink from nothing, including treachery and fraud, to build an industrial empire. In the footsteps of Dickens, writer-director Andrzej Wajda paints a bleak, sprawling picture of a chaotic city littered with dangerous factories and a maelstrom of conflicting cultures and classes. Based on the novel by Nobel Laureate Władysław Stanisław Reymont, Wajda’s lavish production masterfully melds the luxurious and the brutal. As his ruthless business tactics and an ill-fated affair leave Borowiecki with a fateful choice — either change his ways or sacrifice all compassion in order to protect his financial capital — Wajda’s film joins the ranks of darkly grand masterworks by Visconti and Ophüls. The Promised Land was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film and won numerous prizes including the Grand Prix Golden Lion from the Polish Film Festival.

1975, 170 minutes, color, DCP | Written by Andrzej Wajda, based on the novel by Władysław Stanisław Reymont; directed by Andrzej Wajda; with Daniel Olbrychski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Andrzej Seweryn, Anna Nehrebecka, Tadeusz Bialoszczynski, Bozena Dykiel.