Discoveries from Poland World Cinema

A story of two teenage brothers' struggle to get to renowned football teams.

A young home health nurse struggles with the challenges of caring for a disabled elderly patient and a dying grandfather. Although she doesn't have much time, she tries to fulfill her grandfather's last wish, which is to learn his favorite song on the harmonica.

Animated film set to Chopin's Waltz in B Minor.

The bright Basia can handle anything! Nothing is a problem for her. Well, maybe not entirely. Sometimes everyone has to ask for help, especially when they're learning new things. When a bookshelf falls apart, Basia asks her parents to fix it, which ends up with the entire apartment being renovated. During a trip to the mountains, the girl has to learn to ski, with the help of her father and uncle. Picking mushrooms or painting a room is no big deal for her. One thing can definitely be said about this charming five-year-old - she copes with boredom like no other!

The devil, conjured up during an illusionist's show, escapes and plays mischievous tricks.

Family and friends remember Tomasz Beksinski, a journalist, translator, and English-speaker who died by suicide.

This must be a dream. For Manu this must be a reality. Symbolic story on fear of the greatest dream in one's life. Meeting your other half, together alone and loving that passes away faster than it appeared in the first place. Death and life. And daily bread or... cabbage.

Robert, a young actor living a life of lost relationships. A day on a film set, his obsessive roommate Basia follows him to make him see her breakdown. Quietly he watches as they're taking her away.

Karolina Poryzała and Monika Kotecka follow the rise of a women’s amateur equestrian vaulting club, led by the energetic Natalia, who dreams of turning it into a professional national team. The camera fluidly captures the relationships between the riders, in a documentary melodrama that reveals the strength of the bonds that this adventure forges between these passionately anachronistic teenagers.

This cartoon documentary shares trivia and fun facts about animals who break world records, from super-clean mice to ants who are always pregnant.

A documentary featuring the clash between the two cultures: Polish and Japanese. The filmmakers’ efforts to shoot the film are challenged by numerous obstacles they come across, that is cultural, linguistic, age and personality barriers and differences. Here is what Marcin Koszałka said about the film himself: “There are two jerks coming from Poland. They sit at some Japanese woman’s house, who is either busy or absent generally speaking, and they strive to shoot the film about her.

If it's a vacation, then collective meetings and obtaining the Mountain Tourist Badge are mandatory, "banditry is the first, still primitive form of class struggle."

Extremely personal film based on facts. The trial in the US to arrest a Nazi criminal becomes an opportunity for insightful observation of human behavior, the human psyche. And there is some truth in the heroine's words that the law protects the perpetrators, not the victims....

A documentary film dedicated to Stefan Zeromski, shot in his villa in Konstancin, with the participation of his daughter Monika, wife Anna, and friends of the family - Elzbieta Osterwianka and professor Stanislaw Lorentz. A story about the private life of this great writer.

Marek decides to make a documentary about his grandmother. She accepts provided she can fulfill her dream: play a vampire in a series of amateur horror movies. In time, Marek realizes that his grandmother is losing her memory and that he is making a movie totally different from the one he set out to make.

Against the backdrop of Saint Petersburg during the Corona lockdown, Recordings of the almost empty city merge with calls to a municipal hotline tasked with offering help and advice. Elderly people in particular are affected by poverty, hunger and loneliness.

A short doc on techniques that painters have used to achieve 3D depth of field effects.

Somewhere between life and death a thrilling chess match takes place. The stake is high - a gateway to the world of living. And the sole referee of this exciting tournament is a figure no one wish to meet in their path.

For seven minutes Waśko filmed the wall of the Film School in Łódź; he then cut up the film stock, mixed up the fragments and edited them together randomly. In effect, the only stable element of the film is the flat, unchanging wall. Because of the editing method, what is happening in front of the wall (people walking, electric carts passing by) can never be finally established. The artist thus prevents the illusion of three dimensions from materializing. He draws attention to the flat wall, which in turn recalls the flatness of the film stock. Therefore, like The Straight Curve, Wall features an attempt at reducing the 3D illusion of the film to two-dimensionality, more adequate to its physical properties.

Nikesh is 13 years old and came to Poland with his parents, Shiv and Shushila, a few years ago in search of work and a better life. Nikesh is already building his life in Warsaw – here, he has friends and lives like a young European. His dad wants to raise his son as a Nepalese and does everything he can to provide for the family. As a result, Shiv’s life comes down to working several jobs and constant confrontations with his son. Shiv is torn between his wife, who cannot imagine growing old in Poland, and his son, who cannot imagine growing up in Nepal.

A small village, a sleepy winter landscape, a dairy farm. Suddenly, one of the calves is taken away from its safe home and put in a tractor trailer.

The film is a reflection on the cultural and psychological space attributed to women in the collective consciousness, and above all in contemporary iconosphere. The artist creates characters and situations arranged in a complex in meaning and visual variation on the theme of erotic symbols and incarnations and sexual stereotypes, revealing thus their influence on essentialist vision of women in modern life and visual culture.

The true story behind Doppelgänger: in 1977, the Polish secret service provides one of its agents with the identity of a German born in Poland. The supposed son contacts his “mother,” now living in West Germany, settles there, and awaits orders. Meanwhile, the real son begins to search for traces of his biological family.

A story about a family in which a disabled child has appeared, requiring constant care. His disability crossed out many of his parents' plans and dreams. In the film we can see how his father is coping with the situation. He makes reflections, searches for the sense of difficult experiences, and with love performs daily activities with his son. "By constantly looking into one's own inner self, it is possible to live together in difficult situations, to leave one another, to apologize, to forgive," he says.

A documentary on Meredith Monk, a composer, singer, director/choreographer, and creator of new opera, music theater works, films, and installations. She pioneered what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance."

A short film from Barbara Bialowąs.

A lost simple comedy, which used the most representative parts of Poznań (the film was to promote the General National Exhibition in Poznań).

Scarecrow in a characteristic Polish landscape as a witness to the dramatic events of Polish history. World wars, changes in socio-political systems, civilizational transformations, national dramas - in this animated film take the symbolic form of costumes. Zygmunt Konieczny's dramatic music adds expression to Krzysztof Kiwerski's visual vision.

The film shows the farewell ceremony for a printer who is retiring.

A shocking testimony to the events which occurred on the Polish-Belarusian border in 2021. Under the guise of a ‘forest trip’ activists venture into the Białowieża Primeval Forest to deliver necessary items to the refugees from the Middle East and Africa hiding there.

The more peace is celebrated in the official propaganda, the more likely another armed conflict is. The "Peace will win" slogan, popularized after World War II, in fact masked the increasing risk of the Cold War.

A short story about two queer people living in Poland. Because the country condemns being queer, only at home, behind closed doors, can Andrea and Kornel be themselves. It's a slightly mocking story in which they make fun of stereotypes about queer people.

The main character is a 12-year-old boy named Michał brought up by a despotic father. But one day he receives an unexpected gift from his father...

A documentary impression from the capital of the Tatra Mountains. All the winter attractions of Zakopane rhythmically presented by the camera: sleigh rides, skis, dances, sunbathes, bonfires. Visit Zakopane!

The film tells the story of Jan Kański, an industrialist addicted to cocaine. Drawn into addiction because of a beautiful woman, he turns away from his family and friends. He owes his rescue from the final fall to his daughter, who is looking for her father.

After several years in prison, a man returns home, where no one is waiting for him.

A documentary record of the effort that marathon runners make. The camera focuses on two runners: Benedict Gugala and Marian Jurczynski, who claim victory after 2 hours 37 minutes and 9 seconds.

A picture of a metaphorical relationship between a huge cauldron and its guardian - the stoker called Guzla, who puts fuel into the giant furnace. The coexistence of two forms: technical and organic leads to the interpenetration of worlds.

Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski is a widely forgotten politician and economic activist who greatly contributed to Poland’s growth. Where did he come from? What is the secret to this phenomenon of a man whose initiatives form the basis of the Polish economy to this day? Why was he so ruthlessly banished from public life?

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.

Muscles, skin and heart that wish to be touched. About a body that wants to experience proximity to another body.

It is a film journey tracing the footsteps of a German composer, Georg Philip Telemann, who was appointed a chapel master at the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Żary where he became fascinated with Polish folk music. The most memorable scene shows the stages of a hot-air balloon ascent. They could be shot thanks to a special camera and an external viewfinder attached to a wide-angle lens.