Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

It's a blistering hot summer. Maciej Kornet is traveling around Poland with his 17-year-old daughter, Wiktoria. It's been only the two of them for years, always together. The route they take is determined by where tennis competitions are being held. She is the apple of his eye, while he's her entire whole world. At least until they're joined by Igor, a promising player who starts training with Maciej. As a result, Wiktoria opens herself up to new experiences.

A pianist from Poland visits a town in West Germany and starts to remember details about her life during the war.

An unassuming post office clerk finds fame and success as a motorcycle racer.

Based on motifs from Jurandot and Sart's operetta "Miss Polonia," this musical comedy tells the story of a star of the Opole Festival who tries to make a career in Paris. After winning the Audience Award at the Opole Festival, young singer Mariola leaves for Paris to pursue a career there. However, her performances are not successful. She tries to hide this fact and uses various methods to sign a contract. Her beloved, the young composer Piotr, discovers the truth about her alleged career, while at the same time rejecting offers from a star who is interested in him and wants to promote his songs. Piotr and Mariola return to Warsaw.

1863. Bloody battles are raging. A squadron of dragoons is pursuing an insurgent. It is the wounded Prince Odrowąż. With his last ounce of strength, he makes his way to the home of the administrator Brynicki. Mija Brynicka, the steward's daughter, risks her own life and compromises her honor to hide him. Odrowąż finds caring attention and slowly recovers. Love blossoms between Mija and Odrowąż. Lost in ecstasy, they dream of a liberated homeland and marriage. Unfortunately, the prince's mother's selfishness stands in the way of their love, as she does not allow this misalliance. She takes her son away, leaving Mija in boundless despair.

Selected episodes from a television series of thrilling stories based on works of world literature classics.

The twenty-one-minute-film is set in a men's public rest room and recounts the day to day existence of an elderly woman who serves as an attendant in the lavatory. As an endless procession of men pass before her, relieving themselves in the urinals, the attendant escapes her reality by daydreaming about the past and the soldier she once loved and the child she bore him.

A coming of age story about fourteen years old Yurek, his adventures during the vacations and his first love.

During a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks. The fugitives hide out in a rural inn, terrified that they may be given away at any moment.

A day in the life of an alcoholic. With the help of his girlfriend Krysia, Kuba attempts to regain control of his life.

Adaś Miauczyński, a Polish intellectual, has severe alcohol problems which affect his relationship with his son Sylwek.

A passage of time presented by interplay of vision and sound. The issues of transience and duration materializes in a dychotomy of a turmoil of the city and a tranquility of the nature. Time, which has come to a stanstill, discovers the face of an inevitable fate.

The true story of Polish fortunes and the story of the heroes from the first part has its colorful continuation. Can business friends continue to trust each other when even more money is at stake? How were state-owned companies privatized, garnering millions into private pockets? Who was pulling the strings in free Poland? Even more mysteries. Human weaknesses.

Director of detention, director Nowacki finds Sergeant Zawada, who is hiding from the world. An experienced officer returns to the game and gets a new task - he becomes the commander of the convoy, who is to transport a very dangerous prisoner to a psychiatric hospital. Members of his team are people with a complicated past. Among them is also Feliks, full of ideals, privately the husband of Nowacki's daughter, who should never have found himself in a prisoner. The prison director, having lost control of the convoy, chases to repair, and may hide the uncomfortable truth for him. The real purpose of the convoy is slowly coming to light. Conflicts arise between men and tension increases, with unexpected twists every minute. From now on, justice can be done on its own.

The film evokes a childhood in rural Lithuania between the wars. A country boy, Tomaszek, lives on a rich estate, situated on the Polish border. He realizes that the Issa Valley he lives in is to be torn apart by internal political conflicts and unrests among the mixed population of Poles, Lithuanians, Jews and Russians. He, however, is captivated by a paradise surrounding him, the forest, and his fantasies.

Neck leads a quiet life, totally subordinated to his wife. His colleagues are out of town, and the neck is working in the company ordering the highway. When the case agent stars, feisty Clementine, sexy blonde kidnaps him to Warsaw, where the neck turns into a celebrity. To rescue a friend moves Phicol and Jadźka jealous wife.

The film depicts three days in the life of a state farm director, during which he celebrates his 40th birthday. He was adopted by four godfathers who have helped him throughout his life and have reached positions of prominence themselves. He makes a mistake at work turning away some foreigh investors and is required to cover the losses, but even his godfathers are unable to help him. He regains affection of his son instead.

A stowaway sneaks aboard a ship departing on a cruise down the Vistula River. The captain takes him for a Communist Party cultural coordinator and the intruder gladly adapts to his new role, immediately setting to work at manipulating the passengers and crew into silly and vaguely humiliating games. Before long, Tym has got everyone under his thumb and created his own comedic dictatorship.

Girls no more, four heroines emerge into womanhood with a more clear-eyed outlook on life.

A dramatization of problems faced by a young couple in 1970's Poland - job uncertainty, conflicts with parents, living together, unfaithfulness.

Set in the 16th century in the Grand Inqusition period. Ruprecht stops overnight at an inn, and falls in love with the lovely Renata. She however, has fallen under the spell of Count Henryk, whom she believes to be an "angel of fire". The girl eventually brings him before the Inquisition.

In war-ravaged Warsaw, five juvenile delinquents are given probation for stealing, to rehabilitate themselves, but remain under the influence of their profiteer-boss.

The protagonist of the film is a 50-year-old businessman, Tomasz Adamczyk, who wants to give up running his winery business and devote himself to his lifelong passion for philosophy. This idea does not appeal to his business partner. On top of all this, Tomasz has an accident and is taken hostage by enthusiasts of the wine he produces.

A young policeman gets into trouble after winning the lottery. Adventure and problems follow, as well as lots of beautiful women. The officer runs danger to fall prey to a large scam, but he also can find true love and realizes: in order to win his fate, he has to take chances and play.

Franczesko, Fikoł and Szyja known each other for years, they work together and spend their free time together. When they lose their job in a local factory, decide to spend a crazy weekend in the capital. But the real adventure has yet to begin, when - during a forced stop in charming surroundings Transriver - three guys is mistakenly taken for German investors.

While grazing their herd in the mountains, two teenagers are attacked. Nizar, 16, is killed, while Ashraf, 14, has to take a message back to his family.

Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.

Made by independent company Wytwórnia A'YoY from Zielona Góra, Poland, mostly by the members of former sketch group Kabaret Potem, this is a modern fairy tale comedy about people living outside the everyday world know to us. Their world is divided into HERE (TU) and THERE (TAM). Here is the world of slums, landfills and vacant buildings, and THERE is the world of glass skyscrapers and riches. HERE is ruled by The President (Stanisław Tym), who is rich enough that he could live THERE, but he choses not to, as HERE he is the king. The story follows regular inhabitants of HERE, Newton (Maciej Stuhr) and his beloved Natalia (Joanna Kolaczkowska).

An American actress temporarily stops in Warsaw on her way to Japan, where she gets acquainted with the Polish writer.

Professionally active, childless, married woman loses her father during a business trip. With an overwhelming sense of transience and the fear of death, she doubts her attachment to her husband. It turns out that in marriage, too, he only plays his part, with greater or lesser conviction.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Ewa has plotted to pass the hours until morning with her former lover Janusz, a family man, by making him believe her husband has gone missing. During this night of recklessness and lies, the pair grapple with choices made when their affair was discovered three years ago, and with the value of their present lives.

Based on a true story. Two brothers, Artur (22) and Marcin (12), murder their own mother. The film starts with the boys' arrest and then takes us through the last 12 months in a series of flashbacks.

Marta's surprise birthday party sets in motion a spiral of tragic events.

Zofia is an elderly woman living in an retirement home. Separate from the rest, she talks seldom and then only about visiting her daughter's family for Christmas. When she comes to her daughter's home unannounced, her stay is spoiled by the damage to her son-in-law doctorate bookmarks which she removed unknowingly during dusting. She then spends Christmas in an empty restaurant, surrounded by waiters and musicians waiting to be tipped.

The life of a grumpy 40-year-old man living with his wife in a high-rise block. Every day is like the other - quarrels over dinner, taking out garbage, annoying neighbours, rides in elevators, lost socks. He hates everybody, especially his wife. Not even sexual fantasies are an escape from the hell he imposes on himself.

Jasiek Kalaciński gives up his education and sports career to work on his parents' farm. By coincidence, he finds himself in the world of film.

Alice, a young Polish woman, arrives in England to marry a doctor. However, she faces an obstacle when her fiance changes his mind and leaves her in need of citizenship in Britain.

The Christmas fever of the December time starts with the arrival of an unusual Santa to the city. It will be a storm of exceptional events.

Two gangsters, fighting for influence in the city, decide to get suitcases filled with money and drugs. Meanwhile, another criminal group has the same purpose.

Wojciech, who does not feel the ubiquitous joyful atmosphere, meets someone who changes his holiday plans. In turn, Karina and Szczepan get embroiled in a fight for an inheritance that may divide even their loved ones. They will see if the only thing that comes out well with the family is in the photos.

A rational young man and his devoutly Catholic wife believe their sickly son may have leukemia. As they await further tests over a weekend they both struggle with a crisis of faith in both science and Catholicism.

In 2059 scientists manage to revive two people after 80 years of suspended animation - a boy Marek Torlewski and a dictator Muanty, who quickly becomes a serious threat to humanity. Synteza is an adaptation of a novel by Maciej Wojtyszko.

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Based on true events, a Belarusian journalist is arrested after covertly livestreaming brutal government crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators following rigged elections. Her husband, refusing to leave her, also faces recriminations from a regime determined to break them both.

A UFO lands at night in a typical Masovian village. The villagers feel honored and want to be as hospitable as possible for the unexpected alien guests.

After his girlfriend expresses discomfort with his all-women client list, a therapist pivots by helping the leader of a support group for a distressed men.

The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.

Wojtek spends his days sitting on a forest pulpit and tracking grouse plundering nearby villages and towns with foresters. One evening he returns through the fields from work and stumbles upon a strange phenomenon. A house is moving in the distance. Or rather, a single lighted window. When he returns the next day, the situation repeats itself. Day by day more and more windows appear. Intrigued, Wojtek tries to unravel the poetic-abstract riddle.

An elderly man, nearing death, gives his young grandson an unusual gift and tells him about the transient nature of time.

In 1969 a young writer decides to write an essay on a well known Polish writer, who had to leave the country in the 50's, later living, working and dying in exile. He slowly assembles the character and even the exterior appearances of his idol until his own identity tragically disappears.

A story of a mother who had to change her profession from a teacher to a high class prostitute to make a living.

Anatol Kowalski is an old man who works in a bank and loves his old-fashioned hat. One day the hat gets lost and Anatol decides to buy a new one.

It's Christmas, and children at an orphanage in Maliszewo receive a computer that was given to them by another orphan who used to live there many years ago. During the night, the computer awakes itself and tells the children a story that will happen in 25 years...

A young, charismatic priest John, his time missionary in Africa, every day helping Warsaw young people addicted to drugs. Unconventional methods, which are used in pastoral work, raise many doubts about his superiors. Surprisingly, however, his life undergoes a sudden transformation when routine testing finds out that he is HIV positive.

In order to save their rehab facility, four cross-addicted anonymous alcoholics undertake a very risky task to smuggle two tankers of spirit across Poland. For their own safety, they kidnap their therapist for the trip. However, the journey turns out to be more dangerous than they expected. After them – or rather the illegal alcohol they are transporting – is a Customs Officer, who is not entirely who she says she is. From then on, everything gets complicated.

After 20 years, a man returns to his quiet, idyllic hometown in search of a wife only to find the community torn by a heated mayoral election.

The dangerous thug Pif-Paf escapes from prison. Bolek and Lolek bravely chase after him through the prairie, canyons and rocky mountains.

Eighty-year-old Tadeusz lives a quiet life as a pensioner with his wife Helena. After years of working in a hospital, he wants to enjoy old age and his charming house with a garden, where they soon plan to hold their beloved granddaughter’s wedding. The idyll is shattered by a tragic car accident that casts a shadow over his marriage and reveals cracks in his relationship with his son.

Second half of the 1970s. A few teenagers from the town of Ustrzyki Dolne, led by a charismatic and undisciplined student of the local school, Siczka, decided to become punks and get into punk rock and start a band called KSU.