One of our favourite comments from Showroom audiences is that people love coming here to discover films they couldn't see anywhere else in Sheffield.
This week marks 100 years since the birth of the legendary Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda. We're delighted to share his brilliant and unique pictures in a season titled Wajda at 100, running each Sunday afternoon at Showroom this May.
Living through several iterations of Polish politics, Andrzej Wajda (1926–2016) had a unique perspective on the 20th century that shaped his filmmaking and led him to become a definitive voice in the Polish Film School.
During his lifetime, Poland saw significant authoritarian control, WWII occupation, communist suppression, and eventual democratic stability with EU and NATO integration. More than a filmmaker, Wajda has been described as a moral authority and 'conscience' for Poland across several tumultuous decades, his work internationally recognised through numerous accolades including the Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2000.
Showroom's programme opens with Polish New Wave feature The Innocent Sorcerers (1960) on Sunday 10 May. Here, Wajda delivers an irreverent one-night encounter between a young doctor and a woman who opens his mind to questions of morals and love.
On 24 May we screen The Maids of Wilko (1979), one of the filmmaker's most melancholic, lyrical and wistful works. A story of lost romance, a businessman returns to his childhood home to find a family of five sisters, one of whom he once adored.
The programme also features two titles from Wajda's 'Solidarity' trilogy, which traces Polish post-war politics through Communist thaw and martial law to the democratic election of Lech Wałęsa. Screening on Sunday 17 May, Man of Marble (1977) sees a young filmmaker searching for a bricklayer, once a hero of Soviet propaganda, who was lost in the gears of the system. On Sunday 31 May, Man of Iron (1981), banned in Poland on release and winner of the Palme d'Or, uses a wave of labour strikes pushing the Solidarity party to the fore as the backdrop for a more personal story of political change.
Discover a man, a country and a history at Showroom this month. Wadja at 100 features a different one-off screening at 2.30pm, each Sunday this May at Showroom Cinema. Tickets are on sale now: https://showroomcinema.org.uk/festivals/wajda-at-100
By Grace Osbourne, Marketing Manager for Showroom Cinema
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