The Promised Land

ANDRZEJ WAJDA 100In commemoration of the centennial of Polish director Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016), Central and Eastern Europe’s most provocatively political post-war filmmaker, the DFT will present four of his most celebrated masterworks in new restorations. Screenings of Andrzej Wajda’s films in the USA in 2026 are part of the Wajda 100 Tour – North America Project, organized by DI Factory with the financial support of the Polish Film Institute.“Andrzej Wajda was one of the greatest filmmakers we’ve ever had. He left behind one of the most formidable bodies of work in the history of the art form. He was a true master.” –Martin ScorseseTHE PROMISED LANDThe rise of the industrial era and the capitalist boom it engendered are at the core of Wajda’s epic adaptation of the novel by 1924 Nobel Prize winner W. S. Reymont. The Promised Land – nominated for an Oscar® though never released in the U.S. until now – charts the rise and fall of three ambitious tycoons: Karol, a Polish nobleman (Daniel Olbrychski), Maks, a German hoping to improve on the fate of his father, and Moryc, a businessman tolerated only for his valuable connections. Exposing the methods by which workers are exploited while their bosses sabotage each other, Wajda’s extraordinary work uses visionary imagery and dark satire to connect it to conflicts still simmering in Poland at the time it was filmed. In Polish with English subtitles. “Razor-sharp and queasily compelling… The satire and intrigue of The Promised Land is leading somewhere very disturbing.” -Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian