Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej's 100 Years of Polish Film
The Polish Film Institute created this list for the 100th anniversary of Polish cinema. The films were selected by Polish critics Rafał Marszałek and Andrzej Bukowiecki using the following criteria: "their acknowledged artistic value, national and international awards granted, the influence exerted within a certain film trend, and finally the attendance records indicating the interest aroused among the cinema goers."
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- StarsAntoni FertnerJózefina KowalewskaIza KolpakównaAntos - a provincial loser who went to Warsaw once in his life. There he admires everything possible, including two delightful courtesans. He doesn't notice and is robbed by them..
- The oldest existent Polish film deals with the forced Germanisation of western Polish regions and the school protest in Wrzesnia with its harsh repercussions.
- DirectorRyszard OrdynskiJan PawlowskiStarsPola NegriWojciech BrydzinskiWladyslaw SzczewinskiPola is a beautiful but poor girl, a locksmith's daughter. Unexpectedly, she's successful as a stage dancer. After her success, she breaks with her fiancé and becomes the lover of a rich admirer. However, the fiancé does not accept her departure.
- DirectorAleksander FordStarsZofia MirskaStefan RogulskiTadeusz FijewskiThe legion of the streets are the youth who sell the different newspapers published every day in Warsaw.
- DirectorJoseph LejtesStarsKazimierz Junosza-StepowskiBoguslaw SamborskiMaria Bogda1905 revolution in Russian-occupied Poland. High school students try to rebel against the oppression and duplicity of their teachers.
- DirectorMieczyslaw KrawiczStarsJadwiga SmosarskaAleksander ZabczynskiMieczyslawa CwiklinskaTwo rival sports equipment companies and their heirs, Jadzia and Jan, whose meeting will become a source of funny misunderstandings.
- DirectorMichal WaszynskiStarsAvrom MorewskiAjzyk SambergMojzesz LipmanThe mystical love story between Chonen, a poor Talmud student, and Lea, a girl from a wealthy family, depicts the traditional folk culture of Polish Jews before WW2.
- DirectorJoseph LejtesStarsElzbieta BarszczewskaJadwiga AndrzejewskaTamara WiszniewskaBronka, Franka, Amelka and Kwiryna are four girls living in the same poor district of Warsaw and going to the same school. They all fight for a better future but what the future brings is usually disappointment, sometimes even tragedy.
- DirectorMieczyslaw KrawiczStarsEugeniusz BodoAdolf DymszaHelena GrossównaTwo neighbours with similar names, Pawel and Gawel, meet a violinist girl Violetta who pretends to be a child. When Pawel learns she's not a child anymore, he falls in love with her. And vice versa.
- DirectorEugeniusz CekalskiKarol SzolowskiStarsEugeniusz BodoHanna KarwowskaJadwiga AndrzejewskaA look at show-business through the lives of cabaret dancing girls Teresa and Linka. When their theatre is closed down, they have to move to a small town. But it turns out that one of them is pregnant and the baby's father is her ex-boss.
- DirectorLeonard BuczkowskiStarsDanuta SzaflarskaJanina OrdezankaJerzy DuszynskiA Polish musician tells a young soldier about his wartime activity - setting up a street orchestra and taking part in the anti-German resistance movement.
- DirectorWanda JakubowskaStarsWanda BartównaHuguette FagetTatyana GuretskayaFemale prisoners of various ethnic background struggle to survive the hardships of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
- DirectorLeonard BuczkowskiStarsJadwiga ChojnackaWanda JakubinskaAlina JanowskaA comedy set in the ruins of post-war Warsaw. A young married couple moves in to a rented flat full of other lodgers, some of whom by misunderstanding start to believe there's a hidden treasure somewhere in the house.
- DirectorJan RybkowskiStarsZbigniew JózefowiczKrystyna KamienskaStanislaw MikulskiIn the last days of World War 2, people of various ethnic background meet in a Polish military hospital in a small German town, whereas a Nazi SS division hides in the local forests and tries to move westwards.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsKazimierz OpalinskiZygmunt MaciejewskiZygmunt ZintelIn 1950, at night, a passenger train kills a man on the tracks. He is Orzechowski, an engineer since 1914. An inquiry immediately follows. Testimony takes the form of flashbacks. Tuszka, the station master, believes Orzechowski was a saboteur; at least one on the inquiry panel agrees. Zapora, the young engineer on the train that hit Orzechowski, gives more complicated testimony about the dead man - stiff-necked, proud, imperious, critical of Zapora and other younger workers. The signalman at the crossing where Orzechowski died also testifies. Can the panel arrive at the truth in a world where workers unite, inferior coal is a badge of honor, and the old order is suspect?
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTeresa IzewskaTadeusz JanczarWienczyslaw GlinskiIn 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.
- DirectorStanislaw LenartowiczStarsWlodzislaw ZiembinskiMaria KierzkowaZygmunt ZintelRumsza, the elderly railwayman, leading a sedate life with his wife, misses his only remaining son (two older boys were killed in the war). Joziuk finally returns from the military in the first scene but with the pregnant Zosia, while Rumsza expected him to marry Celinka, the daughter of Krywka, his only friend and neighbor. The hero will not accept the new situation; he throws his son and Zosia out of his house. Celinka is distressed but she still harbors hope for Joziuk. The birth of the child changes the situation: Rumsza accepts his son's relationship but Celinka decides to leave.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsEdward DziewonskiBarbara PolomskaIgnacy MachowskiTwo sketches covering episodes from the World War II. In the first novel, "Scherzo alla polacca", a shrewd son, trying to preserve his skin, ultimately becomes a hero and finds a reason for fighting. He initially tries to avoid underground training to avoid the Warsaw uprising. His drunkenness, disregard for safety and cowardice when sober stated with humorous effect come out as something sane in the world gone mad. His will to survive is more acceptable than any desire for heroic death. The second novel, "Ostinato lugubre", details a hopeless attempt at escape from a prison camp by a man who can no longer stand the confinement and idiocy of the professional soldiers trying to keep up the military preneses in prison. Nevertheless, his escape boosts the morale of his fellow prisoners, while the "escapee" lies hidden from Germans and comrades alike."
- DirectorTadeusz ChmielewskiStarsBarbara LassStanislaw MikulskiStefan BartikA young female student arrives in a new city, and finds herself in a confusing situation: there is no place for her for sleeping. An incredible odyssey through the endless maze of night streets is ahead.
- DirectorJerzy ZarzyckiStarsMaria KlejdyszAndrzej JurczakWladyslaw WoznikOne day in the miserable life of a female factory worker and single mother of four children. One of her sons - ridiculed by his peers - leaves home and gets into trouble.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsZbigniew CybulskiEwa KrzyzewskaWaclaw ZastrzezynskiAs World War II and the German occupation ends, the Polish resistance and the Soviet forces turn on each other in an attempt to take over leadership in Communist Poland.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsMaria WachowiakTadeusz JanczarGustaw HoloubekPawel and Lidka are from different worlds but they somehow meet each other in a night club. He's a young lad from a wealthy family, she's an attractive dancer. They fall in love and go out of town but their happiness doesn't last long.
- DirectorCzeslaw PetelskiStarsZygmunt KestowiczEmil KarewiczTeresa IzewskaBecause of the danger involved and the harsh conditions, wood transport drivers, working in the forests of south-east Poland, are going to quit their jobs. A party activist arrives to make them change their minds.
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsJerzy TurekAleksander FogielBronislaw PawlikThree episodes showing the repercussions of war. A soldier returns to his ruined village, a stray dog turns out to be the former guard at Auschwitz, a young widow is hailed as the wife of the hero but dreams of something else.
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsIrena LaskowskaJan MachulskiA young man meets a middle-aged woman at a deserted beach. Will they overcome their personal and wartime traumas and find a way to stay together?
- DirectorJanusz MorgensternStarsZbigniew CybulskiTeresa TuszynskaGrazyna MuszynskaJacek is a handsome young Pole who belongs to a drama company. One day, in the streets of Gdansk, he meets Marguerite, a beautiful daughter of the French consul, and immediately falls for her.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaLeon NiemczykTeresa SzmigielównaJerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.
- DirectorAleksander FordStarsUrszula ModrzynskaGrazyna StaniszewskaAndrzej SzalawskiIn the 15th century the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is facing a hard struggle against the neighboring Teutonic Order.Frequent clashes between the two powers finally culminate in 1410 with the Battle of Grunwald.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsBogumil KobielaMaria CiesielskaHelena DabrowskaThe story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of any kind but is always on the verge of turning into a more coherent human being, only to be slapped down. It begins with the hero's childhood. Then comes the first love marred by his unwilling involvement in fascict politics, him being taken for a Jew because of his nose. Later he decides to join the army to charm the girl, but arrives too late for any fighting. He is arrested by entering German troops while he dresses in officer's uniform and mistakenly sent to POW camp as an officer.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsZofia MarcinkowskaHenryk BoukolowskiBarbara KrafftównaThe story of Poles moving to the west of the country after the war - to the lands originally inhabited by Germans - and starting a new life there. Lonely boy Bozek meets a girl called Lucyna and wants to run away from his wartime past.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsLeon NiemczykJolanta UmeckaZygmunt MalanowiczA couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkWitold LesiewiczStarsAleksandra SlaskaAnna CiepielewskaJan KreczmarWhile aboard a transatlantic passenger ship, a German woman, Liza, notices someone who looks like Marta, a former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be a guard.
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsHenryk HryniewiczBeata BarszczewskaAndrzej BanaszewskiThree episodes dealing with the harsh situation of children at the time of war. They stay at orphanages, wait for their parents to come back, help the soldiers, hide in the forests and do their best to survive.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsBarbara KrafftównaZbigniew CybulskiArtur MlodnickiAn actress traveling to Paris reflects on her life during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsZbigniew CybulskiIga CembrzynskaElzbieta CzyzewskaUpon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsElzbieta CzyzewskaJerzy SkolimowskiTadeusz MincAfter being drafted into military service, a Polish student spends his last day coming to terms with his estranged wife, visiting old friends, and savoring some last moments of freedom.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsJerzy ZelnikWieslawa MazurkiewiczBarbara BrylskaYoung Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsZbigniew CybulskiJerzy BlockMarta LipinskaA man hops off a train by the small town where he claims he was before. His presence allows to bring out the inner feelings and beliefs of the inhabitants. A man who has hidden through all of the war because he looked Jewish, even if he is not, took on a fame of a dead Jewish actor he resembles. The visitor's wife shows up to claim his and indicate that he is always running off. He escapes in the end for another town.
- DirectorSylwester ChecinskiStarsWaclaw KowalskiWladyslaw HanczaZdzislaw KarczewskiTwo quarreling peasant families, who were forced to leave their lands after the war, are settled by accident on two neighbouring farms.
- DirectorHenryk KlubaStarsFranciszek PieczkaRyszard FilipskiStanislaw GronkowskiAfter the war, the community of mountaineers is eager to start their own sawmill. When the communist authorities come to take over the sawmill, a rebellion starts.
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsZygmunt HübnerArkadiusz BazakTadeusz SchmidtDramatization of the first battle of World War II. The first target of German troops in the invasion of Poland is a small garrison at Westerplatte. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Poles mount a fierce defense against an overwhelming enemy.
- DirectorWitold LeszczynskiStarsFranciszek PieczkaAnna MilewskaWirgiliusz GrynMateusz is a weird man living a peaceful life in a remote country house by the lake. When a stranger is attracted to his beloved sister, his life starts falling apart.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJerzy SkolimowskiJoanna SzczerbicTadeusz LomnickiFive young men reunite on a freight train ten years after completing their medical studies. They reminisce about their shared past, when Poland was ruled by implacable Stalinism.
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsOlgierd LukaszewiczJan EnglertJerzy BinczyckiDuring the 1920 Silesian uprising, seven brothers take part in the struggle with the Germans to keep the region in the Polish hands.
- DirectorMarek PiwowskiStarsStanislaw TymJolanta LotheWanda Stanislawska-LotheA stowaway on a cruise ship is mistaken for an entertainment director.
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsAndrzej LapickiGustaw HoloubekMaja KomorowskaMiddle-aged Andrzej takes a dreamlike journey to his troubled past, trying to understand his friend's suicide.
- DirectorAndrzej Trzos-RastawieckiStarsZygmunt MalanowiczAnna GórskaElzbieta KepinskaWhen Stanislaw Czermien is wrongfully accused of rape and murder, he decides to exonerate himself and track down the real perpetrator. He suspects him to be his own brother, Witold.
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsLucja KowolikOlgierd LukaszewiczJan EnglertFilm set during the Silesian Uprising in the 1920's. The German owners of a mine decide that it is unprofitable and want to close it by flooding it. The miners go on strike.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsMalgorzata BraunekLeszek TeleszynskiJan NowickiSet during the occupation of Poland during World War II. Some German soldiers slaughter a woman, her son, and mother-in-law. The husband and his father escape by being in the forest. The husband decides to join the resistance but at the first meeting the Gestapo kills his go-between and chases him. During his escape he gets into the apartment of a pregnant woman in labor and helps her with the childbirth. He works in the typhus center where he is a guinea pig for lice after being immunized to make more vaccine. He goes to the hospital to end the misery of a man mistaken as him and tortured. He seems to see his own body and is finally reconciled with himself.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsMaja KomorowskaZbigniew ZapasiewiczEugenia HermanJan is a young assistant professor in chemistry and a workaholic, whose entire life is dedicated to study and advancement to full professorship. Anna is an unsuccesful science writer who turns to Jan for advice and human compassion in a critical moment of mental confusion and nervous exhaustion. Jan, absorbed with his career, remains immune to Anna's clumsy efforts to pierce his defences. Affrayed by her ultimate plea for an embrace, he escapes to his own quarters. In the end Anna makes an unsuccesful suicide attempt and he visits her in the hospital.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsStanislaw LatalloMonika Dzienisiewicz-OlbrychskaMalgorzata PritulakTabloid life of a physicist; his work, his love life and his quest for the meaning beyond.
- DirectorGrzegorz KrólikiewiczStarsFranciszek TrzeciakAnna NieborowskaIrena LadosiównaBased on a pre-war murder case of the Malisz couple. They end up committing a petty robbery and a sordid murder. He is an illustrator who is not used by a climbing architect. His folks don't like his wife and keeping both of them around as they float from one petty job to another. They finally try to rob a mailman of a bogus money order they have cooked up and end up killing an old, invalid couple with whom they have roomed.
- DirectorAntoni KrauzeStarsMarian OpaniaAleksander BenczakGrazyna ChecinskaDetermined to become a professional stage actor, ambitious Tadeusz takes entrance exams to an acting school. Even failure does not deter him from keeping on trying.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsMarek WalczewskiIzabella OlszewskaEwa ZietekSet 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 painter friend, and a journalist each in turn is confronted with spectres of Polish past. In the end a call to arms is called but turns out to be a hoax.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsJan NowickiTadeusz KondratIrena OrskaJózef 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.
- DirectorJerzy HoffmanStarsDaniel OlbrychskiMalgorzata BraunekTadeusz LomnickiDuring the 1655 war between Protestant Sweden and Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth some Polish-Lithuanian nobles side with Swedish king Charles X Gustav while others side with the Polish king Jan Kazimierz.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsDaniel OlbrychskiWojciech PszoniakAndrzej SewerynThree friends hope to build a factory but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair.
- DirectorJerzy AntczakStarsJadwiga BaranskaJerzy BinczyckiEmir BuczackiAn 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.
- DirectorJanusz MajewskiStarsMarek KondratRoman WilhelmiRoman SkameneA teenage country boy starts working in a restaurant of the famous Pacific Hotel in the 1930s. He soon discovers that to get promoted one needs to conform and sacrifice his dignity.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJuliusz MachulskiIrena LorentowiczWlodzimierz BorunskiA young man joins a theatre company in the costume department and discovers the inherent internal politics and social divisions.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsPiotr GarlickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczChristine PaulA group of students are spending the summer vacation at a university camp studying the science of linguistics. One of the camp directors, Jaroslaw, is a young professor who prefers the straightforward, intimate approach to students. He is opposed in his liberal views by Jakub, who likes to manipulate people. There is a confrontation from the beginning when Jaroslaw allows to attend the seminar a student who presents the views not according to the official line. In the end, a jury prize is given to mediocre paper, while the suspected school of thought still draws a recommendation. Finally the deputy rector arrives for the closing ceremonies, and since he disfavors the line of thought awarded by the recommendation the tensions rise. They climax when student in question bites the rector in the ear while receiving recommendation. The confrontation results in a scandal and the police is called in.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsKrystyna JandaJerzy RadziwilowiczTadeusz LomnickiA young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
- DirectorFeliks FalkStarsJerzy StuhrSlawa KwasniewskaWiktor SadeckiAn ironic look at a climber who decides to do anything, including throwing mud at his best friend, to get a job he thinks will launch him into a better career.
- DirectorJanusz KijowskiStarsKrzysztof ZaleskiEwa ZukowskaJustyna KulczyckaFollowing the political events of March 1968, rebellious student Józef Moneta fights for his fellow students expelled from the university. Soon he must face expulsion himself.
- DirectorEdward ZebrowskiStarsPiotr DejmekJerzy BinczyckiHenryk BistaThe film is set in 1943 in an unusual mental asylum in the country. There are several incurable schizophrenic cases, the staff is bit strange, and a writer has voluntarily entered the clinic because he is "peculiar" and a drug addict. The Gestapo arrives and the commander asks for the list of patients, sorts out the Aryan doctors from the others on a return trip, and herds everyone into trucks for evacuation to the extermination camps. A young doctor momentarily escapes by covering himself under a pile of laundry in the basement, and then escapes to the woods just as the German soldiers appear.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJerzy StuhrMalgorzata ZabkowskaEwa PokasAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
- DirectorFilip BajonStarsKrzysztof MajchrzakPola RaksaRoman WilhelmiSet 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 fires him; he leaves happily due to two wrestler brothers who were harassing him. The wrestler goes on to fame, performing in the world's top arenas, and one day is serenaded by a tenor from the crowd. Fame brings him women and admirers but he is uncompromising on his profession. He has his revenge on one of his tormentors defeating him in the ring. One day, attending a game in a tuxedo, he is challenged by another of the brothers and drawn into a brutal game, in course of which he kills his opponent. Thus his career ends.
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsMarta StrasznaAugustyn HalottaEwa WisniewskaThe 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. He thinks his house has too much history, and he will not leave even if the new place have more modern facilities. Everybody tries to convince him. His son's wife leaves, he is threatened but to no avail. Finally he gives in when the irate head of the mine gives him a new model house. Unfortunately the house is in a remote location and many gadgets confuse the wife. They are lonely. He dies in his sleep, and later gets a giant funeral as a homage to one of the oldest miners in the district.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsDaniel OlbrychskiAnna SeniukMaja KomorowskaSet 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 departure. The women are mainly disillusioned with life or estranged from husbands while the youngest has a crush on him.
- DirectorTomasz ZygadloStarsRoman WilhelmiAnna SeniukIwona BielskaJan has his own night radio program where people can simply call and talk about own troubles. The station management does not share his compassion for lonely souls and think the program is useless. Jan has a wife with a drinking problem and a girlfriend on the side who deos not understand him either. He becomes more and more irritated and eventually loses control of himself and ends up in a mental clinic.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsBarbara GrabowskaAdam FerencyBoguslaw LindaThe film is set in 1905, in a time of feverish revolutionary underground activity in Poland partitioned between three neighbours. All the characters are committed anarchists. The bomb maker puts an invention together to place it at the disposal of young inexperienced terrorists fighting against Tsarist oppression. The story follows the passing of this bomb from anarchist to anarchist as several attempts are made on the life of Tsarist governor general, until, at the end, it is effectively and harmlessly defused by a bomb expert. The presence of the bomb has a destroying effect on all of the Polish revolutionaries, they either die or breakdown.
- DirectorStanislaw BarejaStarsStanislaw TymBarbara BurskaChristine PaulThe main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances. One day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a tournament - somebody has torn out a few pages from his passport. It occurs to him that perhaps his ex-wife has done so to get her hands on their joint account in a London bank. Therefore, he has to get to London as soon as possible in order to transfer the money to a different bank. The solution is a movie, made by his friend. The script requires a double role, thus the search for a character is announced. The double has to apply for the passport, and that is solved through a girlfriend who agrees to play dope's new fiancée. At the engagement party he is slipped a drug, and Teddy Bear runs off to the airport with the false passport. On the plane, however, he meets his ex-wife...
- DirectorWojciech MarczewskiStarsTomasz HudziecTeresa MarczewskaMarek KondratA 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.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsMaria ChwalibógBoguslaw LindaPawel WitczakA story of a middle-aged woman, Irena, living alone on the outskirts of Wroclaw with her 8-year old son. They live in a drab apartment. She is a mail carrier and her son is her only pride and joy. She hardly communicates with anybody else in a humanly open and natural way. She also cares for a sick relative. One day when delivering a monthly pension to a crippled young miner Jacek, she faints at his doorsteps. Even though she is determined to live alone after divorcing her drunken first husband, she also knows that her boy needs a male figure to correct his bad habits. She also needs a man badly. The love affair between Jacek and Irena begins however their first physical encounter shatters them both. Irena has a lot of problems: her son makes a lot of trouble at school, and at work her supervisor wants to take her route and give it to somebody else. Finally, the sick relative dies, and she is hit with the funeral bill instead with the expected inheritance. She steals pensioners' money she should be delivering. Tells Jacek that she indeed has received inheritance, places her son in a boaring institution and buys a used car for a trip to West Berlin, opting to immigrate. Now the accident happens...
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaTadeusz LomnickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczWitek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsJan MachulskiLeonard PietraszakWitold PyrkoszThe famous safecracker Kwinto, after leaving prison, decided to quit. But the news of the death of a friend abruptly changes his plans. He decides to "take" Kramer's bank. And, of course, he takes. Elegant, fun and twisted.
- DirectorFilip BajonStarsJanusz GajosMiroslawa MarchelukHalina GryglaszewskaEpileptic Michal, who also suffers from depression, is taken care of by his devoted sister Aniela. Both siblings live in the shadow of their mother and share painful childhood memories.
- DirectorJerzy DomaradzkiStarsTadeusz BradeckiJaroslaw KopaczewskiLeon NiemczykSet 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 participating in the race for different reasons. Budny's father was imprisoned by the regime; his son thinks that winning will give him the opportunity to pass a letter to the president during prizegiving. Stolar is a shameless opportunist; he just wants the bike and does not care about the Communist beliefs. He easily sabotages a man marked to win by stealing one of his special running shoes. Though he and Budny quarrel, he lets the latter win, not because he believes in his cause but that it still is a defiant gesture to authorities. The ultimate irony is that the winner is still manipulated out of the picture and the organizers won't let him even close to the president. The prize is given to the contender.
- DirectorPiotr SzulkinStarsRoman WilhelmiKrystyna JandaMariusz DmochowskiFilm opens on December 28, 1999, three days before the dawn of the new century. A local reporter, Iron Idem, announces that the Martians have landed. Shortly after that his program loses its independence: he is given the script telling the crowds how to welcome the invaders. Then the chaos breaks out: the Martians and police mistreat the populace; things become violent. Idem's own wife is kidnapped and it seems somebody is trying to reduce his effectiveness as a reporter. Idem decides to fight back: he illegally broadcasts a message during a rock concert, but nobody believes him anymore.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsFranciszek PieczkaWojciech PszoniakJan SzurmiejDuring 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.
- DirectorAndrzej KondratiukStarsIga CembrzynskaKrzysztof ChamiecJanusz GajosAn 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.
- DirectorBarbara SassStarsDorota StalinskaStanislaw IgarChristoph PieczynskiTroubled girl from the slums gets a job as a cleaner, finds a boyfriend and wants to turn on a new leaf. But life is not a bed of roses, especially for her.
- DirectorJanusz ZaorskiStarsMagda Teresa WójcikZbigniew ZapasiewiczFranciszek PieczkaStory 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 Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.
- DirectorRyszard BugajskiStarsKrystyna JandaAdam FerencyJanusz GajosTonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.
- DirectorWaldemar DzikiStarsWladyslaw KowalskiRafal WieczynskiMaja KomorowskaA 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.
- DirectorWieslaw SaniewskiStarsEwa BlaszczykTeresa SawickaGrazyna SzapolowskaA 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 is released from prison on parole after 12 years.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsWieslaw MichnikowskiJerzy StuhrOlgierd LukaszewiczTwo scientists are placed into a 3-year hibernation, but when they wake up, it turns out to have been 50 years, and they are the only two males in a new underground society composed exclusively of women.
- DirectorTadeusz ChmielewskiStarsMalgorzata PieczynskaOlgierd LukaszewiczFranciszek PieczkaSet 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.
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsHanna MikucMaria CzubasiewiczBarbara DziekanA psychological portrait of a young Polish theatre actress, searching for her own way in life. She plays a mechanical dancer in a play "Dance of the Marionette", a complete opposite of her real personality. She lives on her own, occasionally visiting a famous old actress to talk about the theater and taking care of a poor neighbor. She fights her sophisticated mother and rejecting the truth about her beloved father, who died an alcoholic.
- DirectorAndrzej BaranskiStarsEwa DalkowskaRyszarda HaninBozena DykielA look back at the life of an ordinary 60-year-old woman named Andzia. Although she has faced numerous difficulties, she has always tried to do her best for the sake of her two children.
- DirectorRyszard BerStarsEwa WisniewskaJoanna SzczepkowskaJerzy KamasA life story of an unhappy woman violinist, who makes life hell for herself and those around her.
- DirectorAndrzej DomalikStarsTeresa BaranskaAdam FerencyGustaw HoloubekSet in 1936 in Poland. Zygfryd, a handsome, orphaned young circus acrobat with an introspective temperament, is under the protection of circus owner, Waldo, and his wife. A rich intellectual recluse, patron of the arts (and of young artists) stumbles into Zygfryd's heart- stopping act and offers him his friendship. He also opens up his cultural horizons and teaches him to consciously reflect on life. It all ends in tragedy, when the boy finds that the circus life is no longer enough and falls during his act.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsMiroslaw BakaKrzysztof GlobiszJan TesarzA soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.
- DirectorLeszek WosiewiczStarsAdam KamienMarcin TronskiPiotr SkibaA young musician uses his talent as an accordion player to fight for dignity and survival in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
- DirectorMariusz TrelinskiStarsJan FryczMaria PakulnisGrazyna TrelaDecadence, homosexuality, excess wealth, infidelity, alcoholism and drugs all played a major role in the decline of aristocracy.
- DirectorWojciech MarczewskiStarsJanusz GajosZbigniew ZamachowskiTeresa MarczewskaDuring 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.
- DirectorMagdalena LazarkiewiczStarsJolanta FraszynskaAgata PiotrowskaTeresa Budzisz-KrzyzanowskaEvening. Two contemporary teenage girls, Blanca and Pauline, living in an old manor house, are watching a television programme about the sexual life of people and of animals. Surprised by Bianca's father who returns late at night they quickly change channels. The film they see made up of old archive footage, is the beginning of their journey into the past. The same manor house, the same room, the same girls, but in another time. Bianca and Paulina are totally immersed in problems associated with puberty and reaching adulthood. Blanca is sensitive with a "poetic nature," shocked at the role that tradition has mapped out for her, terrified by the marriage which is being planned for her. Marriage with Benjamin - a very immature young man for whom she has no feelings. Pauline is an extrovert, well adapted to face every situation, who accepts ironically the amorous advances made by Grandfather who even at his advanced age can't control the waves of lust that rage in his ancient body. In addition Pauline is jealous about Benjamin, who isn't her beau. Then there's father - a womanizer, and Blanca's mother, unhappy in her maternal role. Then Aunt, widowed too early, in whom there burn untold passions. All these people pay scant attention to Bianca and her phobias which are the result of her great sensitivity and from disturbing experiences she had as a child... Blanca isn't in a position to assume the role that her surroundings have earmarked for her. Her escape into a world of fantasy can't cure her either... Her fears push her towards madness when she comes to realize that she won't be able to fulfill her aim of preserving her purity, that a "marriage blanc" is impossible.
- DirectorWladyslaw PasikowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaMarek KondratCezary PazuraIn the good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from the secret police used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to a new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz will soon find out that some of his friends are on the other side.