Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

A documentary story from the borderlands of realism and fairytale.

The second part of an animated pastiche of popular science television programs from the early days of Polish television. The presenter's guests include a man who taught an ant to eat with a knife and fork, and Helena-Maszyna, who loves ironing.

A portrait of a father whose children are living their own lives far away from him.

Deep-sea organisms living in such a specific environment have developed unusual forms and properties. This is an interpretation of the underwater world and an invitation to relax.

The TeBelgeza is a dance of freedom, the freedom of two interpenetrating elements, the feminine and the masculine, to transform and be born again perpetually. This is a semi-abstract film; it is improvised, stop-motion choreography in ink on tracing paper, a spectacle of transformation where there is no one ‘right’ way but, instead, there is an absolute acceptance of the expression.

The house we harbour within is places in time. Events overlap in space, recur through that space, the house changes and expands. Each single perception exerts its influence on those that follow; at times, remote experiences converge, affecting the space and the way it is perceived in turn.

A short animated Polish film.

3000 tonnes of stones. 30 years of work. One step away from making a great discovery. The story of a man who pursues his goals regardless of the opinion of skeptics or the mockery of disbelievers.

The main characters are stalked by an assassin who appeared from nowhere.

“The Instrument is an ode to listening to music as is and thinking of nothing at all. Not thinking at all. Absolutely nothing”. – KG

A short film following two strangers meeting unexpectedly in summer ’88.

Creatures is a grotesque love story about two sweethearts who try to adjust to the black and white environment they live in. During their search for acceptance they conceal their distinctive features, but they can't hide their true nature.

A fictional story about a husband and wife separated by huge distance, space and time. While living on two different surfaces they have to confront the reality surrounding them trying to find the meaning of the vague situation they have been thrown into.

It is a story of Julita Wójcik’s unforgettable Rainbow art installation. The artist created her flower-covered work in the cheerful and inspiring atmosphere of the Wigry Creative Residence with countless affirmative meanings and connotations in mind. Soon, however, when the multihued and unifying gift for a fatigued populace was installed on Warsaw’s Plac Zbawiciela, some immediately deemed it an unacceptable bequest. Unequivocally associated with the LGBT movement, the installation was burned seven times.

A man hops on a bus unaware of what is about to happen.

A story about the relationship between a grandma and her granddaughter, despite the physical difficulties.

The documentary deals with the topic of body positivity and shows how different we can be depending on the environment.

Produced by Social Communication Factory

A short, experimental film by Filip Bojarski juxtaposes a picture of a fish being caught with a poem by Tadeusz Różewicz. Time for me read by Franciszek Pieczka. The film touches on the subject of consciousness and existential fear.

One of Jadwiga Singer's analitical, conceptual films, showing how, using the simple tool of a 16 mm film camera, we are able to manipulate the conception of reality.

One of the structural films by Jadwiga Singer, showing relations between photo image, film record and reality. "Destruction" can also be interpreted as metaphor of Singer`s personal situation.

In "Forced Response", Jolanta Marcolla goes out to the crowded city streets with a camera operator to confront passersby with the camera and provoke their reactions, thus shaking them out of the fast-paced rhythm of urban everyday life.

“The Limits of Human Possibilities” is an example of on-camera performance, a sequence of poses reminiscent of asanas in yoga adapted by the artist, for which the outline of a mountain range is a kind of point of reference.

A story of the first infatuation of the main character – Łucja, which is obstructed by her possessive mother. It is also a story of values and barriers, which in a small community are the only indicators of truth and action. This is a world where words don’t matter at all.

The beetle travels through the remnants of pop culture left in space to the Earth.

Animation by Pawel Debski

Reporter Egon Ryś accidentally meets Scarecrow. He decides to give him a ride to the scarecrow convention, seeing it as a good topic for an article. The chairman of the meeting, Beelzebub, states that no one is afraid of them anymore, so they should start helping people instead of scaring them. Most of the ghosts are delighted with this idea, but the nobleman Boruta is opposed. He decides to sabotage his colleagues' activities.

At first glance, it seems that Square lives in a chaotic and endlessly changing geometry. But the systems in which he functions are constantly repeated, introduce a daily routine, hypnotize without allowing any movement. Once, a new element sneaks into the pattern, which for a moment will allow Square to view reality from a different angle.

Film focuses on story of a woman whose fears and obsessions are taking over her everyday routine, transforming her life into all-embracing jungle. It symbolizes the struggle with personality disorders while being in a relationship with beloved one. It is an visual analysis on separation anxiety disorder that occurs mostly in childhood but can be present at all stages of life.

Kasia, a 19-year-old Ukrainian girl, lives with her two-year-older boyfriend Emil, a truck driver from Poland. One day he decides to quit his job and, together with Kasia, start earning money by selling their intimate life on the Internet. They both make money on a website which offers the viewers live sex. Emil is having doubts when it comes to telling his father about this controversial line of work. Maciej Jankowski created a very bold documentary about young people who are looking for their place in life.

The film „Reverberation” comprises recordings of five music performances that took place in peripheral spaces of Silesia. The performances were held in temporary “non-places” of undetermined statuses. These areas became filled with unwanted music – unpleasant noise driven out of urban spaces. The premise behind the film project involved seeking new contexts for marginal sound; the consecutive segments-concerts made up a tale of man’s acting in a space, while the noise generated by the artists became a metaphor of man’s interference with the environment.

The life of a Polish farmer, Wojtek, and his immediate environment, shown through the eyes of the young Swiss filmmaker, Sebastian. Despite the harsh working conditions he has known since childhood, he has never lost his joy of life, warm-handedness and humor. Living all alone in a big house, he likes to welcome guests in search of company and friends in need of help. It's where Pawel, a young alcoholic with nowhere to go, finds shelter. Wojtek does his best to look after him. Is he up to the challenge?

Despite the increase in Polish people’s awareness when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including HIV/AIDS, they are still a taboo subject, a substitute topic, an unsaid one. This way, the number of people exposed to virus transmission increases. Silence is not the solution. The story depicted in the film revolves around the presence of HIV/AIDS in Poland. It deliberates over tolerance and social attitude towards this problem, over openness and eventually anxiety. People living with the virus and those who live in ignorance saying “But that doesn’t apply to me” both fall victim’s to this anxiety.

An interventionist documentary showing the phenomenon of widespread prostitution, maintained in the style characteristic of the "black series" of Polish documentaries of the mid-1950s. Staged shots at the Polonia café are juxtaposed with a documentary recording of arrests conducted by the police among Warsaw prostitutes and interrogations of the arrested.

With a strange twist of fate, the little circus actors are flying out into space and experiencing unlikely adventures.

Stop-motion animation short based on the Wawel Dragon legend.

Experimental animation short from Poland.