Screening of Andrzej Wajda’s film Afterimage at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
On March 15, 2026, a screening of Afterimage, directed by Andrzej Wajda, will take place at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The event is organized by the National Gallery of Art, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, D.C., The Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Wajda Film Centre. A panel discussion will follow the screening.
It is the final film by Andrzej Wajda, made shortly before his death, and at the same time a work that closes the director’s remarkable career spanning more than six decades. Afterimage tells the story of Władysław Strzemiński, an outstanding avant-garde painter and art theorist who, after World War II, refuses to subordinate his work to the doctrine of Socialist Realism. For his uncompromising stance he pays a high price – he is dismissed from the academy, deprived of his means of livelihood, and systematically erased from public life. Wajda portrays the drama of an individual who refuses to compromise and defends the right to artistic independence.
Although the film is set in the realities of postwar Poland, its message has a universal dimension. Afterimage is a story about artistic freedom, the courage to resist political pressure, and the boundaries an artist refuses to cross in the name of personal conviction. These themes remain relevant in many parts of the world and may be particularly compelling for American audiences – viewers who respond strongly to questions of freedom of expression, individual independence, and the role of art in shaping society.
The panel will feature:
Barbora Bartunková – a researcher of modern and contemporary art history, with a particular focus on the European avant-garde / Museum of Modern Art, New York
Jason Mientkiewicz – an art historian specializing in modernism and the art of Central and Eastern Europe / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rafał Syska – Associate Professor at the Institute of Audiovisual Arts at Jagiellonian University in Kraków; film historian and specialist in contemporary cinema and post-cinematic practices / Wajda Film Centre
JP Schutte – panel moderator; promoter of Polish culture and Polish-American dialogue / The Kosciuszko Foundation
The screening of Afterimage at the National Gallery of Art is part of a broader presentation of Andrzej Wajda’s work in the United States.
It continues the ongoing dialogue between Polish culture and American audiences, for whom Wajda’s cinema remains both a testimony to Polish history and a reflection on the fate of the individual in a world marked by political, social, and moral tensions.
Admission to the event is free, but registration is required:
Co-organizers:
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state earmarked fund.
