Ryszard Czubak

On the way to Warsaw after a crude oil fraud in southern Poland, conman Adam Deren meets singer Liza. He decides to invest his money in a venture deemed to be a failure - a small cabaret where Liza could perform.

Another film from the TV series "Polish Holidays", this time illustrating a holiday not entirely Polish, but already firmly rooted in the native reality - Valentine's Day. The script for it was written by Jerzy Pilch. For the famous writer, winner of the Nike Award, this is the second encounter with this cycle: earlier he wrote the script for the excellent "Yellow Scarf". His collaboration with director Janusz Majewski resulted in a story full of humor and charm, treating love with a slight wink of the eye and a touch of nostalgia. Wojciech Malajkat, who also played the main role, is a great merit.

A small-time racketeer Stefek evades mob bosses by passing himself off as a mentally unstable cleptomaniac and laying low in an asylum. The racketeer and his closest devotee escape from the asylum and find work at the opera. Stefek becomes stage-doorman and soon discovers that the opera doubles as a brothel.

Twenty years old prostitute and drug addict, Jola, by chance meets Andrzej, a "railway station gay". They try to stay together, in spite of numerous diffculties. They both are carriers of the HIV virus. At the end of their travels they find themselves in the Red Palace - formerly the recreation centre for Party dignitaries, now a home for AIDS sufferers - which is run by father Jan. In the nearby small town aggression begins to grow again the unwanted guests; the house have been promised to the local people for housing purposes... The lives and fates of Jola, Andrzej, and father Jan become increasingly intertwined with one another...

Warsaw elites meet at a ball in Baron Neman's palace, where they discuss the political situation in Poland.

Szczur