A landmark of post-war European cinema and a defining work of the Polish Film School, ASHES AND DIAMONS has been repeatedly named among the favourite films of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Visually striking and emotionally charged, it features an unforgettable performance by Zbigniew Cybulski, often called “the Polish James Dean”.

Poland, May 1945. As the war comes to an end, young resistance fighter Maciek is given one final mission: to assassinate a communist official representing the new Soviet-backed authorities. Then he meets Krystyna, a young waitress, and for the first time begins to imagine a different life — one beyond the underground, where he might simply fall in love and live. Torn between his oath and his longing for an ordinary future, he finds himself caught at the crossroads of history.

A film of extraordinary atmosphere and lasting power, it captures the uncertainty of a generation emerging from the ruins of war — caught between a past it cannot escape and a future it does not yet understand.

Its international reputation was established soon after its release. At the Venice International Film Festival in 1959, the film won the FIPRESCI Prize, while Ewa Krzyżewska received France’s Étoile de Cristal for Best Foreign Actress. It also received the Canadian Federation of Film Societies Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and the David O. Selznick Silver Laurel.

Polish language, English subtitles