Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

Marcel returns to his hometown to pick up his dying mother, Julia, from hospital. To his surprise, she mysteriously regains her strength.

The film tells the story of a disturbing conspiracy of silence that has gripped the community. People are afraid to express their opinions, aware that the police are involved in the events. The main subject of the documentary is the brutal murder of 17-year-old Iwona Cygan. The filmmakers try to unravel the mystery of who was responsible for harboring the perpetrators and why this happened for years. However, while watching the film, it is worth bearing in mind that the theories and actions of investigators and the actions of the judiciary are clearly subordinated to the political goals of the Law and Justice party government. To achieve media success, coercion was used to obtain confessions and reliance was placed on anecdotal evidence, as documented by reporter Matthew Baczynski. As a result, the suspects became media convicts and their lives turned into a nightmare.

The film "Every Scar" tells the story of one of the most controversial Polish artists - Paweł "Popka' Mikołajuwa". The painting is also an experimental document.

A reporter and his son film a popular actress spending vacation with her daughter.

Superjednostka (Polish for Superunit) is a huge block of flats designed as a 'housing machine'. Up to three thousand people can live on 15 floors of the building. The lifts only stop every three floors so the residents must go through a maze of corridors and stairs in order to get to their flats. The main characters of the documentary are people living in Superjednostka and going through important moments of their lives there. This is where their emotions throb, their expectations engender, and their desires come true... or not. 762 flat doors and 762 stories. We are opening only a few of them.

"Beavers" is the name of a punk band that no longer exists. They released one demo, then broke up, and each member forgot about music, dreams and a great career. Martin has just returned from Ireland and, with a sense of defeat, decides to end his life. He is stopped from suicide by a chance event - an ad for the sale of his old guitar. He decides to get it back and reactivate the band. He finds his band mates: Klock, whose way of life has become peddling psychotropics straight out of a psychiatric hospital, and Smrod, who has taken over the family business.

A poignant image of the environment of the homeless. The film is a documentary record of the everyday life of Russian children, small refugees from orphanages who chose a street or a railway station for their home.

Constructed from the private photo album of a Gestapo officer, this short documentary juxtaposes his everyday snapshots with the captions he himself wrote. Through these images and notes, the film reveals the chilling banality of Nazi perpetrators’ lives while exposing the brutality they oversaw.

The sixth and final episode compilation of the TV series released theatrically, featuring episodes 16 and 17.

The startling story of Ryszard Siwiec, a man who, on a Polish national holiday in September 1968, immolated himself in front of thousands of people in a stadium in Warsaw.

Giza and her husband Erwin struggle to make ends meet in their Silesian mining-town home after Erwin loses his job and faces humiliating demands at the employment office. When Giza befriends the well-off Monika, she’s offered work at a nightclub - first cleaning, then a shocking ultimatum: turn to prostitution or leave.

A group of puppets in a handmade world encounter a giant visitor with an unexpected surprise.

Following a successful robbery on Christmas Eve, two thieves go hiding into a children's home, where every child is expecting Santa Claus to come soon.

Franek, a petty criminal and gambler, befriends Rysio, who performs inspections of meat plants. Rysio suspects wrongdoings at the slaughterhouse. Franek, despite his age, cannot find a place in life, with nothing achieved and, what's more, still not knowing what to do.

Mary, just about to turn 50, works in a supermarket and her life isn't all that exciting. Then, one day, plagued by the annoying symptoms of her menopause, she overdoses on the hormon patches her doctor prescribed to her and when her vibrant and free-spirited niece Helena decides to crash at her house, Mary’s senses and imagination suddenly come alive. Now the two women are not only forced to redefine their relationship - in order to break free once and for all, Mary has to be ready to finally lose her virginity.

Aga, is a popular journalist who reports on world conflicts. She travels all over the world and is close to the people she meets. She doesn't keep her distance with her viewers; she speaks to them through her phone screen, even when she is in danger. Unfortunately, during one of her reports, this time from Indonesia, through a mistake by the filmmaker, her secret comes out. Aga's life changes suddenly, and she has to save her reputation. The events make her think, is her work ethical?​​

A film from the series "Impressions" made using classical and trick animation techniques, inspired by the paintings of Joan Miro. Deformed figures - ideograms from Miro's paintings, float in an undefined space. The plastic forms of the sun and moon symbolize the elements associated with the cosmos - the activity of day and the magic of night, the eternal relationship of light and darkness. The natural link between the cosmos and the earth are the birds, which, returning from their skyward wanderings, smash the remnants of the night with their wings, only to disappear a moment later into the light of day.

A college student is taken by surprise when her father mysteriously shows up asking her to move back home.

Emilia's son, when asked what his mother does, would reply that she rescues penguins. On the day Emilia leaves for another polar expedition, the boy tries to stop her.

Transgender Sambor tries to curry favor with a group of skaters.

After a long time in hospital, Maciek is released and finds out that his beloved old car is gone. With the help of a homeless old man, Maciek finds the car at a scrap-heap and tries to repair it.

During a hot holiday in the countryside, the close relationship of teenage siblings is put to the test. Charmed by her younger brother, Ania fights for his affection.

An overlooked breakdown leading to a mother killing her own child and husband.

The 15-year-old Filip is beaten up at a bridge near the neighborhood. In revenge, his father buys a billboard in the centre of the block of flats with information about a reward for help in finding the perpetrator.

Detective thriller about a killer loose in the crowds. The film follows a sniper on his rounds looking for victims, while a police inspector, with few clues in hand, has to figure out the motive for the killings as well as who the psychopath is and where he might strike next. He uncovers that the mentally deranged sniper can't stand seeing people happy together in public places.

Berka is 31 years old and a failure girl. She cannot cope with the breakup and she is constantly under the illusion that her beloved Olga will come back to her. When her dad persuades her to come to her family home for a funeral, Berka has to confront him and a former beloved.

An portrait of madness and inner turmoil, conveyed through mesmeric images of dreamlike intensity.

A film from the "Impressions" series, made using cartoon and combined animation techniques. The author of the film brings rock paintings from several thousand years ago to life. In the flickering light of a campfire, he shows the interior of the Lascaux cave. He reveals details and fragments of surviving paintings to the viewer. He shows animals frozen in motion, just as they were captured on the stone walls by the first painters. The paintings come to life to recreate dramatic hunts and herd migrations—scenes that fascinated and inspired the artists of the time.

Framed as a mother’s bedtime narration to her child, this short documentary observes a city at night, revealing the factories, tram depots, and essential services that operate while most people sleep. Directed by Andrzej Wajda, the film turns nocturnal labor into a quiet civic portrait, emphasizing the unseen workers whose efforts sustain daytime life.

While struggling to be admitted to an ancient philosophy class, Lidia meets a rival, Hania, with whom she fights for the professor's recognition.

A former inmate of the Auschwitz concentration camp, accused of being a kapo, is serving a life sentence. From the monologue to the camera, we learn the story of an average man destroyed in terrible times.

A young music student strolls through Warsaw’s Old Town as the city’s everyday sounds—children, traffic, machinery, music, and passing jets—shift from background noise into a spontaneous outdoor concert.

Vasyl follows his wife, who escaped to an Orthodox clergyman who is to heal her of infertility.

Directed by Henryk Szaro.

A mysterious guest comes to the inhabitants of one of the tenement houses in the country of the former Eastern bloc and sends money from heaven. The appearance of money evokes in the inhabitants dreams, memories and reflection on their own sad life.

Is there a recipe for a successful relationship? Can love stand the test of time? Three couples, differing in age, seniority and experience, reveal their fears and dreams about living together in front of the camera. Dorota Proba approaches her characters with great sensitivity, and they reciprocate with her complete honesty. The result is a very intimate, warm film that is full of difficult questions, surprising answers, great emotions and humor. Like in life.

Writer Slawomir Mrozek recalls his past as he prepares himself to move out from Mexico and resettle in his native Poland. He discusses his youth, career and emigration, while walking down his vast Mexican ranch La Epifania.

Three radically different protagonists, with polar opposite political views, try to define their identities against the background of contemporary Poland. They are at turning points of their lives. The woman has an abortion. One man is getting more politically radical and joins a right-wing party. The other man breaks his ties with the Church and chooses apostasy. Even though they could not be more different in terms of their worldviews, they have one thing in common – each of them is trying to embrace their own uniqueness and understand who they are.

Sometimes in our life we meet someone who see the world in a different way and is able to change our perception. This is the situation that happens for the characters of my film, when they unexpectedly met.

A strange world where people fight for a piece of horse meat.

From cowboys to cannons, diving to racing, perhaps nothing can stop this stuntman

Two friends (a conservative and fearful mathematician and an unfulfilled rapper) meet in the forest after years of separation. But instead of making up for lost time, they engage in a heart-wrenching argument that puts their friendship to the test.

A few hours before the official visit of the communist party representative, the management of the visited factory learns about it. Everything must be prepared to show the guest how well the place is being managed.

From the series of animated films to classical music.

Compilation of several episodes of the original animated TV series 'Przygody Myszki', Margo is a little mouse that lives quietly in a tree. It is her house, where she cooks, she sleeps, she plays the piano. In the tree where she lives. Little Margo has neighbors: Eliana, a squirrel that lives in the upper floor of the tree or Dennis, a dormouse that lives in the back floor. Life in the tree runs smoothly, but there are people who are not willing to make life easy for Margo. The little mouse will have problems of the day to day with cats, beggars or owls. However, in each experience, Margo will learn various values about life, about friendship, about love, respect and independence. With her friends, Margo will live many adventures.

The film shows the beginnings of camaraderie based on mutual assistance.

Cyprian, Filip, Ola and Kuba – four, out of fifteen of young patients who are in a long-term coma. Their parents are determined to help the and bring them back to life. The film presents an unusual story of people, who are not giving up in the face of tragedy. They are filled with hope and fight for the health of their children at the “Alarm Clock” clinic located near Warsaw. Most Polish hospitals serve as a sort of a checkroom to children in a comma, while the Alarm Clock clinic is a worldwide phenomenon – it offers just fifteen beds, but managed to wake up eight patients in one year.

A commissioned film about the Lubin copper mine.

Zbigniew Rybczynski's series of pictures to the music of Kazimierz Serocki.

This documentary about St. Mary's Altar takes the viewer back to the 15th century, when Wit Stwosz, a master of woodcarving, came to Poland from Nuremberg. At the request of the City Council, he created an altar that is unmatched not only in Kraków.

Przybora, an engineer, undertakes the construction of a modern mine. His fiancée supports him in the hardships of his work.

Another transport arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Former prisoner no. 181970, a member of the Sonderkommando, recounts years later how the gassing and burning of corpses took place. The film ends with the song "El Malei Rachamin" for the souls of the dead.

A young TV producer struggles with his conscience when he becomes convinced that his TV program is covering up a lie, but the more he tries to reveal the truth the more uncertainty he discovers.

In 1958, graduates of the Film School in Łódź – director Mieczysław Waśkowski and camera operator Adam Nurzyński – produced in cooperation with Tadeusz Kantor the short film Somnambulists. The colourful, painting-like moving image was an attempt at transferring the informel onto film stock.

When, a dozen years ago, domestic music critics anxiously watched the conquest of the music market by songs of the italo disco genre, they did not expect that in just a few years a much worse mutant - disco-polo - would be born in Polish popular music. It all started at village weddings and parties, where local bands, having gotten their hands on a synthesizer, would serenade guests to dance.

A short music film, a feature illustration of Vivaldi’s opera Stabat Mater performed by Jakub Józef Orliński and Capella Cracoviensis. The music here accompanies events in which the theme of the Sorrowful Mother is originally interpreted by the director and set in an undefined contemporary time. Atmospheric, strangely wandering, emotional narrative with a surprising finale, starring Jakub Józef Orliński himself, not only as a countertenor but also as a stirring actor.

In the modern village of the future, everything is mechanized, but the dreams of the village musician remain the same. He wants to become an artist. Thanks to the fact that an Art Nouveau goddess gave him a helping hand, Janko Muzykant saves his life and escapes from the village on a Pegasus.

Kacper visits the Dream Store for his 10th birthday.