Poland

A student abandons his way of life and wanders, suitcase in hand, seeking a place in life, literally and metaphorically. Two attitudes clash in this character – resignation and a readiness to adjust to life according to the generally accepted pattern (“little stabilization”), and the remnants of youthful rebellion, refusal to accept a boring life centred around making money. (Awards: 1966 – Bergamo, International Art Film Festival – Grand Prix; 1968 – Valladolid, IFF – Jury Special Prize).Read More »

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The content of the film is the experiences of the titular “young Varsovian”, Jerzy Bielecki. Through the story of his successive birthdays, a typical biography of a member of the “Columbus generation” is shown. Jerzy’s maturation is combined with his generational experiences – military service in the pre-war army, participation in the September campaign, fighting in the underground and the Warsaw Uprising. The hero’s wartime experiences are combined with his love for Teresa, who takes part in underground activities with him.Read More »

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A famous Polish journalist presents a problem for the powers-that-be when he displays his full political skill and knowledge on a television show featuring questions and answers on a world conference by a panel of journalists. His enemies take away his privileges when he is away. The shock of being “unwanted” parallels a deeper disappointment in his private life: his wife has an affair with a jealous young rival, and after 15 years of marriage and two daughters wants a divorce. She offers no explanations as he tries to untie these problems himself. All the moves he makes are the wrong ones. He takes on drinking heavily with students eager to attend his seminar after discovering the class has been canceled. The journalist, once suave and commanding is reduced to silence.Read More »

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Using the backdrop of the banality and ordinariness of everyday life in a small provincial town, the film analyses the relationship between two women friends, who struggle to find their way in post-communist Poland. The small events of their lives represent universal feelings of being trapped and lost in a new world, in contrast to the successes of the dark side of democracy – drug dealing, crime and pornography. By its very nature, the film creates a picture of provincial Poland after democracy, but its charm is in the understated relationship between the two friends and the people around them and in the mosaic structure that builds up the film piece by piece.Read More »

Synopsis
In 1970, protests broke out in several coastal cities in Communist Poland. Workers went on strikes to object to price increases. Growing numbers of protesters walked out onto the streets. As the situation became tense, a crisis team gathered in the capital. With the help of animations combined with telephone recordings, we can peek behind the closed doors of dignitaries’ offices. Hundreds of cigarettes are smoked. Conversations get cut off. Strategies to break up protesters and future repressions are planned. Propaganda activities are thought up. The protests get out of control.—polishdocsRead More »

Follows a family of Syrian refugees, an English teacher from Afghanistan and a border guard. They all meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis in Belarus.Read More »

A portrait of Łódź, Poland that exists in a time warp of sad memory. Hutton creates an empty world evoking the 19th century industrial atmosphere that is populated with the ghosts of Poland’s tragic past.Read More »

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Kędzierzawska’s first full-length feature film deals with issues of intolerance and rejection. When a gypsy caravan arrives in a small town, the population is curious, but feels threatened and rejects the gypsies. This rejection is also felt by a local teenage girl, whose fascination with the strangers inspires her to approach them. Awards: 1991 – Gdynia Polish Film Festival Direction Award; Cannes Youth Film Festival Youth Jury Mention; Bellinzona Children and Youth Film Festival Grand Prix of the City of Bellinzona; also 1989 – Andrzej Munk Studio Competition 1st prize for screenplay (awarded before the film was made).Read More »

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Locked in the world of everyday life, the woman – a mother of three children – not wanting to lose her beloved man, her husband, hides another pregnancy from him. She finds herself in a no-win situation. It is impossible to conceal her condition any longer, and whatever she does will be the wrong solution. A tragedy occurs. When the woman finally begins to be aware that outside her home there is another life, other people, another world – it is too late for everything.Read More »