Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

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The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra brings together refugee musicians and Ukrainian members of leading European orchestras. One day after the third anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, they perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony - a masterpiece and symbol of freedom and humanity - under the direction of Keri-Lynn Wilson in Warsaw's Teatr Wielki.

A short film from Barbara Bialowąs.

A large monkey from Bielawa, a roaming puma in Lesser Poland, a snow panther seen in Upper Silesia. Toto, the escaped circus tiger, finds himself in the company of wild animals causing panic as wide as Poland itself.

A four-year-old dog called Pink is big and energetic. The shelter is a place where he feels safe. One day volunteers, worried that Pinki is not being noticed, set up a Facebook page for him and start looking for a permanent career.

Joza's humble appearance does not reveal his wild past. Now a tour guide in Jerusalem, he was once Israel's biggest cocaine dealer: he's been constantly reinventing himself while making all the possible mistakes along the way.

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.

Two brothers, living in isolation after an apocalypse, clash over their beliefs when intruders approach their hideout.

We all know that love can happen anywhere, but it's hard to believe that includes a Polish-Ukrainian class in a provincial primary school on the verge of being dissolved.

The tale of "The Golden Duck" in the reality of 17th-century Warsaw.

Over the hills and far away, in the middle of the Russian steppe, you will find Chess City. It was built by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the first and only President of the Republic of Kalmykia, one of the smallest and poorest republics in the Russian Federation. In Kalmykia, there also lives a boy called Alekhan, who dreams of becoming the World Chess Champion. And his younger brother Amir, who shares the same dream.The road to make their dreams come true passes through the Chess Competition in Chess City.

Fifty-year-old Roma is going through the most difficult time in her life. The only thing she dreams of is a new home. When she once again comes up against bureaucracy and loses sight of improving her situation, all she can do is to forget herself for a moment.

Set between conservative and growingly anti-LGBTQ Poland, versus the multi coloured and cosmopolitan universe of Berlin, Germany, Just Girls allows us to witness the daily life choices, of three Polish women as they daily defy intolerance while they pursue their dreams of inner happiness.

Amiga Deluxe Paint animation

A portrait of the inhabitants of Jastrzębie (a mining town in Silesia) – young men and women who came there to begin their adult lives. Jastrzębie received municipal rights in 1963, but it is still a huge construction site. Children slide down the heaps of coal, located between the blocks of flats. Young women, dressed in worker jackets, look for their husbands. The life of the inhabitants is subordinated to communicates released by the council of the mine. Working days are about queues and listening to the radio, and days off are about festivals and performances of the mining band. Boxing in the ring and fights in the streets. The directorial debut of Stanisław Manturzewski, a sociologist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker, made in collaboration with Stanisław Niedbalski, a cameraman.

"Duel" describes the clash of two athletes, shot putters David Davis and Alfred Sosgórnik.

Alternative History of Poland, 2014. A pair of Swedes come to Warsaw to make a documentary about the life of young people in socialist realities.

Agata is a member of the rowing sports club. At the next competition, she is going to sail in the team of the "eight". During this time she meets Robert, their relationship turns into love. Robert, however, turns out to be unworthy of her feelings, cheating on the girl by cheating on her with other women. Among them is Agata's trainer. The girl experiences it very much.

The communal memory of killings which took place following World War II in the Dębrzyna forest in south-east Poland, featuring accounts from those who witnessed the atrocities as children. It was a time when many people were returning from forced labour in Germany, with no idea that they might become victims of the attacks being perpetrated by the marauding bandits who had overrun the area. The residents of the nearby villages knew what was going on in the forest, yet never intervened because they were “living in fear” themselves.

A historical film about the 1930 Revolution, directed by João Baptista Groff.

Under the starlight, a boy and a girl are running. A thunderstorm breaks out, trees are shattered, and a rain of silver needles turned into hair floats through the air.

The film deals with the reconstruction of Poland after regaining independence in 1918. It presents the greatest achievements of politicians, economists, inventors, and scientists whose ideas and accomplishments contributed to Poland's prosperity in the interwar period.

Inspired by a political protest movement, the Teatr 21 – a theatre company of acting enthusiasts with Down’s syndrome – develops a play in which the participants articulate their wishes and demands and at the same time get to abandon themselves with great joy to creative development. Martyna Peszko attentively follows the creation process as it unfolds in a productively bustling rehearsal atmosphere, with musical accents provided by the improvisations of a free jazz trio.

A dramatic adaptation of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte. A man urges two bachelor friends to test their fiancées' fidelity.

A short animation depicting the duel between a horse and a man trying to tame it.

Mr Potato lives in typical, Grandma's, stuffed flat. Green, awful wallpaper on the walls, TV in each room and a few mechanical improvements made not to waste time for shaving, cooking, washing up, going to buy beer. Why should you lose time if you can spend it on watching TV? So Mr Potato has everything organise, lives peacefully and devotes himself to his new passion- staring at the box. But one day...

The footage from the Chronicle of besieged Warsaw is probably the work of the cameramen of the so-called 'Starzyński team'. The fragmentary images of bombarded Warsaw, including the ruined streets of the Old Town, the burning Royal Castle, the bodies of passers-by on the pavement, were recorded in September 1939 with a view to later editing.

An experimental film made for Polish television.

History of a fashion rebellion in communist Poland. The film shares the experiences of those who were singled out as ideological 'saboteurs' by the socialist authorities. The documentary presents the stories and opinions of stylish personalities of the day.

A documentary about unemployed workers in Walbrzych, Poland.

Polish avant-garde animation featuring vanishing staircases and desperate searchlights with occasional breaks for a digital clock and a stone face.

A record of a few months of struggle on the set, showing an atmosphere of work and a picture of immense film machinery, and at same time presenting the truest and intimate portrait of the Master of Polish Cinema, the Oscar winner.

A series of complaints directed at the camera that nobody wanted to take care of before. It turns out that the complaints focus on policemen, a sergeant, and a master corporal.

Krysia, a teenage girl, leaves her home for the first time in weeks. At a party, she runs into Majka. The two girls slip away and set off on a journey that proceeds at a dizzying pace.

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.

On August 1, 1944, Warsaw holds its breath as Home Army couriers spread word that “W-hour” is at 17:00. A platoon under “Czarny” must assault German barracks without the expected backup—an order they follow at the risk of collective suicide.

Boxing was an iconic sport discipline at the time of Poland’s first post-war world championship in boxing. In ruined Warsaw, a legendary coach, Feliks Stamm, must rebuild the Polish boxing squad to face the most powerful team in the world – that of the USSR.

Last weeks of the cold winter. A drab and desolated province. 7-year-old boy, left without proper care, is looking for a companion to play. Despised and ridiculed by his peers, he decides to build a snowman. The snowman becomes a "prosthesis" for a coveted friend. But soon events take a dangerous turn.

An animated film about a student who uses a math assignment to embark on journeys into the world of imagination.

When Aśka's child is born, she does not expect that she will have to face difficult challenges. She has to decide whether to raise a son or a daughter. At the time of birth, the titular newborn has biological features of both sexes, and the parents are to determine which of them will be surgically eliminated.

The film was made at the Polish Sculpture Center in Oransko, during sculpture workshops for deaf-blind people. The camera shows the process of creation, which is closely connected with getting to know oneself. It is accompanied by hesitation, anger and joy.

Battered Warsaw is getting back to life after the WW2 destruction. The ruins of the Old Town become homes once again.