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Mateusz (Franciszek Pieczka) lives with his sister Olga (Anna Milewska) in a cottage by a lake. Unsophisticated in life, he is condemned to her care. He is troubled by the thought that Olga might one day leave him. When lumberjack Jan (Virgilius Gryn) appears in his sister’s life, Matthew experiences a drama. The film is based on Tarjei Vesaas’ novel “The Birds.Read More »
AUGUST 1980: Following the unjustified dismissal of Anna Walentynowicz, an employee just months away from retirement, her colleagues at the Gdansk shipyards organized a general solidarity strike. The movement grew to unprecedented proportions and would have irreversible consequences for all of Polish society, and by extension, for the Soviet bloc.Read More »
Two men emerge from the sea onto the beach carrying a large wooden wardrobe with a mirror on its front. After the two men clean up and rejoice to be in this new environment, they proceed to enter the nearby town, they carrying the wardrobe wherever they go. They just want to meet people and experience their new surroundings, but are largely shunned or ignored. In some instances, they are shunned even when their presence helps the situation. And in other instances of being shunned, they are beaten. And when they are ignored, the world just keeps going without them, often at the detriment of humankind. Ultimately, the two men, with their wardrobe, make a decision about what to do in light of their experiences.Read More »
A man walks down the exterior staircase of building of flats; he’s dressed to go out, taking care to wrap a scarf around his neck. He pauses as he passes a small window that’s about eye high. He ventures to look in, and there a young woman stands at a washbasin, drying her hair, the towel that obscures her face her only covering. The peeping tom gets an eyeful and smiles; he’s interrupted by a door opening, the flat’s occupant bringing out empty bottles to place on the porch. The man pretends to leave, departing down the stairs, only to return to the window after the flat’s door has closed. He again looks in the window, where a surprise awaits.Read More »
With lush and intimate photography, Wojciech Staroń documents his family’s move from Poland to Argentina. Struggling to adapt in a foreign country, his 8-year-old son Janek finds a friend in Marcia, a grounded 11-year-old Argentinean of Polish descent. With a strength and determination well beyond her years, Marcia must help make ends meet while holding her family together.Read More »
During a hike in the mountains, a group of scout girls treat themselves to lunch. Someone, however, takes one of their hard-boiled eggs. It turns out that the culprit is the devil Pipe, who eventually successes in scaring away not only the girls and their teacher, but also several tourists. The hairy Pipe also steals a birthday cake baked by a father for his ten-year-old son called Bi, who moves on a wheelchair. Everyone thinks that this is a weasel’s doing. But on the morning TV news, they announce that there have been sightings of a mysterious creature.Read More »
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Year 1573. Nobleman and Calvinist Sieniawski interrupts the baptism of another child of the Catholic Bielecki family. The godfather, young nobleman Jan Bielecki, swears revenge on the Calvinist. He sets out for King Sigismund Augustus, but when he reaches his court, the king dies. The new ruler, Henry Valois, provides his subjects with religious freedom. Bielecki and other Catholics feel betrayed by the king. There is a pogrom against followers of other religions.Read More »
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What makes life meaningful: success or love? This dilemma is faced by Joachim, a fulfilled man approaching the end of his life, and a young mathematical genius, David. This film is a return to the central themes of the director’s work. The answers he gives this time are perverse and not obvious.Read More »
The Last Jew from Drohobych is the story of Alfred Schreyer, the only surviving pre-WWII Jewish resident in this Western Ukraine town. In the 1930s, he was a student of Bruno Schulz. During the Nazi occupation he survived forced labor and concentration camps. After the war he became a singer and violinist in a local Cinema Lobby Orchestra. Today, Alfred Schreyer is a living history.Read More »