We’re always looking to expand our cinematic horizons, and with Manchester being such a creative hotspot, we’re lucky to be able to look beyond the mainstream when it comes to film. From Latin American and Spanish film festivals, to LGBTQ+ and female-led events, Manchester gets the whole picture throughout the calendar, the latest of which will be Kinoteka Polish Film Festival.
Running alongside the main festival in London, the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London, is touring the UK with a stunning retrospective line-up of films by Andrzej Wajda. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the iconic film director’s birth, the festival will be in Manchester from 8 April – 25 April.
In 2026, the festival continues its tradition of retrospectives of grand film directors, celebrating the centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s birth with a retrospective that spans six decades of the filmmaker’s work. The retrospective will present and analyse the Academy Award-winning director’s politically engaged filmmaking career from his early years making films under post-war communism to his work during the Solidarność (Polish solidarity) movement.
Spearheading Kinoteka on Tour is Wajda’s revered classic Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, 1958), which will be screening alongside a number of other films from the director’s illustrious career.
The king of directors, Martin Scorsese, said about Wajda:
“Wajda had a long, creative career and left behind an extraordinary legacy. His works were inspiring around the world.”
Kinoteka on Tour Manchester film line-up
Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament, 1958)
In the last days of the Second World 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. It’s essential viewing.
🎟️ Book here.
Man of Iron (Człowiek z Żelaza, 1981)
The Palme d’Or-winning follow-up to Man of Marble sees Winkel, a Communist-friendly radio journalist, charged with finding compromising information about a Solidarity opposition leader. But in witnessing protesting workers’ fight against political propaganda and commitment to overturn a repressive regime, Winkel questions his own beliefs.
Directly addressing the contemporary political situation as Poland entered the 1980s, Man of Iron combines fact and fiction to stunning effect, resulting in one of Wajda’s most profound artistic achievements. This screening will have an introduction from Polish film critic Michal Oleszczyk.
🎟️ Book here.
Innocent Sorcerers (Niewinni Czarodzieje, 1960)
Following his lauded war trilogy, Wajda turned his camera on Poland’s socially modern but politically disengaged post-war generation. When hipster doctor Bazyli meets out-of-towner Pelagia in a nightclub, they spend a night in his flat flirting to the jazz tunes of Krzysztof Komeda. Embracing a style similar to the contemporaneous French New Wave, this is a vivid portrait of disillusioned youth.
🎟️ Book here.
Man of Marble (Człowiek z Marmuru, 1977)
In the 1970s, young filmmaker Agnieszka investigates the life of a 1950s bricklayer and worker’s hero. When she learns that the facts behind his story were suppressed, she has to decide whether to pursue the truth or not.
Man of Marble is a thought-provoking examination of the moral responsibility of an individual and art in challenging dominant ideology, censorship and oppressive authorities. It’s a powerful milestone in Polish cinema.
🎟️ Book here.
The Maids of Wilko (Panny z Wilka, 1979)
After the death of a close friend, Wiktor returns to a place of his youth. He reencourages a group of sisters with whom he spent an idyllic summer 15 years prior, discovering the extent to which their lives have changed. Wajda’s most lyrical and poetic work marked a shift in pace and tone, allowing him to meditate on questions of passing time, regret and unfulfilled love.
🎟️ Book here.
Kinoteka on Tour takes place at Manchester’s HOME cinema from 8 April – 25 April – you can find the full schedule and book here.