AFTERIMAGE

AFTERIMAGE transports audiences to the early 1950s era of W?adys?aw Strzemin´ski, one of Poland’s most profound artists of the 20th century. The beloved painter and professor’s progressive art theories garnered heavy resistance from a government determined to only tout “socialist realism”—work that embraces Soviet ideologies and discourages capitalism and Western culture. When he insists a firm line must remain between art and politics, Party orders oust Strzemin´ski from teaching at the very school he cofounded, and his renowned Neoplastic Room at the Museum of Art is destroyed. Strzemin´ski’s life slowly unravels as the Party mercilessly bars him of his artistic livelihood, making it nearly impossible to survive. A poignant, gracious ode to the life of a revolutionary artist, AFTERIMAGE is the final film of Polish director Andrzej Wajda who died in October 2016 at the age of 90. (In Polish with subtitles) —A.B. AFTERIMAGE was selected as Poland's entry for Best Foreign Language Film for this year's Academy Awards®.