Stawka większa niż życie is a series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent, Hans Kloss, who acts as a double agent in the Abwehr during Second World War in occupied Poland....
In 1997, scientists and local government officials in Wrocław face life-and-death decisions when a destructive flood wave threatens the city....
Originally made for Polish television, “The Decalogue” focuses on the residents of a housing complex in late-Communist Poland, whose lives become subtly intertwined as they face emotional dilemmas that are at once deeply personal and universally human. Its ten hour-long films, drawing from the Ten Commandments for thematic inspiration and an overarching structure, grapple deftly with complex moral and existential questions concerning life, death, love, hate, truth, and the passage of time....
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Nights and Days is a family saga of Barbara Ostrzeńska-Niechcic, and Bogumił Niechcic, against the backdrop of the January Uprising of 1863 and World War I. The film is a rather straightforward and faithful adaptation of a novel by Maria Dąbrowska with the same title. The plot is woven around the changing fortunes of a noble (upper-class) Niechcic family in the pre-WWI Poland. There are two main crossing threads: a social history one and an existential one....
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Janosik was a television series that aired in Poland in 1974. It is about a famous Polish highlander outlaw who in folk legends steals money and goods from the rich and helps out the poor. The series was directed by Jerzy Passendorfer. There are 13 1-hour episodes....
A story about the fate of two Krakow families, the action takes place in the years 1874-1914....
A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god....
A married couple from the city goes to a lodge for the summer. Despite the idyllic surroundings, the woman is more and more anxious. The locals tell the story of a sunken tourist, the husband ignores his wife's growing fear. Meanwhile, a stranger comes to the house....
Giordano, an angel assigned to an orphan in Krakow, is two years into the job when his celestial overseers, citing budget cuts, initiate "Phase Two" without telling him. Some changes are good - they send him a nanny, the enterprising Irena; some are bad - his phone number to Heaven no longer works nor do his special powers; and some dismay him - he grows a penis. His closest friend tells him to get a woman, and Irena advises him on hygiene. He visits a therapist, Roma, and falls in love with her...
The manager of a small provincial cinema finds her lost son, and he tries to save the movie theater....
Set in 1905. The story focuses on a young and inexperienced man in a revolutionary execution squad. He does his killing job out of idealism, and for the love of a woman. The young student murders a Russian spy and is afterwards arrested by the police. Much to his surprise he is released after a session with the traitor-judge, hinting at some leaks in the organisation. Student reports his suspicions back to the organisation, but in response is given a new hit mission....
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....
More documentary in its approach than dramatized history, this is a compelling story about a 1901 children's strike in Wrzesnia near the Polish border with Prussia. Poland was partitioned at this time, and a rigidly patriotic Prussian teacher in Wrzesnia follows the dictates of the Germans in parliament and insists that the children be taught their religion classes in German. When the children refuse to take part in the classes, they are supported by the local priest, but that does not save them...
A grotesque Shakespearean tale of Ubu who comes to power in a bloody way. When his absurd reforms fail and the treasury gets empty, Ubu and his flatterers start implementing terror across the country....
Kidnappers demand six million in ransom, but the United Nations does not negotiate with terrorist. One of the best counterfeiters is serving a lengthy prison term and the agent who arrested him needs his help....
Scope is a prisoner on a behemoth space station and is chosen, like all his fellow prisoners, to 'volunteer' for the exploration of far-away planets. Landing on planet Australia 458, he is given a hero's welcome with all the sex, booze, and violence that any one man can stomach. But as his new caretakers push him towards even more heinous and deplorable acts, Scope finds that his freedom comes with a high price; his own violent demise, broadcast live for the viewing pleasure of Australia 458's i...
A young militia lieutenant goes undercover as a journalist to investigate a Zakopane smuggling ring....
As the Germans invade Poland Jewish Ruth and her mother are trapped by the oncoming Nazis. When they are loaded onto a truck for transportation to a ghetto, Ruth is told by her mother to jump from the truck at the first chance and to make her way to relatives in Warsaw. While the war progresses Ruth tries to survive and grow up....
Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland....
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In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka....
A former partisan now 38 years old remembers his childhood in the war....
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Drama about historical figure Barbara Radziwiłł, her romance with King Sigismund II August, her death and her posthumous return to Vilnius....
A biography of Nicholas Copernicus covering 50 years of the astronomer's life - from his studies in Europe to his theological work all the way to the creation of his magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres....
Roman and Hanka have a loving marriage, but his impotence has led to her having an affair. The unbearable situation drives Roman to extreme measures both physically and mentally, testing their love and his own will to live....
The story takes place in a small, provincial town in Masuria. Beginner artist painter Piotr comes here from Warsaw to paint frescoes in the local church. Piotr is a great karate and treats everyone as potential rivals. His antagonist is Roman, the head of local hooligans. Soon there is a conflict between them and the situation becomes very dramatic....
Anna, a young novitiate in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a family secret dating back to the years of the German occupation....
This downbeat, grim drama about three brothers who are reunited at their mother's funeral is actually visually as dark as its story, making it difficult at times to clearly distinguish a scene. These brothers are not particularly exceptional as people go, but at least they have branched out into separate vocations in their lives. One brother is a doctor, another is a criminal, and the third is a bus driver. Like others in Europe, they suffered through World War II, yet no matter what their backg...
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Set today against the backdrop of a charming, mysterious and mystical city in which we follow the fate of its inhabitants: a young politician who receives a corrupt offer; girls looking for love; a lawyer standing at a crossroads specializing in divorce matters; a small thief who wants to steal a reliquary with the Blood of the Lord; marriages that cannot wait for a child; women after a pass and a man unable to free themselves from the clutches of gambling....
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"Miss Wet T-Shirt" is a humorous and thought-provoking story of a widowed man in his fifties who rebels against the degradation of the world around him, full of corruption and moral ambiguity. Władysław did not always act honestly in life, so his wife left him. Soon she was gone forever and only after her death did he understand his mistake. He tries to redeem guilt, adhering to the principle that no one can escape from responsibility for committed sins, for existence in the world of evil. The h...
Francis Ratay witnesses the theft of church painting "Angel with violin". The entire incident recorded by an amateur camera. The thief turns out to Benedict Weber, gallery owner and art connoisseur. Francis comes to his gallery. Blackmails him, that will provide police record, unless the image in three days back in place....
A big shot prosecutor Teodor Szacki divorces his wife and leaves Warsaw to “start a new life” in picturesque town in southeast Poland Sandomierz. After a short while he is called in to investigate a strange and mysterious murder case. Alienated in provincial reality he struggles to find a killer, when he stumbles upon more victims. While the investigation continues he realizes that all murders are connected to alleged historical Jewish ritual killings. Those murders prompt a wave of antiSemi...
The well-known and respected actor Adam has a sudden and widespread stroke. He loses his health and the tool necessary for the performance of his profession - speech. Despite the hopeless diagnosis, Agnieszka, Adam's wife, fights with stubbornness and determination for his recovery and his return to the stage....
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 her happiness, but tragedy continues to strike....
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Rafal Skonecki loses his family in a car accident, caused by a drunken driver. When he is informed that the investigation is discontinued, he decides to take justice into his own hand....
Based on a short story by Andrzej Mencwel. Somewhere in Poland, spring 1980. Julian S. is an intelligent young man with a lot of interests. After another argument with his father, he leaves the house. Comrade R., the mayor of the city, engages Julian as his son's tutor. Krzysztof R. doesn't want to study, to annoy his parents, but Julian wins his friendship and encourages independent thinking. Meanwhile, the Mayor is so preoccupied with his career that he doesn't notice the growing intimacy betw...
Jerzy Stuhr scripted, directed and plays four roles in this Polish comedy about four men -- an army officer, a college instructor, a priest, and a drug dealer -- and their relationships with four females. An attractive student puts the teacher in an awkward spot when she reveals her love for him. An 11-year-old informs the priest that she's his daughter. The army officer is pleased when confronted by a past lover. The drug dealer, taken prisoner, must decide whether or not to trust his wife with...
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A young man in his twenties leaves prison after a three-year sentence. He wants to start a new life in a place where he is not known and dreams only of a job, a wife and a family. He succeeds partially in fulfilling these dreams, but then runs into a conflict on a construction job between the corrupt boss and fellow workers secretly planning a strike. He becomes a pawn in one camp while remaining true to his ideals in the other. Filmed in 1976 and shelved for five years....
During the 1920 Silesian uprising, seven brothers take part in the struggle with the Germans to keep the region in the Polish hands....
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Młody człowiek mieszka na Suwalszczyźnie, ma się żenić z córką miejscowego bogacza. Jest jednak absolwentem konserwatorium, chciałby zostać kompozytorem. Zatrudnia się jako akompaniator popularnej piosenkarki ,która przybyła do miasteczka na gościnne występy....
19 year old Wojtek lives in a poverty stricken Polish town. He is in love with an older woman, an illegal emigrant from Ukraine. He boxes in illegal matches to get money and is spotted by a man running a security business. Accepting this man's offer means becoming a gangster, but this could allow him to a residence permit for his girlfriend Katya....
Andrzej, who lives in the lowlands, comes to Zakopane. He rents a carriage and orders himself to be taken to the Strążyska Valley....
After a spate of mysterious disappearances in 1950s Kraków, young investigator Karski believes he's on the trail of a vicious serial killer. When his investigation points to wealthy and respected playboy Wladyslaw Mazurkiewicz,Karski finds himself up against his own supervisors, a mysterious woman and the hypnotic charms of Beautiful Wladek himself....
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A Polish Resistance fighter who survived the Nazi years cannot accept the new Communist power....
German-Polish adaptation of Theodor Storm's novella....
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 program; they seem unable to grasp the importance of what he is doing. Aside from that, Jan's private life is frayed around the edges. His wife is a heavy drin...
It is July 1995. Kuba Mitura and his little daughter, Zuza, come to a great concert organised by Jurek Owsiak. Kuba tells the girl the story of his youth. It is 1988. The nineteen-year-old Kuba is a rebellious boy with two-coloured hair. He does not study or work. He lives with his father, a retired military man, bitter and apodictic and with his aunt. One day Kuba meets Diana, a beautiful and eccentric woman, a dozen or so years older than him, a person from the "hostile world". However, the tw...
Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not a...
Ancient Rome, during the time of Emperor Nero. Vinicius, a young patrician, falls in love with the beautiful Lygia, the daughter of a Barbarian commander who was killed in battle, and wants her for his concubine. For Lygia, a Christian, being a pagan's concubine is a severe sin and disgrace. However, when Vinicius is wounded, Lygia cares for him, and starts to reciprocate his feelings. Vinicius, in return, becomes interested in Christian learning and asks Apostle Peter to teach him. In the meant...
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 group of students of the last year of the local motor technical school is slowly entering adult life. An atmosphere of emptiness and hopelessness reigns around them. Young people have no idea for their future, but they do not want to duplicate the pattern of a poor existence according to which their parents live. One of them, Arek, had a chance to break out of this vicious circle for a moment. The possibility of a brilliant career, fame and a lot of money was opening up to him, the Polish Juni...
A reporter, Alicja Tabor, after many years returns to her hometown of Wałbrzych to write a report about kidnapped children and also to face her own dark family history....
A reconstruction of the capture of Polish serial killer Zdzisław Marchwicki – the Vampire from Zagłębie....
TV presenter Katarzyna has been a teetotaller for a year now. She attends regular AA meetings and even takes care of a novice there. Will she really manage to stay sober?...
In IX century Europe, on the brink of Poland's birth, a cruel prince, Popiel, murders his cousins to ensure his son's succession. His crimes lead to an uprising of his subjects lead by the former commander of Popiel's army, Piastun, and a young hunter and warrior, Ziemowit. Meanwhile Ziemowit falls in love with Dziwa, lovely girl who is to become a priestess in the local temple ......
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A famous surgeon is beaten by drunken bullies, loses his memory and cannot recollect who he was before. He gets to a village, lives in a not so well to do family and becomes the Quack - he slowly regains his talent for medicine and saves the lives of several village patients....
An unknown man brings a wounded boy from a hospital and prompty walks away. The boy soon dies and the militia captain Budny begins an investigation, leading him deep into a web of crime....
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Josef visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father. Josef undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the sanatorium, each which conjures worlds composed of his memories, dreams and nightmares....
When a group of bandits accidentally kill a boy in a club, his father and sister try to find the guilty and bring them justice....
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About a sound designer for films who years ago, while in bed with his mistress, failed to respond to calls for help outside his door. Now during the recording of the audio track for a new film he begins to hear strange noises on his headphones....
Made in 1982, shelved for five years. 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 Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens ...
Two women meet in the hospital....
Most important events of November Uprising in Poland....
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Inmate Adam leaves prison after two years of imprisonment. He returns to his homeland with the decision to take revenge on his uncle, who handed him over to the authorities. Before that happens, however, he will accidentally get a job on the highway construction site....