EVENINGS WITH WAJDA by GQ Poland

Evenings with Wajda by GQ Poland is a signature series of open-air film screenings devoted to the work of Andrzej Wajda — one of the most important directors in Polish cinema, and a filmmaker whose work spoke in a uniquely compelling way about freedom, emotions, identity, and human relationships.
As part of GQ Poland’s summer program at Centrum Praskie Koneser, we return to films that not only defined Polish visual culture but also shaped how we think about contemporary sensibility, lifestyle, and relationships. This is intelligent, emotional, and timeless cinema — stories of ambition, longing, love, choices, and change. Themes that remain relevant regardless of the era.
The program includes films particularly resonant for GQ’s contemporary audience: Innocent Sorcerers, Everything for Sale, The Maids of Wilko, and Hunting Flies.

INNOCENT SORCERERS

Feature film
Directed by: Andrzej Wajda
Poland 1960

Age rating: 16+

He (T. Łomnicki) — a young sports physician who plays jazz after hours. She (K. Stypułkowska) — a high school student, a regular at the jazz club. They meet to play a man-and-woman game for a single night. They take on aliases — Bazyli and Pelagia — like masks meant to hide their vulnerability. In essence, they are the titular “innocent sorcerers” who try to poison their own hopes for love — as suggested by the line from “Forefathers’ Eve” from which the filmmakers took the title. They agree on the script for this date: “a glass of vodka, the first kiss, intelligent conversation, bed — or rather, a couch.” Then they move on to a game of “strip” matchsticks. Who will win and who will lose at the matchstick game? Who will manage to feign indifference to feelings the longest? The film is Andrzej Wajda’s response to the new tendencies emerging in the contemporary cinema of his time — namely, the New Wave. Having invited Jerzy Andrzejewski to work on the screenplay, he realized that a writer of an older generation would not be able to write credible dialogue for two young people. Indispensable help came from Jerzy Skolimowski — at the time a young poet and boxer — who only after this experience tied his career to film. Beyond the dialogue, the New Wave mood of the film was shaped by Krzysztof Komeda’s jazz score. On screen — alongside Komeda — appeared Andrzej Trzaskowski (trumpet), leader of “Jazz Believers”; Andrzej Wojciechowski (saxophone) from the band “Melomani”; and Jan Zylber (drums). Roman Polański (double bass) appeared in the role of the band’s leader. The song “Była pogoda” (music: K. Komeda) is performed by Sława Przybylska.

Plac Konesera
24 July 2026
Free admission