The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory invites you to a film screening and discussion evening at Kino Sõprus on 14 April 2026, featuring Andrzej Wajda’s debut film A Generation (Pokolenie, 1955). Andrzej Wajda (1926–2016) was one of the most influential makers of historical films in Poland and across Europe, whose work explored themes of war, occupation, resistance, and historical memory. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth, on 6 March.
Admission is free. The film will have English subtitles.
Please register your attendance via the form by 13 April.
A Generation was Andrzej Wajda’s first full-length feature film and also the opening work of his later acclaimed World War II trilogy, which also includes Kanał and Ashes and Diamonds. Based on the novel by Bohdan Czeszko, the film takes viewers to occupied Warsaw in 1942, to the working-class district of Wola, where young people search for their place amid violence, poverty, and moral choice.
At the centre of the film is Stach, a young man whose path leads him from the street and acts of impulsive rebellion into the ranks of the resistance movement. Alongside him, the destinies of other young people unfold, their lives shaped by the conditions of German occupation and their choices reflecting the complex ethical and political tensions of wartime.
The film is also notable for its historical and artistic significance: it is Wajda’s debut and one of the key examples of how post-war Polish cinema sought to interpret the experience of war from the perspective of a younger generation.
The screening will be followed by a discussion focusing on the film’s themes, including youth, resistance, ideology, moral choices, and the representation of wartime experience in cinema.
You are warmly welcome to watch, reflect, and join the discussion.
The event is held in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tallinn and is dedicated to the celebration of The Year of Andrzej Wajda 2026.
