Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

The animated short is a humorous fantasy, for which the starting point is a routine visit by a certain patient to the dentist.

The school year begins at the European Social Secondary School. It will be special because the Nobel Prize winner, Olga Tokarczuk, is to come. It will be special, because high school student Adam and his friend from the Internet have a special plan for online broadcasting.

Christmas is coming. Little Ania dreams of a doll she saw in a shop window.

A writer moves to an apartment in Warsaw's Praga neighborhood to write a new book.

Robert and Klaudia are a young Polish couple stuck in a rut, wondering what to do with their careers and relationship. When Klaudia’s old friend, Filip, shows up along with eccentric Wera, they purpose them a mutual Eurotrip. It might be the spark they all need to find out what they really want to do so they hit the road where they reevaluate their lives, loves and future plans.

After a drug-related accident, a rising pop star in Poland finds herself in a women’s prison where she is assigned the arduous task of running the prison choir — although none of the inmates can sing. Simultaneously bleak, moving, and eccentric, Parzymies’ short film offers an amusing window onto the little-known world of prison life.

Set in 1946, the film tells a story of a Polish villager returning home after years in a concentration camp. Mateusz is an old-timer, a saddler, who finds nothing but hostility when he makes it home after years away. He is not a Jew, though the villagers brand him one and give him a hard time. They feel guilty about the death of his son at the end of the war, and don't want the father around. In the background: beginnings of the Communist regime in Poland.

What happens when a hero blindly pursues his goal, consumed by brutal rivalry? This is a ruthless play on fantasy conventions, where an existential crisis of masculinity proves more dangerous than dungeon monsters. A story of people so deeply attached to their roles that they fail to notice the coming end of the world.

A documentary focusing on Polish 60-year-old Henryk Kowalczyk who is deaf-blind and being taught sculpture. Working with clay and other materials is therapeutic light in a world of darkness

Aleksandra, an uncompromising mixed martial arts fighter, and the painful path to achieving her goal of qualifying for amateur world championship in Las Vegas.

A young public servant receives a house as a wedding gift, but upon arriving he finds only the doors, a military barrack and a tank hidden underground.

A young man from Colombia brings a group of Latin American workers into a forced labor scam in Poland, choosing to be complicit in an exploitative system that has entrapped him as well. When a tragic workplace accident occurs, he is forced to confront the harsh truths behind the deceptions he has accepted since his arrival.

A barrier grew between Staszek and Alina, and the intimacy disappeared as time passed. He locks himself in a shed with his rabbits and sorrows. She indulges in relaxing baths. Everything changes when Alinka takes a job as a cuddler at the Honey Bunny salon.

Tomek is searching for a lost dog.

A Polish soldier settles on a small island, where he operates a lighthouse. Absorbed by reading, he does not fulfill his duties.

The tattoos of two men lying on a beach come to life, and start playing tricks on the surrounding bathers.

The protagonist of "Passerby" is writer and filmmaker Tadeusz Konwicki. His story, which reflects the paradoxes of the 20th century history, is commented by means of fragments of his films, documentary newsreels and stage productions.

A poetic reflection on the passing of time and youth.

Peccatum is a poetic coming-of-age story about two young women growing up in a secluded Christian community. When one of them loses her parents, she seeks comfort and salvation in pagan spirituality. Amid shared moments of intimacy and innocence, a bond begins to form between them—one that gradually comes into conflict with faith, guilt, and the fear of being discovered. Inspired by the work of Sofia Coppola.

Report from a fire in a match factory on June 16, 1913.

The action takes place during the revolution in Russia. A young officer - a White Guard - is sentenced to death by the Red Army soldiers and on a moonlit night he is led to be shot.

Night, fog, rain. A narrow Masurian road. Speeding trucks. A lonely man behind the wheel of an old car is rushing home to his daughter's concert. He overtakes the trucks, rushing towards his destiny. That destiny is a drug-addicted girl dancing on the road and waving a burning jacket like a torch. Miraculously, the trucks avoid her. The man is the commander of the local police station, the girl is a drug addict from a nearby rehab center. She will die under the wheels, and he will do everything he can to explain what she was doing on the road at night. He will make heroic attempts not to become like those around him: corrupt authorities and police, drug dealers selling their wares even under the mayor's window. His name is Leon Kamelski, but everyone calls him Chameleon.

A miniature parable about a young boy who misunderstands the function of a bird feeder.

A group of people find themselves stuck in remote train station in German-occupied Poland. A drunk German station guard there gets paranoid and sees partisans all around him, phones headquarters, and when the German soldiers arrive and search the station they find a gun. They then threaten to execute every fifth person unless someone claims it.

A collection of mechanical-biological hybrids from the artist's workshop and a variety of rules written on different boards, gathered in order to secure projects and for entertainment.

A look at show-business through the lives of cabaret dancing girls Teresa and Linka. When their theatre is closed down, they have to move to a small town. But it turns out that one of them is pregnant and the baby's father is her ex-boss.

Majority of the movie is lost - only 5-7 minutes remain to this day. Two influential Jewish families: The Ezofovichs, famous for their modern views advocating the assimilation of Jews, and the Todros, Karaites preaching a return to the teachings of the Bible live in the same town.

A mother is looking for her missing child, with whom she lost contact while in a concentration camp. The film was completed in 1948, but it was banned from distribution by the government, until finally releasing in 1991.

Ironic impression on the value of Polish money. The leitmotif was a animated image of working miners from an old 500-zloty banknote. . .

Polish author Zbigniew Herbert is one of the most remarkable poets of the 20th century. His works have been translated into 40 languages, acclaimed and awarded around the world, mainly because of its timeless and universal dimension. In Poland, his significance is even greater, as Herbert was a moral guide in his native country. His poetry was of great importance during the fight against communism. Many Poles learned his poems by heart and remember them up to this day. However, behind the crystalline beauty of his poetry, there is a man struggling with everyday life. His story told by his wife, Katarzyna, and people who were close to him unveils a picture of a unique, yet complex artist. A model of intelligence, humour and charm, on the one hand, Herbert has been struggling with anger, physical pain and mental illness, on the other.

An adaptation of Helena Boguszewska's well-known novel from 1933. The film takes place two years before Colombian ants take control of a plane flying to the States.

Rafal Skonecki loses his family in a car accident, caused by a drunken driver. When he is informed that the investigation is discontinued, he decides to take justice into his own hand.

An unknown terrorist infects computer networks with the most important institutions in the country with the virus. It paralyzes hospitals, trains, aircraft control system. Suspicions fall on Michal, a thirty-year-old IT genius and owner of a small computer company. Michal must prove he is innocent. He agrees to the proposal to cooperate with the prosecutor.

The documentary is an observation of everyday life using the "patient eye" method of cameras during a special period for director Maciej Cuske. Here is Staś Cuske, the director's son in a few months will join the First Holy Communion.

Three stories describing the life of the inhabitants of Warsaw, each set in a different time period.

A group of kids takes a boat to save a friend

Set in 1944. A shepherd boy enters an abandoned palace he has seen only from the distance since he was a boy. Once he enters the palace, strange things begin to happen as though he was dreaming the events rather than living them.

A troublemaker returns to his home village, reigniting friendship with his former teacher and looking to atone for his wrongdoings.

On a side street, Darek Krycki picks up the "goods." The delivery man is Kruger, a local mafioso. The package, which Krycki hides in the glove compartment of his car, contains four times more drugs than usual. A few minutes later he is stopped by the police. After a routine check, it turns out that the goods have disappeared. Krycki decides to ask his friends, Lukada and Ira, for help. They meet at the stadium where they trained together as children. They decide to find out who set Krycki up. Can their friendship withstand such a test? Who can really be trusted?

A pastor and ethnographer visits a remote corner of 19th-century Lithuania where folk customs associated with the area's pagan past still have a hold on the population.

A short tale of a 14 year old boy who is emotionally and sexually maturing.

Jurek is 23 years old and he is a history student. He lives with his loving auntie, who raises him and supports him. Feeling that she is a cause and a symbol of his existential boredom, monotony and malaise, he reaches for the hammer…

A virus has killed off most of humanity. Europe is under UN quarantine and survivors live in ghost cities across the continent. The story of two friends in a dying world, and of the girl who came between them.

In Poland, out of ten debtors obliged to pay alimony, only two pay it in full. While preparing to stage a court scene with his mother, the director meets people who, like him, never received child support despite being awarded alimony. He uses this situation to tell the stories of these people in his film.

Old parents living in the estate decided to withdraw from the educational principles based on the romantic-idealistic tradition. By observing the reality around them, they recognize that it is worth going with the times and they change the value system they have used so far.

After looking at a photograph from the end of World War II of two young boys holding guns, celebrating the liberation of Warsaw, a documentarian for Polish television tries to find the boys and discover how their lives have went.

The staging of "Kordian" by Juliusz Słowacki, refers to the November Uprising and attempts to understand the reasons for its defeat. It tells the story of a young boy who attempts to liberate the Polish nation, while struggling with internal dilemmas and moral difficulties.

Accompanied by his 10 piece band, Ray took to the stage of the Polish Radio Hall at the iconic Radio Trojka Studios in Warsaw on Sunday April 14th 2013.

A young man’s house party takes an unexpected turn when his gangster neighbour breaks into his apartment. A carefully crafted morality story, For Real forces its protagonist to make uncomfortable choices. This is a tough survival drama that effectively chronicles a series of bad decisions that lead to life-changing events. Exceptionally well-acted, shot, and edited, the movie takes the audience on a complete journey that’s entertaining and frightening. Tense, unpredictable, and frustrating, this is a complicated scenario where any choice has dangerous consequences.

A village in Mazowsze, 1943. Two teenage boys, Janek and Staszek, find two young Jews hiding on a farm. They soon realize that the boys, Abram and Chaim, are their age and are the sons of a respected pharmacist who lived in a nearby town before the war. They were the only survivors of the anti-Jewish pogrom led by the Germans in the nearby forest. In spite of the deadly threat, Janek and Staszek decide to hide the boys and keep it a secret.

Jerzy Stuhr Poland s most beloved actor wrote and directed this charming comedy that caters to his image as an innocent caught in a cynical world. Stuhr stars as Gustav, a Krakow professor who is roped into showing a visiting Swedish professor around town. The randy Swede soon tires of Gustav s dull dissertations on Polish heroes and suggests looking for female companionship, but the task proves beyond the skills of the shy academic. Eventually, Gustav calls Isa, an old girlfriend from his distant past who was writing a dissertation on the mating habits of geese the last time they spoke. While Isa is not what the Swede had in mind, Gustav sees his old flame through the rose-colored glasses of time.

Darling, I Love You is a film showing controversial relationships of Polish women with young lover boys from one of the numerous seaside resorts in Egypt. Such foreign trips have recently become increasingly popular among single women. Travel agencies are rushing to promise journeys loaded with unforgettable experiences. The film reveals what we can’t see in television spots or travel catalogues. It offers a shocking view of Hurghada through a different prism: Polish women - fascinated by exotic appearance and hungry for love, outraged Polish guys, and beach lover boys always ready to please a visitor.

What if, instead of bombs, we dropped watermelons? Dreamy and hopeful, this animated short sweeps us up into a colourful world where layers of reality and creativity intersect. Our protagonist navigates through it all seamlessly, and in the process shows us the importance of imagination.

The main character of the film has just received her dream apartment in an old tenement house. However, it is not allowed to enjoy it for too long. When he returns home with the child, it turns out that the tenement house has disappeared. The woman's goal is to find her own home.

It tells a story of a bird-monster from South America originally treated as god by Incas. Long believed to be extinct, due to genetical experiment gone awry its egg fossil hatches and the monster starts to search for females to impregnate.

Zenia’s trip with her father was meant to be a special, carefree time – a moment of respite in a world of innocence and abundance that had hitherto defined the girl’s life. What begins as a pleasant family weekend, however, quickly turns into a confrontation with a painful truth.