Critics
Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej's 100 Years of Polish Film
Set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the story follows Michał, who witnesses the murder of his mother, wife and child and then is hurled into a life that literally is not his own; a surreal world littered with trapdoors, doppelgängers and wormholes.
Za sciana
Jan is a young assistant professor in chemistry and a workaholic, Anna is an unsuccessful science writer who turns to Jan for advice and human compassion, but Jan, absorbed with his career, remains immune to Anna's clumsy efforts to pierce his defenses.
Iluminacja
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.
Na wylot
A struggling illustrator and his wife, disliked by his family, drift between jobs before attempting mail fraud. Their scheme leads to the murder of their elderly, disabled landlords.
Palec bozy
A young man from the countryside fights against all odds to fulfill his dream of becoming an actor.
Wesele
Set at the turn of the century, the story concerns a Polish poet living in Cracow who has decided to marry a peasant girl. The wedding is attended by a heterogenous group of people from all strata of Polish society, who dance, get drunk and lament Poland's 100-year-long division of Poland under Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The bridegroom, a pai...
Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution, where time itself doesn't seem to exist, and the line between dreams and memories becomes indistinguishable.
Potop
During the Swedish invasion of Poland, the brave warrior Andrzej Kmicic, considered a traitor to the nation, fights for a country, redemption and love across the 17th-century Polish territories.
Ziemia obiecana
The Polish film based on the book of the same name by Wladyslaw Reymonts. Taking place in the nineteenth century town of Łódź, Poland, three friends want to make a lot of money by building and investing in a textile factory. An exceptional portrait of rapid industrial expansion shown through the eyes of one Polish town.
Noce i dnie
An epic saga of the Niechcic family, told from a woman's perspective. In 1914 in the war-torn Kaliniec, Barbara Niechcic remembers her youthful love, marriage hardships, family life in the countryside and finally her husband's death.
Zaklete rewiry
Set in the early 1930s, a young man finds a job as a dishwasher in a hotel and quickly works his way up the ladder. Loosely based on the novel by Henryk Worcell.
Personel
Romek, an idealistc 19-year-old boy, takes a job as a tailor in the costume department of a Warsaw theater company where his new colleague, Sowa, is pressured to make a costume for an overbearing soloist.
Barwy ochronne
A moral conflict between a young assistant and an associate professor arises during a university linguistics camp.
Man of Marble is a Polish film about a student making a film about a bricklayer who was once idolized. She interviews people who knew him and finds old footage that lead to an unfolding mystery that causes her producer to cancel the project.
Wodzirej
An ironic look at a climber who decides to do anything to get a job he thinks will launch him into a better career.
Indeks
The story begins in March of 1968, the days of students protests. A hot- headed student protests the Dean's decision to expell a fellow student on fake accusation charges, upon which he drops out of university rather than make a compromise. He loses everything in the process: his girlfriend, housing privileges - he becomes a coal deliverer. On t...
The beginning of the occupation. A closed mental world for the sick. Dr. Kauters values only methods of resolution, Dr. Rygier is a believer in strong authority, Dr. Marglewski considers psychic property a form of haunting, Dr. Nosilewska left Austria after the Nazi occupation. The writer Sekułowski seeks shelter. The young, newly arrived doct...
Amator
Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.
Aria dla atlety
Set at the turn of the century it presents a story of a famous Polish athlete, Zbyszko Cyganiewicz. It begins in a small town where a traveling circus attracts a shy boy into a phony wrestling game to please the crowds. The youth, however, takes his strength seriously, eventually defeating a name wrestler in a fair match. Angered circus manager ...
The crusty hero, Habryka, is an old miner who has won many worker medals and is now retired with his youngest son and latter's family living with him. To build new apartment buildings, the old houses are being bought out, the residents given apartments in the new houses, and being cleared away. But Habryka refuses to sell.
Panny z Wilka
Set in the late '20s. A thirtyish young man, who heads a small factory, faints at the funeral of a close friend. He decides to go home to his aunt and uncle for a while, but gets involved with a family of five women who had been in love with him at one time though he had apparently loved only one, who, unknown to him, has died since his departur...
Cma
This is psychological drama by Tomasz Zygadlo begins as a straightforward story. Jan is the host of a nightly talk show in which he counsels people who call in with their problems. He is dedicated to helping these lonely souls but becomes increasingly disturbed when his co-workers and supervisors at the radio station do not appreciate his progra...
In 1905 partitioned Poland, a bomb moves through the anarchist underground as revolutionaries prepare to strike against Tsarist rule.
Mis
En route to London, Bear discovers at the border checkpoint that his passport is missing a few pages, which may prevent him from traveling to the city with the sports team he manages.
Dreszcze
A boy comes of age under an oppressive, cruel socialist government and watches as it slowly but surely distorts his family, his school and even his own thoughts.
Kobieta samotna
Irena, a postal delivery worker, is struggling with inadequate housing, a drunk neighbor who wants to take her place, and a heartless boss, knowing that the whole day at work, she is leaving her young son. But the worst is the loneliness, exacerbated by her single mother status. She meets a crippled pensioner Jacek, who appears to be the key to ...
Przypadek
Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
Vabank
October 1934. Poland. Famous bank robber Kwinto decided to quit his dangerous criminal job, but after his friend's death, he changed his mind and organized a burglary of famous and well protected bank which belonged to his former partner in crime, backstabbing and double-crossing Kramer. Kwinto designs a clever plan not to only rob the Kramer's ...
Wahadelko
Michal Szmańda suffers from epilepsy, depression and other conditions. He is cared for by his sister Aniela. The only bright ray in her life is the "garden" arranged in the kitchen. They do not live with their mother. When they were children, and this was in Stalinist times, the mother was a labor leader. Possessed by the new ideology, she negle...
Wielki bieg
Set in 1952, the story follows events around the "Peace Run", a propaganda 3-day marathon for peace. The winner is to be presented with a new motorcycle by the country's president. Chief organizer is a ruthless manipulator who will stop at nothing to make sure that the right man wins. There are two runners, Budny and Stolar, who are participatin...
Poland, Christmastime. A band of hyperintelligent, bloodthirsty Martians take over the country and enlist hapless television newscaster Iron Idem as the voice of their propaganda machine. But when Iron dares to go off message, he makes an enemy even greater than the aliens—the state itself.
Austeria
During a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks. The fugitives hide out in a rural inn, terrified that they may be given away at any moment.
Gwiezdny pyl
An odd couple of old people lead their simple lives close to nature. The man is an amateur constructor and his goal now is to build a small river dam to produce electricity for his country house.
Krzyk
A woman just out of prison gets a job in a nursing home and tries, unsuccessfully, to put her life back together.
Matka królów
Story opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communi...
Przesłuchanie
In Stalinist Poland, cabaret singer Tonia decides to spend the evening drinking with a group of friends. The next morning, she awakes to find that, for reasons unknown to her, she has been jailed as a political prisoner. As prison officials interrogate, torture and humiliate her, she fights for survival and to maintain her innocence by refusing ...
Kartka z podrózy
A story of a middle-aged Jew methodically preparing himself to be shipped off to a concentration camp. The main character, Jacob Rosenberg, is a former industrial counselor, who is forced to work as a street cleaner. He knows what the fate is holding for him in the future, nevertheless he takes it with and implacable calmness.
Nadzór
A story of a young woman arrested by police on the day of her wedding for embezzlement, and promptly sentenced to life. She is already pregnant and has her baby in prison. Immediately after birth they are separated and only later Klara finds out that the child had a spine injury in an orphanage. After the years her sentence is shortened and she ...
Seksmisja
Two scientists are chosen as guinea pigs for a time experiment: they are placed in hibernation and should be brought back to life after three years. In the meantime, however, World War III breaks out and life has been wiped off the surface of Earth. When they wake up, it turns out that not only 50 years have passed but also that they are the onl...
Wierna rzeka
Set during the insurgency of 1863, the story focuses on a tragic romance between a poor gentlewoman and a rebel noble. After a bloody battle a unit of insurgents have been wiped out and only one survived, but badly wounded. He eventually finds shelter and care from a landsteward's daughter, hiding in a burned-out manor with an old servant.
A psychological portrait of Ewa, a young Polish theatre actress searching for her own way in life. She plays a minor role in Jasieński's 'The Ball of Mannequins', a complete opposite of her real personality, while aspires to star as Cordelia in Shakespeare's 'King Lear'. Ewa lives on her own, occasionally visiting a famous old actress to talk ab...
Sixty-year-old Andzia has lived in a small town since birth. She is married to the owner of an apartment building. She marries him at the age of 50. Before that, she raised two children alone. Andzia is a simple woman and does not see the banality of her daily existence. In her fifties she is a dishwasher in a restaurant. She desires to marry he...
Cudzoziemka
Róża is a young girl who dreams of playing the violin. She leaves for Warsaw, where she intends to study music. There she meets Michał, with whom she falls madly in love. She follows him to St. Petersburg. However, Michał no longer wants to see Róża. The girl returns to Warsaw. However, she cannot find her place there. Her enormous talent has be...
Zygfryd
The eponymous Zygfryd is a reclusive young circus acrobat. Professor Drawicz is overwhelmed by Zygfryd's circus act and tries to make the world of art accessible to him - with tragic consequences.
The plot couldn't be simpler or its attack on capital punishment (and the act of killing in general) more direct - a senseless...
Kornblumenblau
Based on a true story of a Polish musician who survived the concentration camp only because he could play on the accordion the title melody.
Atanazy Bazakbal navigates a destructive love triangle between his innocent fiancée Zofia and the decadent Hela Bertz while seeking meaning through hedonism. As their personal lives unravel, a communist revolution sweeps through Poland, crushing the aristocracy's old world.
During the screening of the film "Daybreak" at the Liberty Cinema, movie characters suddenly come alive and begin to talk to the viewers. The situation surprises communist authorities who send a censor to the theatre.
Biale malzenstwo
Bianka and Paulina are two teenage girls watching a video on the sexuality of people and animals. They are surprised by Bianka's father and change to another channel. They suddenly find themselves in the same house in the 1920's. The girls are totally immersed in problems associated with puberty and reaching adulthood. The atmosphere of the hous...
Psy
In post-communist Poland, former secret police agent Franz Maurer works as a regular cop pursuing a major drug ring. As he and his old comrades lose their privileges and face public scorn in the new reality, Franz realizes that some of his former colleagues are now on the opposite side of the law.