Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

Ned's mom is dead. Weird things are happening. Ned is on a mission to find out what is going on.

A computer-animated short film depicting a playful wandering of a small green square among mirrors.

Art animation by Julian Józef Antonisz.

What would you do if you found a bag full of money?

A 14‑minute short drama that centers on a young Catholic priest who is preparing to teach others about love and relationships. Before he can guide others, he must first confront his own understanding of what love truly means for himself. The film follows his internal struggle and personal reflection as he grapples with his feelings and beliefs about love, faith, and perhaps desire, before stepping into his role as a teacher of love.

Two girls meet outside of the hotel, both need help in a world of indifference.

If you don’t watch out, you can fall in and get lost forever. A man finds himself swaying on the boundary of death as he recognizes his (non)transience. He begins to discern the fate assigned to him because of his tragic love, and his realization gradually turns into a conviction of the peaceful fatality of the death's nature.

The most famous woman in the world was a sex worker. Marilyn Monroe knowingly used sex as a source of income. The first escort of pop culture lived by the economy of sex work. Hollywood slid its hand between her thighs and turned it into a myth — for profit. Her body was stolen, copied, consumed. But what if that body were trans?

An experimental documentary. Using several series of static shots, the film depicts the lives of the residents of a housing estate.

Two neighboring fields are inhabited by two black and white individuals. The problem is, they cannot be seen...

Mateuszek, who really hates taking baths, ends up in a land of eternal dirt, and only his friends’ help can get him out of this predicament.

Experimental film by Józef Robakowski.

An autobiographical, auto-therapeutic take, laced with deadpan humor. Here we learn about another identity crisis as Robakowski speaks of his fear of putting on his late grandfather’s glasses.

A performance staged during the WRO 96 festival, entitled Monitor Polski. The artist presented a device in which his body was a conductor through which electricity flowed, with the voltage gradually increased at the artist's request and with the participation of the audience. Interest in the phenomenon of energy and reflection on artistic creation had already appeared in Robakowski's earlier works, such as O palcach (About Fingers, 1982) and Moje Videomasochizmy (My Videomasochisms, 1989).

A few days in the life of a tenement building in downtown Warsaw. Everyday scenes—some captured by a hidden camera—unfold simultaneously in the courtyard, in the tenants’ apartments, as well as in offices and businesses, including a lawmaker’s office, a beauty salon, and an escort agency. The lives of people from different generations and sometimes vastly different professions intertwine; the building at 32 Wilcza Street resembles a single organism, living by its own unique rhythm. Every day, events blend with memories, and tragic episodes with genuine comedy.

A grotesque about avid smokers, unable to quit their addiction.

Comprised of newsreel footage, this documentary takes viewers on an extraordinary journey through Warsaw. It shows the capital before World War II, the wartime devastation, and the early years of reconstruction.

Two elderly women observe life on Zakątna Street in Łódź from the window of their apartment.

Father and son embark on a long-overdue trip to see grandfather. First kite, first love, first confrontation with the forces which rule the lives of adults.

The protagonists of the film are two employees of a Silesian morgue: an older, experienced worker and a younger one who has not yet mastered the secrets of organ harvesting. The film shows them at work in the morgue and discussing topics related to their unique profession. The younger man has a son, from whom he has long hidden the drastic details of his work. He also has dreams: to spend his vacation in the Seychelles. After work, the older man relaxes by skiing and spending time in his beloved pigeon loft.

A short tale of a man making his way in what would appear to be a consciously chosen direction and toward a concrete end. Waking at dawn in the wilderness, he begins to wander a road he knows well. As the sun sinks below the horizon, with his last remaining strength he finally arrives at the place which seems to be his home…

The love of a Jewish woman and a Pole, beautiful moments, war and chilling events. Bogdan Jastrzębski, a Righteous Among the Nations, goes back to the time of war, when he fell in love with the one, for life - Krystyna Geisler, a Jewish girl. The first dates, shy kisses, the drama of the Jews in the Częstochowa ghetto and the daring action on the streets of Częstochowa, right under the eye of the Germans, which was the only way to save the life of Bogdan's beloved. They succeeded and lived happily ever after.

A documentary on the little-known history of Polish comic books.

In November 1989, an international seminar "Central Europe. Culture at the Crossroads, Between Totalitarianism and Commercialism" and a review of Czechoslovak Independent Culture, which marked the culmination of the activities of the Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity community and also served as a prelude to the Velvet Revolution in Prague. The long-standing cooperation of the SPCz (and the "Polish-Hungarian Solidarity" established in February 1989) led to the establishment of friendly contacts between the oppositionists of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. After the 1989 transition, they appeared to form new elites in their respective countries. Earlier ties, creating a special political climate, largely helped in the first three years in the close cooperation that resulted in the realization of two major projects - the creation of the Visegrad Triangle and the removal of Soviet troops from the entire Region.

After World War II, Soviet soldiers and families stationed in Poland lived here. In 1992, as a result of the collapse of the USSR, the Soviet army left the area, leaving the empty blocks, store, cinema. The place was never re-inhabited. Buildings have been demolished in turn since 2008.

Karolina and Klaudia are trying to rebuild their own family relations, something that adults have failed to do for years. However, achieving this turns out to be much more difficult than they could have imagined.

The film combines the personal, political, and historical, tracing the horror of a pogrom committed against the Jewish residents of the Polish city of Kielce on the 4th of July 1946. This atrocity was committed by their neighbors, fellow Poles of Kielce. This film seeks to gain some perspective on the Kielce Pogrom, an event that has been all but scrubbed from the history of Poland. The filmmaker searches for answers, even reflecting on his own family's complicity (and perhaps more) in the event. Given the current political climate in 21st century Poland, this film is fiercely relevant today, as we must confront and combat the legacies of anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world.