Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

Athletes of different disciplines warm up. They take on the challenge, sometimes give up, finally accept a defeat or a poor result. The camera captures those intimate moments when the eyes of the fans and journalists are elsewhere, on the winner.

Brief visual piece.

Pepsi Purgatory's directorial and animation debut

A documentary about the operation of 'schools of seduction' and the techniques taught there.

A police officer goes on a search operation to the forest. On the spot he experiences mysterious phenomena.

A legendary Polish driver returns to take part in one of the most difficult car races in the world. Will Sobiesław Zasada win the next car race at 91?

A portrait of a working man - Stefan Piętowski, a craftsman who, at the age of 85, sums up his professional life. In order to do so, he organizes "The History of One Working Life" exhibition.

Film presents an allegorical story of a society, where time is being measured by the movements of daily-use objects rotating around the planet: the Marlboro butt, bottle cap and sticking plaster. In the humorous fashion, the narrator describes the conventionality and arbitrariness of norms implemented on society.

A report on the Jarocin rock music festival in 1984. The normally sleepy town comes alive during the festival - it's crowded, colorful, bustling. Young people are everywhere: in the streets, the market, the stadium and the tent city. Some are shaved bald, others wear iroquois or long hair, sometimes multicolored. They talk about their ideas on life, their love for music. And how do the residents perceive their presence? Evaluations vary, but everyone stresses that the young people, despite their menacing appearance, are not aggressive, perhaps only occasionally indecent, for their presence has a positive impact on city life. Czeslaw Robakowski, the head of Jarocin, feels the same way, emphasizing the contribution of the town and the festival to the cultural development of the country.

A record of the three-day burial ceremony of Jan Piwnik "Ponury" (1912-1944), which took place in June 1988 in the Cistercian monastery in Wąchock. The funeral rituals consisted of Christian, Slavic and military customs.

A real star awakens in the shower!

The film is a reflection on loneliness, isolation and powerlessness. The author began working on it during the lockdown, during the subsequent strikes of women in Poland, at the beginning of 2021.

The little-known story of a group of Jewish artists in occupied Bialystok, who survived by making art forgeries for the Nazis.

During the isolation period caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the director talks on the phone with her friends and family. The movie is a record of private confessions of people trying to adapt to this unusual situation—their longings, needs and emotions.

A primary school break is a great opportunity to observe children's behavior. Contrary to the film title, school breaks are full of sounds and voices, small and big dramas.

The microfilm blends deceptively festive fireworks with heart-stopping sci-fi: just as the camera pulls back on a jubilant celebration, a squad of sleek, 360°-filmed aliens plummets through the night sky under a hail of exploding fireworks, and one sacrifice melts into crystal unity amid soaring orchestral and soprano triumph. This awe-inspiring descent and climactic “crystal formation” twist reveal it all as drifting artificial snow, reimagining a familiar natural phenomenon.

The titular “obrazki” (ENG: pictures) are both prison tattoos and wounds inflicted on sons by their abusive fathers and stepfathers. Such a son is the protagonist of the film. After many years, he meets his biological, previously unknown, father.

A classic fairy tale about two sisters: one good and hardworking and the other lazy...

Charismatic comedy pals Karol Modzelewski and Łukasz 'Lotek' Lodkowski bring their mischievous brand of humor to Warsaw's Klub Hybrydy.

Writer, actor and satirist Tomasz Jachimek teams up with comedian Jacek Stramik for a night of subversive stand-up at Klub Hybrydy in Warsaw

A young girl hitchhikes across Eastern Europe. Soon she has to find her way on her own for the first time in her life.

A short film by Józef Robakowski

A short film by Ryszard Waśko

The film is an attempt to understand the phenomenon of pilgrimage. The author analyzes what prompts people to take the trouble of a journey, to stay in it, who the pilgrim is and whether only the person who is walking.

Magda grew up in an orphanage. She never met her parents. Entering adulthood, she finally decides to find them.

Another film about a sports discipline that removes the barrier between the spectator and the participants of the competition. The scenes of ski jumps have gone down in the history of cinema. All of them were made by Adam Krzysztofi-ak, an Olympic Winner.

Fencer is a documentary portrait of Władyslaw Kurpiewski, an eminent fencing coach and co-creator of numerous successes of Polish foilists. Combining poetic impression and documentary curiosity, Dziworski draws up a kind of an artistic credo for himself.

Documentary showing a clash of three generations, Polish culture, and Christmas with coming out of a homosexual granddaughter/daughter/sister

Short documentary on first short films by students of the Łódź film school.

A story of combining the obsession with collecting sperm with the inability to choose to use it. The heroine is entangled in one-off love stories, and the only constant relationship connects her with the fish. What happens when her space becomes the only one available for another sperm storage fridge?

Short film by Kamienska Elżbieta.

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

Mateusz is a rebellious teen who hates his family. Everything changes when a mysterious package arrives...

Look out for oranges in every corner, on every street.

Short Animation.

A man creates a list of three things he wants to accomplish.

A ten-episode series dealing with Silesian issues. A picture of the life of a multigenerational family in the period of rapid social and political changes - just after World War II, until the 1970s. All Kanderowie work in the mine. Newcomers from other parts of Poland appear here. Their lifestyle and moral freedom differ from the rules of life of a traditional, patriarchal Silesian family. This often causes conflicts and fights with "aliens". Moral changes are slowly taking place in the everyday life of the younger generation, but the pattern of a traditional family is still strong.

The young heroes of the series come from a provincial town, now they are studying in Warsaw. Małgosia is in the first year of chemistry at the Warsaw University of Technology, she lives in a dormitory. Raised in the so-called good home, she rarely felt happy in it. Mother controlled her at every step, sometimes even checking the contents of the purse, making a fuss about every late return home. My father treated the only child with greater tenderness and tolerance, but he often traveled on business, so she had no support in him either. Andrzej is finishing his studies at the Faculty of Animal Science, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, and lives with his aunt. After his mother died, he was brought up by his father alone, but they could never find a common language.

The fates of workers employed in the construction of an industrial plant show the changes in the minds of Poles after 1970.

Based on the popular book by Krystyna Siesicka, "Zapałka na zakręcie", the story of two teenagers who were connected by an unexpected feeling. Marcin, who has a history of drug addiction behind him, is afraid to tell Kasia about it. She feels that the boy is hiding something, but does not want to ask anything. Mutual misconceptions make it more and more difficult for these young people to communicate. They misinterpret the facts, and as a result their relationship begins to fall apart. Will they be able to save their feelings in time? Will Marcin overcome his own inhibitions and distrust of his beloved girl?

An orphanage located somewhere out of the way in the forest. It is a strange house - camels, llamas and other exotic animals walk on it, reality mixes with fantasy. One of the pupils, Krzyś Pirek, fell ill again. Lying in bed, he tells his friend his story.

A wandering photographer reaches a village whose inhabitants are trying to build a new road.

A boy called the Pygmy escapes to the park after failures at school. There he meets two hooligans who persuade him to break into his car.

The documentary presents the life of teenage Karolina and her one-year-old son.

This musical is about a highlander wedding. The entire village feasts at a boisterous wedding. Niesety come to them dangerous robbers who spoil all the fun.

Piotr meets Anna. He invites her to a friend's apartment, but they mistakenly end up in another place.

Ania's candidacy for the role in the school play is rejected. The girl experiences failure painfully.

A deaf athlete joins the sports club where Jacek works.

A fifteen-year-old girl and her younger siblings return to Warsaw (which has been destroyed) after the war, where, hiding from social services, they await the return of their mother.

Prosecutor Kaleta is conducting his latest case. He tries to explain the circumstances of the death of engineer Szymański.

A passenger train on its daily route, a winter landscape can be seen through the window. Passengers are deep in their own thoughts and some of them have a conversation. Hidden lyricism of the gray everyday life and the constant flow of life.

Jan Wióro is a type of rural mischief. The man dies soon. On the way to the cemetery, the deceased falls out of his coffin and comes to life experiencing various adventures.