Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

Raised in Warsaw's Praga, Mirka graduated from the prestigious faculty of law. It would seem that her profession would even be detracted from the honor of a family with cunning roots. The girl's grandfather and father pride themselves on stays in numerous prisons. However, Mirka's legal knowledge can be very useful in the fight to save the old tenement house. As a result of a suspicious transaction, the tenement house where Mirka has been living since childhood is to be demolished. All the leads lead to the law firm "Łopian i Pokrzywa", which is just looking for a new lawyer - a man. In order to help the inhabitants of the family tenement house, Mirka must engage in a daring hoax. She is helped by her uncle Bogumił, a makeup artist and a representative of a sexual minority. Thanks to him, a beautiful girl will turn into a handsome young man and hire him in a suspicious office.

Shortly after World War II an American soldier (Norman) and a Polish refugee (Emilia) fall in love. Eventually he will return to the U.S. and both expect that she will soon follow him with her mother. Emilia's mother is sick, but will recover with the right medicine. But the mother, and not Emilia, knows that there will only be one ticket...

Kaya is a seal trainer at a seal centre on the Baltic coast. Keeping it secret from the others, she decides to become a single mother through an IVF procedure with the sperm from an anonymous donor. She overcomes financial and ethical concerns, yet it turns out that it is too late – she is barren. Kaya faces a dilemma: should she adopt an egg cell of another woman?

Is a party after a canceled wedding a recipe for disaster? It is. And what a disaster it is! Two families differ in everything - origin, status, wallet content, taste. The parents of the groom and bride are initially shocked. What did such a thing happen? Who was at fault? What about the wedding party? Should they welcome the guests? Play music? Pour the vodka? Who will cut the cake? From word to word, polite smiles turn into public washing of dirt. And finally a real bomb goes off... And in the meantime, the wedding party turns into a wild party. And no one is bothered by the absence of the newlyweds.

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

Two sisters set out from Warsaw to Kharkiv to pick up their seriously injured father.

In the early days of World War II, two Jewish brothers lost their parents during the Nazi invasion of Belarus. The boys were imprisoned in a German hospital and found many of their peers there. They were kept in inhuman conditions - hunger, cold, lack of sleep and rest. The only thing the boys had, their treasure - was a family portrait with mom and dad. Before the fascists separated brothers, each of them got half of it.

The story of Eugeniusz Bodo, a famous Polish actor and singer, who was at the peak of his career in 1930s.

Fallen Art presents the story of General A, a self-proclaimed artist. His art, however, consists of a deranged method of stop motion photography, where the individual frames of the movie are created by photographs made by Dr. Johann Friedrich, depicting the bodies of dead soldiers, pushed down by Sergeant Al from a giant springboard onto a slab of concrete.

A man who is socially inept and out of touch with the world lives with his sister in a small farmhouse. The overly sensitive man lives off his hard-working sibling, taking odd jobs as he gets them to secure his meager earnings. When he brings home a woodcutter from the forest, the sister and the newcomer fall in love. Terrified over a life without his sister, the man can't cope.

This dialog-free film, originally presented as 33 short films, is an experimental, bizarre set of meditations and flashbacks of the grotesque.

A German woman on a ship returning to Europe notices a face of another woman which brings recollections from the past. She tells her husband that she had been an overseer in Auschwitz during the war, but she has actually saved a woman's life.

Set in the 19th century Warsaw. The indolence of aristocrats who, secure with their pensions, are too lazy to undertake new business risks, frustrates Wokulski. His ability to make money is respected but his lack of family and social rank is condescended to. Because of his "help" (in secret) to "the doll's" impecunious but influential father, the girl becomes aware of his affection.

To convince the prison warden against releasing him, a middle-aged Polish man recounts his life, one he considers to have been characterized by exceptionally bad luck.

The film deals with the a clandestine Olympiade held in a German POW camp during WW II, housing many Poles, but also French and Brits. A spit and a Polish German lieutenant is added to the staff of a prison camp. He sees a Pole, the acknowledged leader of the Polish prisoners, against whom he had competed during the Berlin Olympics in 1936. He asks the Pole to train with him but is refused; the Pole points out out that he is a prisoner and nothing more. But that plants the seed and the Pole proposes and Olympics 40 to be held among the prisoners. They ingeniously make a flag and medals, set up a number of races; a croaching hop race is unwittingly organized by a German prison guard who uses it as a torture. The German lieutenant knows that something is going on but cannot find out. Finally the Germans realize the idea and the Polish chief is sent to concentration camp but the others disobey the orders.

Adaptation of novel by Eliza Orzeszkowa. The film is set in 1886 in Lithuania, is spins around a conflict between Bohatyrowicz family and aristocrat family in Korczyn. Against the background of the social and family disputes was shown topic of love between Justyna Orzelska, niece of Benedykt Korczyński, and Jan Bohatyrowicz. Will their love be strong enough to break the mental barrier that separates the world of Bohatyrowicz from the world of Korczyński?

As Poland is placed under martial law in 1981, two confidence tricksters try to evade both the police and the army. They become embroiled in a web of schemes engineered by the secret service, fellow criminals and the democratic resistance.

Kaska and Patryk's romance gets tested when they suspect each other of infidelity. Making matters worse, their neighbors keep meddling in their affairs.

Based on a novella by Ivan Turgenev, Pierwsza milość is the story of a 15 year old boy and a 21 year old girl who develop an ill-fated romance.

Pawel, a Polish man in his early 30s, makes a living with his father Zygmunt importing second-hand clothing from the North of France to Southern Poland. On his way back from one of regular "business trips", Pawel is shocked to discover his father's picture on the cover of a Polish tabloid newspaper. The headline "traitor" is written next to his name. Zygmunt is a genuine hero of the struggle against totalitarianism and a recognized member of the "Solidarnosc" labor movement of the 80s. But now, Zygmunt is suddenly accused by the paper of having acted as a secret informer called THE MOLE by the communist regime.

The story takes place before World War II and centers on Pawel, a member of a conservative, middle-class family, and his love for Lidka, a taxi dancer. Social conventions and the lovers' inability to defy those forces Pawel and Lidka benefit. Times change, war breaks out, leading to Pawel sent to Auschwitz while Lidka marry his cousin. Their love has survived and conventions are no longer the issue.

Even on the most difficult day, filled with exhausting conversations in a foreign language and gathering documents, I always find twenty minutes during my tram ride to dream about the little “secrets” I notice around me — like the horse that appeared at the stop.

Raised in Warsaw's Praga, Mirka graduated from the prestigious faculty of law. It would seem that her profession would even be detracted from the honor of a family with cunning roots. The girl's grandfather and father pride themselves on stays in numerous prisons. However, Mirka's legal knowledge can be very useful in the fight to save the old tenement house. As a result of a suspicious transaction, the tenement house where Mirka has been living since childhood is to be demolished. All the leads lead to the law firm "Łopian i Pokrzywa", which is just looking for a new lawyer - a man. In order to help the inhabitants of the family tenement house, Mirka must engage in a daring hoax. She is helped by her uncle Bogumił, a makeup artist and a representative of a sexual minority. Thanks to him, a beautiful girl will turn into a handsome young man and hire him in a suspicious office.

Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz directed this insightful TV documentary (2005) tracing the Polish filmmaker's career. Former classmates reminisce about Kieslowski's happy beginnings at the Lodz film school and how his dissatisfaction with some of his early documentaries prompted the dramatic work and stylistic experimentation that led to his monumental series of films The Decalogue (1989). Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, and Juliette Binoche are among the many admirers weighing in on his hard-driving work methods and preoccupation with the ephemeral. In Polish, French, and German with subtitles.

Polish businessman Jarek Branicki organizes a beauty pageant. As the man in charge, he expects his girlfriend to win it and suggests this outcome to the judges. At the same time, however, he is on the verge of bankruptcy and tries to escape the country after being cornered by his creditors. Recognized by a passenger on the train, he flees and finds refuge in the underground passages of Warsaw’s central railway station.

A dynamic and emotional story of fighting, passion and sacrifice. From 2016 to 2018, the filmmakers accompanied Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a multiple UFC champion, who at her time conquered the world of female MMA. To stay on top, the Polish fighter has to constantly confront her opponents and her own body, which is forced to make superhuman efforts over and over again. "Invincible" reveals the behind-the-scenes fights of modern gladiators, bluntly showing the blood, sweat, tears and overwhelming loneliness that are the price of the road to success in sports on a global scale.

A wealthy guy hires Oscar to cheer for his team which happens to be arch rival of the team he previously supported along with his brother. Oscar accepts the offer and fight kicks off between him and his brother along with other supporters. The fight costs a arm fracture for Oscar, wile his wife is leaving him because of his hooligan nature...

In Nazi-occupied Warsaw, an investigator tries to unravel the mysterious murder of a prominent attorney's wife.

Three old men get caught by the police during the bank heist. The problem is, that they didn't steal anything.

Two brothers are trying to find out the truth from years ago. The whole town is against them.

The biography of world famous Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin.

Two quarreling peasant families, who were forced to leave their lands after the war, are settled by accident on two neighboring farms.

The year 1901, a psychiatric hospital in the Russian partition. One of the patients is a political prisoner - Józef Piłsudski. The Polish underground independence movement is preparing their mission to rescue the famous activist. Piłsudski is freed, but he will not get back his idyll family life that he once knew. Uncertain years are coming, marked by revolutionary events, violence and betrayal. Pilsudski must find a way to man oeuvre on the boggy ground - between the conservative passivity of the Polish Socialist Party and the aggression against the invaders, resulting in retaliation. The year 1914 is coming, and the chance for restoring an independent country, independent Poland, is now or never.

A young Polish-born, Berlin-based lawyer working on refugee cases is unexpectedly reunited with his father, who is his only tie left with his homeland.

A humorous and emotional story of a family as unpredictable as a tornado. Their life gains momentum when the seniors - Józiek and Ela - decide to set off on a journey through Poland. They want to experience this trip on their own terms: to laugh, to take risk and love as if they were 20. And since their son has no intention to let them go, feisty seniors starts with stealing the iconic car Nysa...

Sawa, set to marry her “perfect” fiancé Jurek, is suddenly beset by doubts when a handsome actor, Krzysztof, appears on the scene. With only hours until the wedding and her best friends, thrill-seeker Anka, Oriental enthusiast Weronika, and ultra-organized TV star Oliwia, gathered for her bachelorette party, the bride-to-be is nowhere to be found.

Stand-up routine was developed during open mics and test shows at Lokal stand-up club in Warsaw. It was refined during "My Second Son" tour.

An atmospheric coming-of-age story featuring an imaginative young boy named Marek who dreams of escaping an increasingly dangerous Poland on the eve of war for beautiful Venice.

Film chronicles a decade in the life of a young physics student whose absolute faith in the primacy of rationality and science is shaken by tragedy and affairs of the heart.

A typical evening in a typical Belarusian family: Ian prepares dinner for his wife Kira and daughter Sonya. Things go off when he throws away a piece of gorgonzola. Ian receives a creepy video, Kira gaslights him and acts weird, and a phone robot summons him for KGB questioning. Panicked, he tries to flee, but his family stands in his way. The cheese seems to be the cause—until it doesn’t.

Fallen Art presents the story of General A, a self-proclaimed artist. His art, however, consists of a deranged method of stop motion photography, where the individual frames of the movie are created by photographs made by Dr. Johann Friedrich, depicting the bodies of dead soldiers, pushed down by Sergeant Al from a giant springboard onto a slab of concrete.

Set in the early years of the century. A story of a country gentleman haunted by the memory of his first wife. His current wife, had enough of his obsession and has taken a lover, who is mysteriously paralyzed. Meanwhile, main character's son gets his first taste of sensual experience with a mute peasant girl.

There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

A young Russian officer finds himself in a rundown town and seeks shelter in an abandoned hut while waiting for help.

How was it possible that a single man influenced contemporary world so significantly? This film is an attempt to capture the phenomenon of a common man’s metamorphosis into a charismatic leader — an attempt to see how a Gdansk shipyard electrician fighting for workers’ rights awakened a hidden desire for freedom in millions of people.

Three stories of young disillusioned Poles of different background and region of origin. What binds them together is that they all meet on the bus to London shortly after Poland's entry into EU.

The story of a spirited ten-year-old girl who has run away from her proudly affluent parents in town and finds grudging refuge with the slightly slovenly caretaker of an abandoned farm, an ex-teacher.

A young industrial designer named Wit reluctantly returns to his family home to look after his gravely ill father. Upon entering the dark confines of a house he has not visited in six years, Wit once again finds himself exposed to the idiosyncratic pathologies of his father, sister, and aunt.

It's the end of the school year and today is the last chance for 12-year-old Gabrysia to tell her classmate that she has fallen in love with him. She sets up a secret meeting and blackmails the boy to show up. But what was supposed to be an intimate talk spins out of control and leads to an unexpected ending.

Pernat finds himself in a police interrogation, accused of a murder, and unable to recall any details of the crime, or even his own life. He's released back into a world of raving lunatics and deranged dentists, murderous doctors and scientists who believe the secret of human creation is inside the walls of a cast-iron oven.

A young journalist from Warsaw goes to a small town of Kamienica to prepare a report on a motorcycle gang.

Fleeing from despair after losing those dearest to him, the hero hides in a safe land of memories, where time stands still and all those dear to him are alive.

First narrative polish film. The janitor sweeps the pavement in front of the tenement house. A carriage comes with a rather solidly inserted young man. He is well-dressed but has lost all his strength. Merry Fellow needs help.

A young doctor is tired of being sought by women. One night he meets a young girl who all but forces herself into his room where they talk of morals and love.

Following the death of his mother in '80s Poland, 12-year-old Wojciech has taken the brunt of his stressed father's frustrations with him; the boy frequently gets punished via belt. Wojciech's father occasionally tries to, instead, bond with him, but soon snaps back to his short-fused habits. Apart from Wojciech's friend Bartek, no one does anything to help. Jump to present day, Wojciech is a furrow-browed journalist who spends most of his spare time spelunking alone. Just like his father, he has serious anger management issues. Fellow caver Tania feels inexplicably attracted to him, but the love of a good woman may not be enough.

A story about the rise and fall of Zyga - a Polish kid in his early twenties, who wants to take charge of his life after the fall of communism, but in a time of chaos and moral anarchy, unwillingly becomes a gangster.

Ela is a rebellious artist struggling with the deep gray everyday life of Poland in the 1980's, including family problems and personal demons originating in bipolar disorder.

Zanussi has described the film as his most autobiographical work. A young boy in post-World War II, Communist-dominated Poland, whose father's decision to remain in Britain after the war has made his family politically-suspect with the local Party authorities, is sent by his mother to stay with an "aunt" (in reality an old family friend) in Warsaw.

A father and daughter, Michał and Anka, have a unique intimacy, which the college-aged Anka is beginning to feel conflicted about. When she finds an unopened letter from her deceased mother, it seems to justify her attraction to Michał, who may not in fact be her father.