Polish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
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- 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.
- DirectorMaria KaniewskaStarsJózef SkwarkStanislaw MilskiPola RaksaDuring summer holidays spent in an old palace, an inquisitive teenager is looking for a treasure, which was hidden by a Napoleonic soldier. What he's unaware of is that a bunch of criminals is also looking for the same thing.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsJerzy ZelnikWieslawa MazurkiewiczBarbara BrylskaYoung Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
- 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.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsBeata TyszkiewiczElzbieta CzyzewskaAndrzej LapickiThe disappearance of the leading actor from the film's set worries its director Andrzej. He embarks on a journey to look out for the actor with a young actor and missing actor's wife and mistress.
- 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.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsSandy RatcliffBill DeanGrace CaveA family is shattered over the daughter's forced abortion. As she rebels against her family and their traditional, authoritarian, typical-of-the-time norms, she is hospitalized and otherwise mistreated.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsZdzislaw MrozewskiMarek WalczewskiHenryk BistaSet at the historic moment of rebirth of Poland after World War I. The newly organized National Assembly elected Gabriel Narutowicz, a professor returning home from Switzerland to enter public life, as the first President in the history of Polish Republic. The film shows the turmoil leading to Narutowicz's election by a National Assembly divided between Polish Nationalists and the minorities, comprising one third of the population. A few days after the election the President was assasinated by a fanatic Nationalist while opening an art exhibit.
- 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.
- DirectorAndrzej KotkowskiStarsMariusz BenoitJerzy BonczakTadeusz GaliaClandestine Olympics are to be held in a German POW camp during World War II which houses many Poles, but also French and British. A spit and polish German lieutenant is added to the staff of the camp. He recognizes one of the Poles, the acknowledged leader of the Polish prisoners, as an athlete against whom he had competed during the Berlin Olympics in 1936. He asks the Pole to train with him but is refused; the Pole points out that he is a prisoner and nothing more, but that plants a seed and the Pole proposes an Olympics 40 to be held among the prisoners. They ingeniously make a flag and medals, set up a number of races; a crouching hop race is unwittingly organized by a German prison guard who uses it as a form of torture. The German lieutenant knows that something is going on but cannot figure it out. Finally the Germans realize what's going on and the Polish leader is sent to a concentration camp, but the others disobey the orders.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsJerzy RadziwilowiczKrystyna JandaMarian OpaniaA few years after the events of Man of Marble (1977), a journalist investigates Mateusz Birkut's son Maciek Tomczyk, now an activist leading a shipyard strike.
- DirectorRadoslaw PiwowarskiStarsPiotr SiwkiewiczAnna KazmierczakAndrzej ZielinskiThe growing up of four teenagers is connected with the songs of the Beatles.
- DirectorWitold LeszczynskiStarsEdward ZentaraLudwik PakDaniel OlbrychskiA young, idealistic poet turns his back on civilization and goes to a small, backwoods village, rents a bed in the house of an old woman, and decides to make his living as a lumberjack. He soon realizes that the world around him is far from perfect. He does not make any real contact with the people in the village. An then another outcast like him rents a bed in the same house.
- DirectorFeliks FalkStarsJerzy StuhrMieczyslaw FranaszekKatarzyna KozakFollow up of the "Top Dog" (Wodzirej). Jerzy Stuhr reappears as Ludwik Danielak, smooth-talking hustler with a spreading waistline. He got sacked from his tv job in 1981 and now he is ready for comeback. His idea is the program called "Hero of the Year". His first star is to be Zbigniew Tataj (Mieczyslaw Franaszek), a quiet storekeeper, who saved an apartment building by alerting people about the gas leak. Danielak takes Tataj on a nationwide tour. It becomes clear, however, that he will not be allowed to speak frankly to the people but rather to read a prepared statement instead. Finally, at a hyped-up concert he walks off the stage, leaving Danielak in total surprise.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsGrazyna SzapolowskaOlaf LubaszenkoStefania IwinskaA naive inexperienced young man spies on a woman who lives across the courtyard, and falls in love with her. He starts using tricks which he hopes will lead to them meeting.
- 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.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsWojciech PszoniakEwa DalkowskaTeresa Budzisz-KrzyzanowskaThe last days of life of the legendary Polish pedagogue Dr. Janusz Korczak and his heroic dedication to protecting Jewish orphans in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsIrène JacobWladyslaw KowalskiHalina GryglaszewskaTwo parallel stories about two identical women; one living in Poland, the other in France. They don't know each other, but their lives are nevertheless profoundly connected.
- DirectorRobert GlinskiStarsEwa SkibinskaKrzysztof GlobiszAdam SiemionWhen the war breaks out, renowned Polish-Jewish poet Aleksander Wat leaves German-occupied Warsaw with his wife Ola and their son. In Lviv, however, they are arrested by the Soviets and separated. Ola and her son are sent to Siberia.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsAleksander BednarzGrzegorz DamieckiBernard-Pierre DonnadieuA young Russian aristocrat, Baron Fyodor Jeremin, volunteers to serve with a Dragon squadron to impress the girl who rejected his love. Just at this time the 1863 insurrection explodes in Poland. He enlists to serve in the army being sent to suppress the revolt. He believes that now it's enough to defeat the Poles, become an officer and hero, get a bunch of medals, and then return and lay all of this at the feet of her beloved. However, the "little Polish war" looks completely different to the way that young Jeremin imagined it to be. In course of time, he learns to be on the wrong side. But there is no escape - he must kill or he will be killed. What's more, he falls in love with a beautiful Polish girl...
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsZbigniew ZamachowskiJulie DelpyJanusz GajosAfter his wife divorces him, a Polish immigrant plots to get even with her.
- DirectorDorota KedzierzawskaStarsKarolina OstroznaKatarzyna SzczepanikMalgorzata HajewskaA thin child of about 10, nicknamed "Crow" because she mimics the bird, has no friends and rejects a teacher's hug. At home, she is left on her own, her mom locks her out while entertaining a lover or is asleep. One morning, Crow sees a chubby, cherubic child hugged by both parents as the father leaves for work. When the toddler is left alone, Crow lifts her through the fence and kidnaps her. That day, Crow tries to mother the child, alternately playing with and scolding her, taking her to the beach, leaving shore in a boat, pushing her into the sea in a pique, and eventually carrying the sleeping child back home. Crow returns to her own mother and asks for affection.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsMaja KomorowskaBartosz ObuchowiczKarolina WajdaIn the early 1950s, a 10-year-old boy moves to Warsaw to stay with his bourgeois aunt. In spite of harsh Stalinist times, they are both fascinated by horses.
- DirectorJerzy StuhrStarsJerzy StuhrDominika OstalowskaIrina AlfyorovaFour stories of love: yearned-for, betrayed, found. In the confessional, a priest is confronted for the first time by his eleven-year-old daughter (and seeks advice from his mother); a married colonel in the Polish Army is reunited with an old lover; a convict is jilted by his wife but has the last word; a professor of literature must decide how to react to a lackluster student who declares she is in love with him. Sometimes things go wrong, occasionally right. (The colonel flushes love letters down a toilet, rather than burn them.) In each vignette, the protagonist is played by Jerzy Stuhr, who also wrote and directed.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsBoguslaw LindaDaniel OlbrychskiGrazyna SzapolowskaIn the early 1810s, Poles, part of Russia's client state of Lithuania, think independence will come if they join forces with Napoleon when he invades Russia. This unity of purpose, in one district, is undermined by two families, feuding since the head of one shot the head of the other twenty years before. There are hopes of a reconciliation through a marriage of Pan Tadeusz, a Soplica, whose father, the murderer, is in hiding somewhere, and Zosia, a teen-aged girl, a Horeszko who lives in the household of Pan's uncle. Other cross-currents - of love, family, politics, village traditions, land reform, and what it means to be Polish - give the film texture. It's an exile's story.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsZbigniew ZapasiewiczKrystyna JandaTadeusz BradeckiA cynical doctor, who is dying of cancer, would like to know the meaning of his life. He has to fight for it or just get ready for death.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsPavel DelongMagdalena MielcarzBoguslaw LindaMarcus Vinicius meets Lygia in Rome and falls in love. But she is Christian and doesn't want anything to do with him. Marcus decides to kidnap her but Ursus, her bodyguard, catches Marcus. After that, Lygia falls in love, but Marcus must go to meet Nero. After the meeting somebody told Marcus that Nero burnt Rome. Marcus decides to go back to Rome and find Lygia.
- DirectorPiotr TrzaskalskiStarsHenryk GolebiewskiJacek BraciakJacek LenartowiczThe film tells a story of two scrap pickers - the title hero Edi and his friend Jureczek. Edi is wrongly accused of having raped the girl whose brothers have got the control over one of the city areas. Edi is severely punished for that but he accepts his fate taking care of the girl's child.
- DirectorJan Jakub KolskiStarsKrzysztof MajchrzakAdam FerencyKrzysztof GlobiszTwo intellectuals, a writer and a director, begin to play a mysterious psychological game in a peaceful countryside manor house during the German occupation.
- DirectorMagdalena PiekorzStarsMichal ZebrowskiJan FryczAgnieszka GrochowskaWiktor, who was mistreated by his father as a child, is now a tormented grown-up. He meets beautiful Tania and wants to settle down but it's not easy to get rid of childhood traumas.
- DirectorSlawomir FabickiStarsAntoni PawlickiNataliya VdovinaJacek Braciak19 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.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsAndrzej ChyraMaja OstaszewskaArtur ZmijewskiAn examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
- DirectorFeliks FalkStarsAndrzej ChyraMalgorzata KozuchowskaKinga PreisLucjan Bohme is a ruthless debt collector working in a post-industrial Silesian town. In the land of unemployment and misery, he's got a lot of work and no mercy at all. Until something happens.
- DirectorAndrzej JakimowskiStarsDamian UlEwelina WalendziakTomasz SaprykSix-year-old Stefek challenges fate. He believes that setting a chain of events in motion will help him get closer to his father who left his mother. His sister helps him bribe fate with small sacrifices. Tricks and coincidences bring his father back but things go wrong and Stefek tries a very risky trick...
- DirectorBorys LankoszStarsAgata BuzekKrystyna JandaAnna PolonyA story about women, set in the present and in 1950s Warsaw. The main character is Sabina, a quiet, shy woman who has just turned thirty. Clearly, she lacks a man in her life. Her mother knows all about it and tries at all costs to find her daughter a good candidate for a husband. The whole situation is controlled by the grandmother, an eccentric lady with a sharp tongue from whom no secret can be concealed. Successive admirers arrive at the pre-war tenement where the women live, but Sabina is interested in none of them. One day, appearing out of nowhere, comes the charming, intelligent, and terribly good-looking Bronislaw. His presence will spark off a series of unexpected events revealing the darker side of the women's nature.
- DirectorJacek BorcuchStarsMateusz KosciukiewiczOlga FryczJakub GierszalFollows four friends in their quest to form a punk band. As workers protests sweep across the country, Janek and Staszek, the sons of a navy man, the rebellious Kazik, and the affluent Diabel gel as a band, but their disparate lives are touched by social turmoil and outside perceptions.