The Rome Film Fest offers a first look at its lineup: “Afterimage” by Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda, one of the great maestros of world cinema, is back behind the camera to direct his new film, Afterimage (Powidoki). He won an Honorary Academy Award for his “five decades of extraordinary filmmaking” and obtained four nominations for best foreign film. Also winner of the Palme d’Or, he will now present in the Rome Film Fest a passionate biopic dedicated to a heroic figure of modern art: avant-garde painter Władysław Strzeminski. He was a man of extraordinary charisma, leading character of the Polish formalism before the Second World War, and a victim of the persecutions under the communist regime for failing to adapt his abstract works of art to the dictates of socialist realism.
“Afterimage is the portrait of a whole man, absolutely sure of the path he chose to undertake – said director Wajda – The film depicts four difficult years, from 1949 to 1952, during which the Sovietization of Poland took the most radical forms and Socialist realism became the obligatory pattern of artistic expression”.
In the role of Władysław Strzeminski, the film is starring one of Polish cinema’s most beloved actors, Bogusław Linda, former star of Blind Chance by Krzysztof Kieślowski and other works by Wajda such as Man of Iron, Oscar-nominated for best foreign film, and Pan Tadeusz. The director of photography is Pawel Edelman, known for his work in The Pianist by Roman Polanski, that earned him a César Award, a European Film Award and an Academy Award nomination.
“I am trying to renew the Film Fest and celebrate films of various genres, as we saw last year with such films as Room, The Walk and Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot – said Antonio Monda, Artistic Director of the Rome Film Fest – in the same spirit I am proud to announce the first selections of the 2016 edition, 7 Minuti by Michele Placido and Afterimage by Andrzej Wajda, which focus on two very current and critical topics of great social and political importance: the first one tackles with great energy the issue of work and the connection between profit and human dignity, the second is a moving work that chronicles the relationship between dictatorship and arts, ideology and freedom of expression.”