The Ursus factory once covered 170 hectares and employed 20,000 workers, producing 100 tractors a day. Now, its buildings stand derelict and empty; half have already been demolished by investors with new plans. The symphony of mechanical sounds and gestures that is gradually built up throughout the...
The burner bursts with flame, hot air fills the shell, the aerostat soars. In the gondola of the balloon - Norman Davies. He is not looking for strong impressions, inspiration or beautiful views, but for the right perspective. For a historian, according to the film's protagonist, "should distance...
In 1980, Krzysztof Kieslowski asked hundreds of people the same three questions: what year were you born? who are you? what would you like/what is important to you? From the recorded statements, he eventually selected 44 people and ranked them chronologically, guided by the age of the interviewees:...
Józef Gębski's film is a documentary reconstruction of the crime committed by NKVD officers against Polish officers imprisoned in Starobielsk and Kharkov in 1940. Accounts of historians and prosecutors are juxtaposed with the testimony of the then heads of the central and regional NKVD board.
Henryk Greenberg is a Polish-born American who lost much of his family in the Holocaust. Certain of the location where his father and younger brother were murdered, Greenberg returns to find most of his former neighbors predictably claiming foggy memories at first; but soon their recollections come...
An account of Halina Borek's long 52-year search for the grave of her bestially murdered father. Her recollections are accompanied by excerpts from an original film shot during the exhumation of the remains of Polish officers. The film is narrated by archaeologist Zdzislaw Sawicki, who was one of...
A documentary record of memories of Poles exiled to Kazakhstan. The description of harsh living conditions, terror, hunger and overwork is illustrated with archive photographs and contemporary shots of Kazakh wilderness and towns, where traces of the past regime are still visible.
A kind of film essay on the life and work of Gustav Herling-Grudzinski. The writer's story about his life is interspersed with documentary footage shot in Naples, where he has lived for thirty years (hence the title), and in Warsaw, during a visit to Poland in 1994.
Collective heroes of the film: men, women from across the eastern border. Belarusians, Russians. In Poland they found a chance for a better existence. Many have education, often higher education, but they work on construction sites. Ten hours a day at a time. They are treated as second- or...
A documentary about the election campaign and the first free elections in Poland in 1990. The filmmakers look behind the scenes of the political game. They present candidates during meetings with voters, document meetings of election staffs and listen to the ‘voice of the street’.
A censor's tale about the official and unwritten rules of censorship in the People's Republic of Poland accompanied by shots and archival photographs. Their selection and presentation reveal the ironic attitude of the authors towards the protagonist's statements. The film was made in the year of...
The film was made at the Polish Sculpture Center in Oransko, during sculpture workshops for deaf-blind people. The camera shows the process of creation, which is closely connected with getting to know oneself. It is accompanied by hesitation, anger and joy.
The protagonist of the film "Klawisz" is Jan Doliński, a former guard of the Lublin Castle prison, who held his post during the German occupation and remained in it almost until the prison was liquidated in 1954. He was dismissed because he did not want to join the Polish United Workers' Party.
The first documentary by Wojciech Staroń. He just finished film school, his wife Małgosia just became a teacher. The year is 1997. They decide to go for a year deep into Siberia: she’ll teach Polish, he’ll shoot a film. And this is that beautiful film, narrated in the first person by...
A documentary tackling the problem of air pollution in Walbrzych. The film shows the effects of excessive and ill-considered industrialization of the region: the sky covered with smoke, mining waste heaps piling up, burnt buildings, and, above all, the residents exposed to smog from an early age.
