Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

A bittersweet reflection on life in Poland. Young and old talk about the search for love, wedding night, school uniforms, prime minister duties, buckling up, religion and power. A rich collage of statements, conversations, musical pieces and reportage material. The film touches on the most sensitive topics for society, such as unemployment and poverty, farmers' strikes, pseudo-fighters and crime. On the other hand, in the pictorial layer, the main character is Lodz, its inhabitants and post-Peerel landscapes.

A surreal story of a flexible, deforming ball wandering around a world full of contradictions.

A documentary devoted to pre-war Warsaw.

A film about juvenile courts.

In 1980, Krzysztof Kieslowski asked hundreds of people the same three questions: what year were you born? who are you? what would you like/what is important to you? From the recorded statements, he eventually selected 44 people and ranked them chronologically, guided by the age of the interviewees: from the youngest to the oldest so that there was one person's statement for each vintage. A gallery of talking heads: from kindergarten children, through schoolchildren, students, engineers, electricians, nurses, priests, writers, sociologists, cab drivers, to pensioners even a hundred years old, made up a collective portrait of a Pole - a keen observer of reality, aware of his identity and the place where he lives, eager for change. A quarter of a century later, Krzysztof Wierzbicki repeated that idea here.

Episodes from the not-so-happy life of a railway stationmaster in the steppe.

The history of Warsaw's Bristol Hotel until 1981, when it underwent renovation.

The film records several images demonstrating the attitudes and behaviors of various people who happen to be sitting on a park bench.

A documentary film devoted to different memories and narratives of the Volhynia massacres, as they exist among survivors, in the opinions of Polish and Ukrainian historians, and in the consciousness of Ukrainian youth in the early 1990s. The film uses archival footage from the early 1990s, shot during the Ukrainian Culture Festival in Sopot.

Elementary school swimming lesson. Warm-up, jump into the water and underwater ballet. The camera embraces the whole group, but also closely follows the emotions on individual faces. The children experience the whole gamut of emotions: concentration, gathering courage, hesitation, resignation, embarrassment in front of the group, the joy of getting to the surface, the relief of reaching the shore. Finally, a sense of tameness and a desire to explore the underwater world. At the bottom, children's toys are waiting to be brought out: a spinner and a swan. The underwater shots are accompanied by an unearthly world of sound, created in the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio.

Witold Kaczanowski is one of Poland’s best-known artists, much more famous abroad than in his country of origin. He was born in Poland and spent his childhood under German occupation. Since 1980 he has lived and worked in the USA, where his art attracted numerous admirers and collectors.

What would the world be like without humans? Closed cafés, loungers with no one to sit on them and empty parking lots may indicate an approaching apocalypse. It seems as if there is no life in this sterile world, but is it true? Adaptation of a poem by Sara Teasdale ‘There will come soft rains’ written in 1918.

A group of Roma people meet at a bonfire in the evening to say their farewells to one of the senior members of their Tarnów clan. Some of them have not seen each other for many years, others came from abroad for this particular occasion. An intimate story about the changes in the life of the Roma community in Poland over the years.

Kochanowski's tragedy refers to the classic plot of ancient literature. The events presented in it precede the expedition of the Greeks against Troy, described in Homer's "Iliad". Greek envoys arrive in Troy, demanding the release of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, abducted by Prince Paris, also called Alexander. In fact, everything speaks in favor of giving beautiful Helena to her rightful husband.

Kaya Mirecka-Ploss was closely associated with Jan Karski. She helped over a hundred children from Poland get education in the USA. She gave home to three of them, funded her studies in the US, and help them in the transition into adulthood.

Swan leads a quiet, simple life. When he meets the crazy cat Tony, his world is turned upside down.

The story of Andrzej Janiszek, prisoner of Pawiak and Majdanek, member of the resistance movement. Janiszek's story is an integral part of the creation, expansion and consequences of the KL Lublin concentration camp, commonly known as Majdanek.

The first episode of the "Nowa Polska" reportage series focused on the reconstruction of the homeland after the Second World War. This episode is entitled "Młodzież na uniwersytetach". On March 19, 1945, the first post-war academic year began at the Jagiellonian University.

During the autumn of 1989 the director visited the territory of the USSR in search of the places where Polish citizens sent to labor camps had been executed. His route was marked out by diaries of former prisoners and the deportation chronology.

Classical animation made with painting technique on celluloid from a series of animated films to classical music.

February 24, 2022: Russian troops are flooding into Ukraine. After the initial shock, how do you respond? For Marine Hugonnier, it was by using her own weapons – film and images – driven by what she describes as, “a desire to create a common front and a common image”. This is her declared agenda. She takes a two-pronged approach, first travelling to the Polish border and filming once she arrives. Then, transporting supplies to Kyiv. Despite the fact these images were shot in March 2022, the troubling paradox is that they already seem to bear the weight of history. This is like a frozen moment, at the point when the war had only just become a threat rather than a reality crushing both bodies and the landscape.

Batory is a Trans Man and inmate at the Warszawa-Grochów Detention Center in Poland. Truly a film inspired by the cinema-verité movement, Batory navigates having difficult conversations with his significant other and parents upon his release - showing us a unique perspective on the lives of those in other worlds.

The film shows the exercises of soldiers of the Polish People's Army with a Kalashnikov

Do you dream of an unforgettable wedding? A bartender show, flaming ice cream or marzipan figurines of the bride and groom on the cake are passé. The current fad is... a dessert dachshund!

An elevator, people, a corporation... These seemingly ordinary things begin a very personal story about competition, goals and powerlessness.

Theatrical release by one of the most influencive polish theatre directors; Jerzy Grotowski. Based on a drama "Pedra Calderona de la Barca" paraphrased by Juliusz Słowacki

A married couple raising a mentally ill son struggles with the thought of putting him in an institution.

Marco is a cycling enthusiast. To be precise, he is a cycling fanatic. One day, evil thieves steal his beloved bicycle. Marco decides to find the bad guys on his own and punish them severely ...

The mayor of the city destroyed by the Germans spreads a rumor about gold hidden under the rubble. Inhabitants rush to work.

Reconstruction of the events of WW I near Bolimów, where the first mass attack with chemical weapons in history took place.

The plot of the film is based on two parallel stories about two women (Anna and Em) that seem to be unbound in any way. But as the story goes, it occures that even though the two women do not meet, they are strongly connected not only in real life but in the spiritual realm. They are both lonely, they live their inner lives and eventually their paths cross but in a very unusual way. It changes the young woman, Em and brings her to a new attitude towards life.

A theatre performance by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, directed by Olga Lipińska in 1972. The role of Chopin was played by Leszek Herdegen, and George Sand - Halina Mikołajska. An attempt to recreate the atmosphere of the home of Baroness Aurora Dudevant, a writer known all over the world under the name of George Sand.

First edition of an animated newsreel containing - in the manner of newsreels - the latest news from the country and the world: "Polish economy in the grip of krill", "Oil spill in Karlin", "U-25 mystery deciphered", "Sensational-secession photoplasticon liquidated", "Situation in space".

Wanda Borejkówna comes to Poland for a violin competition. On the way back she loses her passport.

Years later, Paweł Sarnawski returns from Switzerland to an estate in Greater Poland, where he intends to modernize a run-down farm.

Two young girls are trying to fit into modern canons from beauty. Each of them is different in any skin. Norma and her neighbor try different methods to gain the feeling of self-acceptance.

In the summer of 1988, a wave of strikes broke out in the mines. Miners protested against unsafe working conditions and low wages. The government threatened with reprisals.

Polotubbbieland

A job seeker comes to the farm. The hosts, Fred and his wife, allow him to stay. Jan is a secretive man and is hard hit by fate. She has a grudge against women and is reserved towards the hostess. Working together slowly fosters understanding.

Martha's father falls into alcoholism. The girl is preparing for the secondary school-leaving examination.

The sheriff appears whenever he is called by the citizens. He is extremely thorough, he muffles noise, cleans dirt and chases gangsters.

Every year, on June 13, for the past thirty-two years, the villagers have gathered to remember one of their neighbors who left his home on that day in 1939 and never returned. His nearest and dearest did not receive information about his death.

The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German KdF flagship during 1937-1945, constructed by the Blohm & Voss shipyards. It sank after being torpedoed by the Soviet submarine S-13 on 30 January 1945. The Wilhelm Gustloff's final voyage was during Operation Hannibal in January 1945, when it was sunk while participating in the evacuation of military personnel, Nazi officials and civilians who were surrounded by the Red Army in East Prussia. The Gustloff was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea on the night of 30 January 1945 and sank in less than 45 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people were killed in the sinking. If accurate, this would be the largest known loss of life occurring during a single ship sinking in recorded maritime history. Now, NGC examines the events leading up to the catastrophe and looks for answers to the mystery surrounding the fateful night.

Amidst the impending doom, two characters collide: Dominika, hiding in an old cinema, and Wanda – hungry for more. The time has come to decide if changing their personal stories at the eleventh hour is worth a shot.

They are unable to live together, but they also cannot live in complete separation from each other – this is the picture of the grandparents that their granddaughter is trying to put together standing behind the camera. They split 30 years ago. He stayed in Warsaw and she moved to Berlin. How is it possible that they have remained in close contact?

A group of friends get lost on a trip in the woods and accidentally come across an ancient ceremony (Kupala Night). Horror with themes of Slavic demonology.

Performances by Poland's most acclaimed jazz bands, punctuated by short interviews conducted by German music journalist Joachim-Ernst Berendt. Appearing consecutively are: Warsaw Stompers, Namysłowski Quartet, Andrzej Trzaskowski Quintet, Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, Bossa Nova Combo and Wróblewski Quartet. The concerts are crowned by the All Star Session, a joint finale with all the performers and the song Family Blues.