Selection: Polish Cinema
List activity
32 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
70 titles
- DirectorAndrzej JakimowskiStarsZbigniew ZamachowskiOlga PrószynskaRafal GuzniczakThe story of a spirited ten-year-old girl who has run away from her proudly affluent parents in town and finds grudging refuge with the slightly slovenly caretaker of an abandoned farm, an ex-teacher.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsJacek ChmielnikJerzy StuhrKatarzyna FiguraThis comedy follows a young scientist in the contemporary world, who actually came from the world of dwarves, thanks to a magic potion, held by the Big Eater, ruler of the dwarves. The dwarf kingdom, Shuflandia, exists in a cellar of a library, and only the most obedient get the chance to grow to king size and inhabit the larger world. Once there, nobody wants to return to Shuflandia. Also, there are no women in Shuflandia.
- DirectorJerzy HoffmanStarsTadeusz LomnickiMagdalena ZawadzkaMieczyslaw PawlikowskiIn 1668 Polish colonel Michael Wolodyjowski, who recently retired to a monastery, is recalled to active duty and takes charge of Poland's eastern frontier defenses against invading Tatar hordes and Ottoman armies.
- DirectorSylwester ChecinskiStarsJan NowickiAndrzej PieczynskiDorota PomykalaReleased from prison after five years, con-artist Szu is sent packing by his young wife; he heads for the town of Lutyn where he runs a con and attracts the interest of Jurek, a young cab driver who imagines himself a great grifter. Szu ("Sharp") teaches Jurek a few tricks enabling the young man to win some money in Wroclaw, then Sharp departs with Jola, a prostitute who offers him a mark. How that plays out, Jurek's determination to win big, Sharp's cold calculations, and the wages of sin await.
- DirectorKrzysztof KrauzeStarsRobert GoneraJacek BorcuchAndrzej ChyraTwo entrepreneurs become tangled in the web of a Russian thug.
- DirectorFeliks FalkStarsJerzy StuhrSlawa KwasniewskaWiktor SadeckiAn ironic look at a climber who decides to do anything, including throwing mud at his best friend, to get a job he thinks will launch him into a better career.
- 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.
- DirectorSylwester ChecinskiStarsWaclaw KowalskiWladyslaw HanczaZdzislaw KarczewskiTwo quarreling peasant families, who were forced to leave their lands after the war, are settled by accident on two neighbouring farms.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsWieslaw MichnikowskiJerzy StuhrOlgierd LukaszewiczTwo scientists are placed into a 3-year hibernation, but when they wake up, it turns out to have been 50 years, and they are the only two males in a new underground society composed exclusively of women.
- DirectorJerzy BossakJaroslaw BrzozowskiStarsAndrzej LapickiOver a decade after the almost total wartime destruction, Warsaw still looks bruised and battered. Ruined houses are nevertheless inhabited which can be dangerous for the local population.
- DirectorBartosz KonopkaThe untold story about wild rabbits which lived between the Berlin Walls.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiPeople of different age, profession and social status answer two simple questions: who they are and what they want from life.
- DirectorMarcel LozinskiStarsTomasz LozinskiAn energetic six-year-old boy talks to elderly strangers relaxing in the park. He confronts his childish knowledge of the world with their life-long experience.
- DirectorAndrzej BrzozowskiThe lesson commences at the school for blind children. Today the pupils will study an egg to learn its shape through touching and smelling it.
- DirectorPawel LozinskiStarsHenryk GrynbergAfter almost 50 years, Holocaust survivor Henryk Grynberg visits the village he grew up in. He was also hiding there during the Nazi occupation. Grynberg wants to know what happened to his father and younger brother during the war.
- DirectorMaciej J. DrygasStarsRyszard SiwiecMaria SiwiecInnocenta SiwiecThe story of an ordinary accountant, Ryszard Siwiec, who set himself on fire during the large harvest festival at the Warsaw stadium in 1968. He did it to protest against the military invasion in Czechoslovakia.
- DirectorHussein ErkenovStarsShamkhan MitraevKheda AkhmadovaTimur BazinskiyAs the mass deportations of the Chechen and Ingush peoples begin in 1944, young Daud and Seda escape to the mountains. When they get back to their native village, however, they witness a horrifying war crime.
- DirectorEdward ZebrowskiStarsPiotr DejmekJerzy BinczyckiHenryk BistaThe film is set in 1943 in an unusual mental asylum in the country. There are several incurable schizophrenic cases, the staff is bit strange, and a writer has voluntarily entered the clinic because he is "peculiar" and a drug addict. The Gestapo arrives and the commander asks for the list of patients, sorts out the Aryan doctors from the others on a return trip, and herds everyone into trucks for evacuation to the extermination camps. A young doctor momentarily escapes by covering himself under a pile of laundry in the basement, and then escapes to the woods just as the German soldiers appear.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsPaulina MlynarskaPiotr WawrzynczakBernadetta Machala-KrzeminskaSet in the summer months preceding the September 1939 outbreak of World War II in Polish part of Lithuania. A young highschool lad, Witek, is hoping to pass the entrance exams to the university. His love interest is Alina, his high-school colleague.
- 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.
- 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...
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsKrystyna JandaPawel SzajdaJan EnglertIn small-town Poland in the late 1950s, an aging woman married to a workaholic doctor meets a young man who makes her feel young again. Framed around this story, lead actress Krystyna Janda discusses the death of her husband from cancer.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsAndrzej ChyraMaja OstaszewskaArtur ZmijewskiAn examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTadeusz LomnickiKrystyna StypulkowskaWanda KoczeskaA young doctor and jazz drummer, is also a womanizer who meets one night another yet finally interesting girl, who all but forces herself into his apartment where they play the game of appearances, both unable to confess their love to each other.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsDaniel OlbrychskiStanislawa CelinskaAleksander BardiniThe film opens with the mad rush of haphazard freedom as the concentration camps are liberated. Men are trying to grab food, change clothes, bury the tormentors they find alive. They are then herded into other camps as the Allies try to devise means to control the situation. A young poet, who cannot quite find himself in this new situation, meets a headstrong young Jewish girl who wants him to run off with her to the West. He cannot cope with her growing demands for affection, and still feels hatred for the Germans and disdain for his fellow men, who quickly revert to petty enmities.
- DirectorJerzy StuhrStarsJerzy StuhrAnna DymnaDominika BednarczykLeft behind by a circus, a camel wanders to the house of a simple middle-aged couple. Although the wife is initially bewildered by the strange and unexpected animal, her husband immediately adopts it as a pet. As the man and his new companion take their daily walks in the village, neighbors are drawn to the odd sight and approach him about riding the camel or using it for any number of purposes. He declines to exploit or capitalize on the friendly animal, and is met with barely veiled hostility. In time, the camel becomes a burden on both the town and the man, who's edged out of community affairs and lives on shaky ground with his wife.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsMarek WalczewskiIzabella OlszewskaEwa ZietekSet 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 of Poland 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.
- 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.
- DirectorWladyslaw PasikowskiStarsIreneusz CzopJerzy SzymkiewiWojciech WalasikA Polish man who returns home after the death of his father unearths a secret about the now-deceased Jewish residents of his village.
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsStanislaw LatalloMonika Dzienisiewicz-OlbrychskaMalgorzata PritulakTabloid life of a physicist; his work, his love life and his quest for the meaning beyond.
- DirectorAndrzej JakimowskiStarsEdward HoggAlexandra Maria LaraMelchior DerouetA blind teacher breaks the rules to help a female student rediscover the pleasures of life.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsMalgorzata BraunekLeszek TeleszynskiJan NowickiSet during the occupation of Poland during World War II. Some German soldiers slaughter a woman, her son, and mother-in-law. The husband and his father escape by being in the forest. The husband decides to join the resistance but at the first meeting the Gestapo kills his go-between and chases him. During his escape he gets into the apartment of a pregnant woman in labor and helps her with the childbirth. He works in the typhus center where he is a guinea pig for lice after being immunized to make more vaccine. He goes to the hospital to end the misery of a man mistaken as him and tortured. He seems to see his own body and is finally reconciled with himself.
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsZbigniew CybulskiJerzy BlockMarta LipinskaA man hops off a train by the small town where he claims he was before. His presence allows to bring out the inner feelings and beliefs of the inhabitants. A man who has hidden through all of the war because he looked Jewish, even if he is not, took on a fame of a dead Jewish actor he resembles. The visitor's wife shows up to claim his and indicate that he is always running off. He escapes in the end for another town.
- DirectorJan Jakub KolskiStarsFranciszek PieczkaGrazyna Blecka-KolskaBoguslaw LindaThe old man Johnnie lives a peaceful but eccentric rural life with his young wife Veronica. Shortly after conceiving the child they have longed for, Johnnie discovers that he possesses previously unsuspected healing powers, and can control the elements, water in particular. He sets out to bring his magic to the wortd at large, leaving Veronica to fend for herself. A few miles into his journey he runs into Stygma, a Harley- riding carnival con-artist and fake stigmatist, and they team up, drawing disciples and hangers-on to the entourage that eventually makes a fat living from the countryside through the combined efforts of Johnnie's faith-healing miracles and Stygma's hokum. Veronica calls for Johnnie when she is about to give birth, but the conjurer considers himself beyond the obligations of family life. As if marked by Satan, the child is born with a tail, and Johnnie simultaneously loses his mysterious powers. He wakes up, abandoned by the people, with only Veronica watching over him. The beautiful love that had been between them has extinguished. Johnnie tries to work the last miracle - he decides to turn back time...
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsHenryk HryniewiczBeata BarszczewskaAndrzej BanaszewskiThree episodes dealing with the harsh situation of children at the time of war. They stay at orphanages, wait for their parents to come back, help the soldiers, hide in the forests and do their best to survive.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsBogumil KobielaMaria CiesielskaHelena DabrowskaThe story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of any kind but is always on the verge of turning into a more coherent human being, only to be slapped down. It begins with the hero's childhood. Then comes the first love marred by his unwilling involvement in fascict politics, him being taken for a Jew because of his nose. Later he decides to join the army to charm the girl, but arrives too late for any fighting. He is arrested by entering German troops while he dresses in officer's uniform and mistakenly sent to POW camp as an officer.
- DirectorWladyslaw PasikowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaMarek KondratCezary PazuraIn the good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from the secret police used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to a new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz will soon find out that some of his friends are on the other side.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.
- 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.
- DirectorWitold LeszczynskiStarsKrzysztof MajchrzakAnna SeniukJoanna SienkiewiczKaziuk, a stubborn peasant and his pregnant wife live in a backwood village, unaffected by the civilization. The village is once visited by a couple of wanderers, and strange things start to happen afterward. A new schoolteacher is sent to the area. She stirs erotic fantasies in Kaziuk. In a stir of frustration Kaziuk cuts down a family tree - a sacrilegious act in the eyes of his family. Going a step further and using a scythe for cutting the rye instead of a sickle brings the whole village against him.
- DirectorLukasz PalkowskiStarsTomasz KotPiotr GlowackiSzymon Piotr WarszawskiThe early career of cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Despite the harsh reality of 1980s Poland, he successfully leads a team of doctors to the country's first human heart transplantation.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsKrystyna JandaJerzy RadziwilowiczTadeusz LomnickiA young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsZbigniew CybulskiIga CembrzynskaElzbieta CzyzewskaUpon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJerzy StuhrMalgorzata ZabkowskaEwa PokasAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
- 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.
- DirectorMarek PiwowskiStarsStanislaw TymJolanta LotheWanda Stanislawska-LotheA stowaway on a cruise ship is mistaken for an entertainment director.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsJan MachulskiLeonard PietraszakWitold PyrkoszThe famous safecracker Kwinto, after leaving prison, decided to quit. But the news of the death of a friend abruptly changes his plans. He decides to "take" Kramer's bank. And, of course, he takes. Elegant, fun and twisted.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaTadeusz LomnickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczWitek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsMiroslaw BakaKrzysztof GlobiszJan TesarzA soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.
- DirectorRyszard BugajskiStarsKrystyna JandaAdam FerencyJanusz GajosTonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.
- DirectorMarek KoterskiStarsMarek KondratJanina TraczykównaAndrzej Grabowski24 hours in the bitter life of a frustrated divorced teacher who stays in the vicious circle of his numerous obsessions.
- 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.
- DirectorStanislaw BarejaStarsStanislaw TymBarbara BurskaChristine PaulThe main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances. One day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a tournament - somebody has torn out a few pages from his passport. It occurs to him that perhaps his ex-wife has done so to get her hands on their joint account in a London bank. Therefore, he has to get to London as soon as possible in order to transfer the money to a different bank. The solution is a movie, made by his friend. The script requires a double role, thus the search for a character is announced. The double has to apply for the passport, and that is solved through a girlfriend who agrees to play dope's new fiancée. At the engagement party he is slipped a drug, and Teddy Bear runs off to the airport with the false passport. On the plane, however, he meets his ex-wife...
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaLeon NiemczykTeresa SzmigielównaJerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.
- StarsArtur BarcisOlgierd LukaszewiczOlaf LubaszenkoTen television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
- DirectorRobert GlinskiStarsAleksandra GietnerKarolina SobczakZbigniew ZamachowskiA sensitive teenage girl from a poor family befriends a cynical schoolmate, who shows her how to smoke, drink, have sex and steal. Tereska's life heads towards a catastrophe.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsMaria ChwalibógBoguslaw LindaPawel WitczakA story of a middle-aged woman, Irena, living alone on the outskirts of Wroclaw with her 8-year old son. They live in a drab apartment. She is a mail carrier and her son is her only pride and joy. She hardly communicates with anybody else in a humanly open and natural way. She also cares for a sick relative. One day when delivering a monthly pension to a crippled young miner Jacek, she faints at his doorsteps. Even though she is determined to live alone after divorcing her drunken first husband, she also knows that her boy needs a male figure to correct his bad habits. She also needs a man badly. The love affair between Jacek and Irena begins however their first physical encounter shatters them both. Irena has a lot of problems: her son makes a lot of trouble at school, and at work her supervisor wants to take her route and give it to somebody else. Finally, the sick relative dies, and she is hit with the funeral bill instead with the expected inheritance. She steals pensioners' money she should be delivering. Tells Jacek that she indeed has received inheritance, places her son in a boaring institution and buys a used car for a trip to West Berlin, opting to immigrate. Now the accident happens...
- DirectorJanusz ZaorskiStarsMagda Teresa WójcikZbigniew ZapasiewiczFranciszek PieczkaStory 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 is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.
- DirectorRoman ZaluskiStarsBozena DykielJerzy MichotekMaria GladkowskaWhen her daughter unexpectedly gets pregnant, authoritative mother Jadwiga, who is a local government official, starts looking for a fictional husband. To make matters worse, she only finds a guy with a criminal record.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsGustaw HoloubekAleksandra SlaskaTeresa SzmigielównaOne day in the life of an alcohol addict. With the help of his girlfriend Krysia, Kuba attempts to regain control of his life. But when she's at work, Kuba is home alone, and it becomes hard not to resist the temptation.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsZygmunt MalanowiczMalgorzata BraunekEwa SkarzankaWlodek is a shy man who's afraid of his mother as well as his wife. However, upon meeting Irena, his life takes a new turn.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsZbigniew ZamachowskiJulie DelpyJanusz GajosAfter his wife divorces him, a Polish immigrant plots to get even with her.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJuliette BinocheZbigniew ZamachowskiJulie DelpyA woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJoanna SzczerbicJan NowickiTadeusz LomnickiA rebellious student wants to get total independence and overcome all the barriers in his life: of money, age, status, cults and conventions. However, he meets a girl with completely different ideals.
- DirectorJoanna Kos-KrauzeKrzysztof KrauzeStarsJowita BudnikArkadiusz JaniczekEwa WencelA story of a married couple with two children, whose housing problems, the man's infidelity and the woman's fragility lead the family to destruction.
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsArkadiusz JakubikMarian DziedzielKinga PreisThe story takes place in two parallel time planes. The first plot follows the events of one autumn night in 1978. Edward Srodon, a zootechnician, makes an accidental stopover in a farmhouse of Dziabas family in the remote area of Bieszczady Mountains. He stays for the night. The initial distrust between the guest and his hosts is quickly dispelled with moonshine and turns into a camaraderie, intimacy and even friendship. A plan of making a joint business arises, as well as passion and lust, which lead to a surprising and tragic consequences... Second plot is set on a winter day, during the Martial Law in Poland. An investigating team of Milicja Obywatelska (People's Militia) is visiting the crime scene. Lieutenant Mroz is trying to solve the multiple murder case from four years ago. The tool he has to his disposal is the reconstruction of events with help of the chief suspect, Srodon.