Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

The life of Józef Klemens Piłsudski.

Slim Mr. Traba and fluffy Mrs. Barbara are a good marriage. It is the moonlight that triggers off Mr. Traba’s dreamy nature. He decides to leave his marriage nest and meet the Moon Girl. Mr. Traba lands on stage of a concert hall. The animal audience admires his performance, the Moon Girl throws a flower at his feet from the box, despite the fact that he is totally out of tune. After a crazy night of imagination, Mr. Traba quietly returns to his place in the marriage portrait.

The world as we know it is dying before our very eyes. At a secret military centre somewhere on the Polish seacoast, scientists and the military are conducting research on a technology to transform repeat offenders with life sentences into animals. A young employee of the centre tries to free one of the female prisoners marked for the conversion.

Sometimes, a computer game transcends its virtual boundaries. For those unfamiliar with esports, this movie offers an accessible and engaging explanation of the phenomenon behind League of Legends.

The key aim of every ZOO is to protect animal species from extinction. In times of war, the most endangered species was the man. Under the Nazis' noses, about 300 people, mainly Jews, found shelter at the Warsaw Zoo during the Second World War. With the help of reenacted scenes with animals, interviews with the survivors, and archive footage, we are going to revive the surreal atmosphere of those events.

At the famous Grand Hotel in Sopot, each worker - whether a porter, a maid, a cook or a stoker - feels an important part of their workplace. Perhaps even the most important.

Following a great personal tragedy, Aga feels she is now at her zero point. Her previous life ceased to exist in an instant: the past has vanished and the future is impossible to imagine. As, with time, she starts getting back in balance, fate puts her to yet another tough test. Aga’s opportunity for a new beginning might be working with Ukrainian children who have fled to Poland to escape the war. Helping others makes it easier to understand your own problems, but how many times can you start life all over again?

A group of soldiers attempt to hit a specific target using a cannon.

A unit of the People's Army celebrates the moment of liberation of the country. They remember the times of occupation, the actions they took, and their fallen colleagues.

Kaja, a young and promising artist, is stuck in a creativity crisis. Overwhelmed by the pressure of the art market, with no support of her faithless partner, she organises a diabolic performance.

“Stu” theatre rehearses “The Patients”, a play based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”.

Can a horse save a life? In Clondalkin (Dublin) that’s exactly the case, in a district where there are a lot of problems and not a lot of prospects for the young.

A commentary on the management of public opinion, the spread of fake news and the rebellion of the individual against the general. Dawid, a former war reporter, has 24 hours to write an investigative report about the death of a couple of refugees from the Middle East and a Polish soldier on the border with Belarus. During the investigation, however, he discovers that the official version of events presented in the media differs from what actually happened. The pressure to write a fixed version is mounting.

Three provincial journeymen: a shoemaker - Szydełko, a tailor's - Igiełka, and a carpenter - Wiórek, come to Warsaw, where they end up in the "Pod Apartuszkiem" inn. Soon they unexpectedly win a million zlotys in the lottery. They divide it equally and everyone goes their own way, but they agree on "Under the Apron" next year. After a year, they all meet again. The first two lost all their money, and the third settled down and married Lucia, the daughter of a carpenter.

Fascinatrix is a musical about a bold woman driven by revenge, who cross-dresses as a witch hunter and enters the Inquisition's castle...

The movie depicts the story of a young Mazurian boy named Mietek, who crosses the line between childhood and adulthood . He stands in close contact with nature; he decoys birds and feeds them, he catches fish. But above all he is attracted to the work of the woodcutters. He watches them as they fell the trees and he helps them load the timber onto rafts that float down the river and through the sluice-gates. Finally, he joins the raftsmen and when he receives his first salary and gives a girl his first bashful look, the time has come for him to say goodbye to his childhood.

A group of veterans recount a horrifying experience when trapped in a minefield, resulting in each losing their sight.

An attempt to summarize the director's life and work to date, starting from his early youth and ending with his work on "Pan Tadeusz".

Behind the mighty eighteenth-century wall of the oldest enclosed convent in Poland - Benedictine convent in Staniatki, near Krakow - the life of twelve nuns in their 70s goes on. Despite their age and the world of rapid change, they try to comply with the rule set over ten centuries ago ‘ORA et LABORA’ each day. Our protagonists – nuns Anuncjata and Benedykta (40 years in convent) – introduce us to the world behind the wall telling us about their lives and decisions in a specific way. They show us the world of convent in true colours, without stereotypes, often touching and amusing at the same time. This is the film about silence said aloud.

A forgotten glove in an empty venue in Warsaw which is about to close after an event... Magda returns to get her glove and has the opportunity to have a brief talk with her first love Piotr, whose concert she has just enjoyed, about the long time that has passed. Could the old flame between them still be burning there?

A satirical take on the issue of "sugran" – a new high-quality feed made from a mixture of dried fodder and whey. A satirical film directed against the squandering of social initiatives. Its critical tone led to a ban on its distribution. Ultimately, the film did not premiere until 1981.

A chance meeting of a cleaner from Ukraine and a former star of the Polish music scene leads them to record a joint song about love.

A reality filmed in fragments. The artist concentrates on seemingly ordinary elements, which our minds almost automatically reject as insignificant. Sadowski posits a different kind of perception, which resembles the way the world is enthusiastically beheld by children. At the same time, the artist remains ironic and far-removed from any sentimentalism or elation.

This short film is almost entirely filled with archival materials depicting the pre-war, everyday life of the Jewish community in Central and Eastern Europe. Black and white photos are accompanied by realistic sound that brings the images to life. Endblum is a minimalist story about absence. In the only contemporary shot, contrasting with the archives, we see the interior of an empty synagogue - a dead place devoid of its original function.

A documentary about unemployed workers in Walbrzych, Poland.

Local elections are taking place in Georgia in 2025. The frontrunner is the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party, accused of rigging the previous parliamentary elections. Amidst growing tensions, Lasha Kabanashvili, an employee of the Mtkvar club in Tbilisi, faces a dilemma: does voting still make sense?

Just before Christmas, things that are difficult to explain happen in the house of the widow of the local organist. Muddy traces left in the house, mysterious shadows and strange sounds make Bogusia increasingly believe that these may be signs from her tragically deceased husband.

“Every hour, a child disappears in South Africa.” With these words, a male voice introduces us ruthlessly to a world that usually remains hidden to outsiders. It is distressing and painful to become aware of its existence, but somehow, it also has to do with our own society, no matter how surreal that may seem.

Zuzia – 12, has been training vaulting for two years and has extraordinary role topping the acrobatic pyramid. She is «flyer» lifted by the stronger and more experienced vaulters-«base». Another intensive season begins. During training sessions it becomes apparent that the girl has lost some of her grace and lightnes. At first the coach blames the «base» but they admit that Zuzia is to big to lift her. It became clear that she is «just growing» and her role is given over to a younger girl.

An animated short documentary about a grandmother, who advises her granddaughter on how to go through life.

Matej Bobrik turns the camera on himself at a time of change in his life, defined by his relationship to two women: his grandmother, with whom he talks only on the telephone ever since the recent death of his mother, and his new Japanese wife, whom he married in part to help her deal with the Polish authorities. Tellingly, Bobrik records only moments of transition, but not their causes or consequences.

Docuemantary about a small town preparing for a bicycle race.

A film mocking the consumerist attitude towards life.

A documentary on the photographer Jan Saudek

A filmed performance at the Satirics Theater in Warsaw, a cabaret theater operating from 1954 to 1975.

Ups and downs in the love and professional life of Marta, a young woman from Krakow. Despite adversity and permanent bad luck Marta does not give up on her dreams of a bright future.

A film with Robakowski's characteristic single-shot structure, filmed from the perspective of a character who struggles to walk along a forest path, constantly complaining of nagging pain in his leg.

A ramshackle wall unit is a symbol of the monotonous life of a certain 40-year-old man livingin a grey, dirty post-communist block of flats district. Right after his birthday, suffering fromthe midlife crisis, the man decides to change his dull and routine-based existence. Alas, his wifestands in the way.

A mother and her adult son, who communicates with spirits through ecstatic dance, live completely alone on a tiny island in Indonesia.

A documentary about the election campaign and the first free elections in Poland in 1990. The filmmakers look behind the scenes of the political game. They present candidates during meetings with voters, document meetings of election staffs and listen to the ‘voice of the street’.

Comedians Mariusz Kałamaga, Karol Kopiec and Wiolka Walaszczyk deliver an eclectic and energetic stand-up show at Klub Hybrydy in Warsaw

A ‘paradocumental’ by Dziworski & Rybczynski.

Mr. Berbeluch takes over power at the State Fairy-tale Art Institute. Thus, he wants to drastically change the current system of values. His revolution must be signed by well-known figures - authorities.

The whole story is told from the perspective of their parents. The mothers (a teacher, a beautician, and a motorist) and the fathers (a farmer and a miner) describe years of estrangement, depression, self-harm, and suicide attempts. All these things happened until the moment of "outing", that is, defining one's true gender identity. In the documentary, we learn about the lives of ten transgender children. Two of them live abroad: in Germany and Canada. This global perspective shows even more bluntly how unfriendly Polish reality is for trans people. There is no support from the government in access to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, sexologists. There is also no refund of medication and medical procedures, and no legal protection. Finally, in Poland, trans people have to sue their parents in order to have the correct gender on file. This is their everyday life.

Magda breaks up with Michał, the father of her child, and returns to Poznań. There she meets the composer Adam, but her previous partner reappears in her life.