Andrzej Łapicki

The Polish film based on the book of the same name by Władysław Reymont. 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.

An architect Joanna tells her friend Halina on the telephone about her love troubles and suddenly hears a nice man's voice: "The best cure for love is another love." Then she becomes a forgers dispatcher mistaken for Honorata by telephone and decides to work out a forgers secret and the secret of her new love Andrzej.

Warszawa 1956

Dancing at Hitler's Headquarters

Two militia officers are assigned to a museum in an undercover assignment to protect a valuable painting from an international group of art thieves.

Red Rowan

A middle-aged man sets out on a symbolic journey through past, present, and future to learn why an old friend committed suicide, and learns much about his own life along the way.

Anna, a nurse, meets her wartime lover Marcel in 1951. Learning that he has been sentenced to death for his role in the Home Army, she hides him in her cellar for five years. She gets pregnant with his child and has the baby out of the wedlock. Despite the hardships and gossip she holds much better than he. In 1956 when the political climate changes, he resurfaces and is arrested, but then acquitted by the court.

Wajda's homage to Zbigniew Cybulski, the "Polish James Dean" who starred in the director's ASHES AND DIAMONDS and died young. The movie follows the tribulations of a director attempting to make a movie with a Cybulski-like star who never shows up.

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 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.

A man jumps off a moving train and goes to a small town to face its inhabitants, who seem familiar, but odd.

The four sequences in the film cover four days in a life of young Warsaw lad in September 1938, 1939, 1943 and 1944. In the first sequence Jurek decides not to study in the Sorbonne but enlists in a Polish military school instead. In the second sequence the war starts and Warsaw is occupied. In the third sequence he works in the underground resistance. The final sequence takes place during the Warsaw uprising.

Three idealists - a communist secretary, a former RAF pilot and a female political activist - need to face the hardships and accusations of postwar Stalinist years before being finally rehabilitated.

An Uruguayan diplomat brings his new wife with him on a business trip to Poland in the summer immediately preceding the outbreak of World War II.

Difficulty of human relations in a 3-cornered tale: a neurotic woman, idealistic young man and his mother. Tomek is a clean-cut, high-minded geography student. He lives with his mother Zofia, a sensitive, practicing Catholic, like her son. When he meets Julia, a depressed woman older than he, he first tries to comfort her, then invites her to stay with him and his mother. Tomek makes a trip to West Berlin to visit his well-off father. He refuses to take money from him and looks for work as a house painter. Julia ends up in a rest home for treatment, while Tomek is trying to make their relationship work.

The story concerns a succesful writer at the height of his career. He is in a state of crisis, unable to forget the girl he had a brief affair in the 40's. At the promotion of his new book he meets her after the years and reminisces about the past, when he was on a government mission to recover a missing art treasure, a triptych. After the years the girl, now married, barely remembers the whole thing, while he re-examines the affair which he has so much romanticized.

The young and beautiful wife of a prominent diplomat complains of boredom. To change her monotonous life, she has an affair, through which she gets entangled in intrigues and espionage affairs.

The trial of Yeshua Ha-Notsri is led by prosecutor Pontius Pilate who believes in the innocence of the accused but is forced to sentence him to death. This biblical story is set in present-day Germany.

Set in the 19th century Warsaw. The indolence of aristocrats who, secure with their pensions, are too lazy to undertake new business risks, frustrates Wokulski. His ability to make money is respected but his lack of family and social rank is condescended to. Because of his "help" (in secret) to "the doll's" impecunious but influential father, the girl becomes aware of his affection.

In 1931, just before the New Year, in a house of architect Henryk Zaremba scream rips the night. The daughter of Zaremba is found killed in her bedroom, obviously killed with a pickaxe. The police arrives and starts the investigation. Rita Gorgonova, the governess of the girl and also lover of Zaremba becomes the main suspect. Film based on real events - investigation and court trials of the most famous pre-war Polish murder case. Despite being historically accurate the movie is both involving and entertaining since the case was simple on the surface, but very complicated in details.

Poczmistrz

This documentary describes the process of building and the first days of the combine and the city of Nowa Huta. Andrzej Munk realizes the postulates of socialist realism decreed in Polish cinematography in 1949.

Ewa is a young ambitious engineer who starts to work for the team of an acclaimed architect Jerzy. Gradually she becomes aware of the bizarre relations he has with his wife and lovers.

This film criticizes various types of vandalism and behavior that is socially harmful: people spitting on the street, housewives wasting water, teenagers destroying sockets, passengers storming buses without paying attention to others, pedestrians devastating greenery in the city. Are you one of them?

In 1930s, a doctor has an affair with the wife of a wealthy industrialist in Poland.

Short TV film upon the story of Ludwik Niemojski of the same title, which was a part of his "Incredible Stories". It tells about Bartolomeo, brilliant chess player, who had ruined his private life because of his passion for chess.

A young actor preparing for the part of Macbeth recalls his wartime memories connected with his mentor.

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 departure. The women are mainly disillusioned with life or estranged from husbands while the youngest has a crush on him.

Lost Night

A social drama that depicts a conflict between a young factory collective and a sympathetic but backward old specialist.

A series of misfortunes plagues a journalist and his new friend.

An unlikely couple - a Polish concentration camp inmate and a young German girl - stick together and try to survive the RAF bombing of Dresden in February 1945.

"A Meeting in Bajka" tells a seemingly banal story of a marital triangle which bristles with intrigues and psychological nuances as a man, his wife and her lover rendezvous at the Bajce cafe.

A forty-year old man, destroyed physically and mentally by life experiences recounts his life.

A former World War 2 resistance fighter returns to Poland to reconnect with his old comrades, but finds out they have moved on with their lives and have no time for him.

One of several films by the Hoffman-Skórzewski duo, made as part of the "black series" of Polish documentaries showing social problems hidden from viewers behind the façade of socialist realist productions until the mid-1950s. The subject of the film are the effects of alcoholism, whose innocent victims are children.

This heroic story follows the life of Karol Wojtyla, a Polish Roman catholic who ascends the throne of St. Peter as Pope John Paul II. As a young boy, Karol is a bright and talented student. Archbishop Sapieha recognizes the very special, moving qualities Karol possesses and encourages him to consider the priesthood. Although determined to study Polish literature, Karol turns to the church; he is ordained and studies in Italy, France, and Belgium. Torn by fear and repression in post-Stalin Eastern Europe, Karol becomes a poisonous thorn in the communists' side. His deer reverence and commitment return him to Poland as Pope John Paul II.

Two-part biopic about General Karol Świerczewski, living embodiment of the party line, and the group of party members from his hometown fighting the fascist forces towards the socialist state of affairs.

Polish short horror film made in 1968 by Jerzy Gruza upon the story of Jozef Korzeniowski as a part of the TV anthology "Opowiesci Niezwykle" (Incredible Stories). We have 20th century. Mysterious person - Jozef - comes to the apartment of a writer. The mysterious person takes the writer back in the 19th century, where they meet The Death.

This film describes the Second World Congress of Peace Defenders, held in Warsaw on November 16-22, 1950. Sheffield, an industrial city in England, was the initial location of the event, however, it was transferred to the capital of Poland at the very last moment.

A staged documentary that started the Polish Black Series. The film takes the form of a warning against indifference to the rogue behavior of hooligan groups and their pernicious effect on young people flowing into the cities.

Follows the lives of people shortly after World War 2 as they try to adjust to their new lives. Completed in 1946, it was banned from release by the communist government of Poland until 1957 in edited form.

Roksana is the editor of the heart advice section of a widely read magazine. Her problem is the handsome and loving husband Bogumił. The man was taken to the hospital, where he is looked after by his sister Krystyna.

Set during the German occupation of Warsaw during WWII, this musical tells the story of several inhabitants of the same tenement house.

Five short stories.

A young teacher educates the peasants and electrifies the village, which the local miller does not like.

A propaganda piece of reportage from the first Polish Nationwide Art Exhibition that was held in the National Museum in Warsaw in 1950. Makarczynski’s film is a typical example of a socialist realism documentary, realized in accordance with the instructions that had been presented to the filmmakers during the Wisla 1949 summit.

The documentary shows the work of journalists and the importance of the press in building socialism. It is an exemplary implementation of the socialist-realist convention imposed on Polish cinema in 1949, in which all elements of the film structure were subordinated to the persuasive function.

Unvanquished City (Polish: Robinson warszawski, Polish: Miasto nieujarzmione) is a 1950 Polish drama film directed by Jerzy Zarzycki. It was entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.

In February 1956, after several months of construction, the largest rolling mill in Poland, the rolling mill of the Lenin Smelter, started to operate. The viewers could see the final preparations and the launch of the machine.

Szarlejka

The spy eludes Polish counterintelligence agents. In his hands are materials that he previously took from another agent. The spy goes to a contact box on the plot of land, but meets a woman instead of a liaison officer. The woman, unconsciously at first and then interested in the possibility of earning a lot of money, helps the agent escape. In his own car of the latest brand, Syrena drives the refugee around the country. He does not know, however, that he fell into a carefully prepared trap, and the behavior of the "doctor" is not a coincidence.

The handsome young and wealthy Lord Arthur Savile met at the reception held by Mrs. Windermere and got to know the palmistry Portqis and showed him his palmistry.

A documentary about the hard work of railwaymen transporting coke from Tarnowskie Góry to Szczecin Iron works. They’re doing their best to arrive on time.

Reproduction of the Nuremberg trials using transcripts, made for Polish TV.

Coming of age story of four girls living in the same poor district of Warsaw just before the outbreak of World War One.

During the Civil War, two soldiers fighting on opposite sides meet.

Wacław Urbin joins an exclusive club, learning the secrets of its members.

August 1939. After publishing an article criticizing the government, a journalist has to hide from the authorities.

A man returns to his homeland after war-forced emigration. He meets his ex-wife, who has changed much due to war traumas.

Five interpretations of Hamlet's monologue.

In the eve of the Day of the Dead, among mysterious old rituals of the Vilnius region, ghosts of the past and present start to appear.

A grand and patriotic tale of Poland's struggle for freedom just before Napoleon's war with Russia. Written in poetic style by Adam Mickiewicz, this story follows two feuding Polish families as they overcome their old conflicts and petty lives. However, they are able to unite as one with their patriotic and rebellious efforts to free the country they deeply love from Russian control.

A treasure of Polish culture. A concert film that presents the performance of Mazowsze Song and Dance Ensemble recorded at its headquarters – the palace in Karolina (a part of the village of Otrębusy near Warsaw). The repertoire includes: Bandoska, Kukułeczka, Pod borem and dances such as: oberek, olender.

A staging of William Shakespeare's tragedy, directed in 1969 by Andrzej Wajda. The roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are played by Tadeusz Łomnicki and Magda Zawadzka - actors who at that time gained popularity in the series "Pan Wołodyjowski". This perverse use of the artists' images by the director was intended to serve an interpretation of the tragedy that emphasizes Shakespeare's question: where does evil in man come from?

Przygody pana Michała

Christopher Lee hosts this horror anthology series from Poland with stories from various classic authors.

Ziemia obiecana