ASHES AND DIAMONDS (12A)

To mark the centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s birth and 10 years since his passing, we celebrate a visionary filmmaker, who was not only an important storyteller of Polish culture and history, but also of the human condition.

One of Martin Scorsese’s most beloved films, Ashes and Diamonds is Andrzej Wajda’s piercing drama starring iconic Polish actor Zbigniew Cybulski as a tragic hero in Poland in the aftermath of the Second World War.

In the last days of the war, Maciek, a Polish resistance fighter, is tasked with the assassination of a Communist official. When he meets Krystyna, he is offered a glimpse of a world beyond war and destruction, and questions his assignment. Wajda’s classic drama, which cemented his position as a world-class filmmaker, features an iconic central performance by Cybulski – the ‘Polish James Dean’ – who contributes immeasurably to this probing look at the complex post-war future for a new nation and its people.

Ashes and Diamonds will be introduced by professor of film Peter Hames, editor of The Cinema of Central Europe and author of The Czechoslovak New Wave.

Poland (Polish dialogue with English subtitles), 1958, 104 mins

Official Trailer