Bombed-out streets, destroyed Russian tanks, evening meals in an Underground repurposed into a shelter. Image by image, the directors push beyond easily reproducible images of war to enter the reality the country has experienced since February 24, 2022.
Empty shelves, trading cards and chickens sold in a shoe store. This is Polish everyday life from over four decades ago. Although the starting point is the moment of introduction of martial law, thanks to selected recordings we go back in time by 16 months and 12 days in order to better understand the mood at that time and the complexity of the processes that led to the decision of December 13, 1981.
A follow up to the 2009 sketch comedy referencing urban legends from the Ceausescu regime, the film is expected to expand to accommodate stories from different ex-communist Eastern European countries, including Poland.
Beata Parkanová, the filmmaker behind Moments, returns to Karlovy Vary with an exceptionally vivid portrait of the family of notary Václav Vojíř, a small-town moral authority, and his selfless wife Věra. This masterfully told and highly original intimate drama, whose protagonists undergo a difficult ordeal in the summer of 1968, is reinforced by finely wrought, exquisite performances from Martin Finger and Gabriela Mikulková.
“I'm waiting for mom and dad. The calendar ends today. Many of us will die, but not like Grandpa did two years ago, only worse.” This is the morning report of ten-year-old Daga. The girl is prepared for any threat. Unlike her parents…
An unusual couple, Leszek and Mikolaj, move into a stud farm that one of them inherited form his father. When Mikolaj discovers that someone has destroyed their wooden fence, he becomes obsessed with fixing it. Yet, can the fence really protect this relationship from a hostile environment?
Poland, 1970. When popular protests erupt in the streets due to rising prices, the communist government organizes a crisis team. Soon after, the police use their truncheons and then their firearms. The story of a rebellion from the point of view of the oppressors.
The story of what daily life was like in Poland under communism: private conversations, cruel interrogations, recruitment attempts, recorded and filmed with hidden devices; of how the secret services spied on every activity of ordinary citizens: nothing escaped the brutal system of control developed by the Soviets in the name of freedom.
Through the window, Dawid watches a new neighbour move into a house next door. The girl is more or less his age. She's wearing a strange skirt. Later on, Dawid finds out it's a Hawaiian hula skirt and the girl's name is Monika. Most probably, he also learns why Monika's grandma has gone away to Hawaii.
A group of actors centered around one charismatic director are getting ready to compete for work on a new film. They all want to get closer to him and wil do anything to make it work.
Three separate stories – a mother, her teenage daughter, and a police officer – converge thanks to one event: the titular incident, wherein a dog is injured.
Simone, Francesca and Olivia are three young people from Bologna who are members of the Communist Renewal Party. Full of life, they take part in demonstrations and party meetings and believe that they can change the current world, dominated by ruthless capitalism and pressure for performance, for the better. At least until the moment when it turns out that it is almost impossible to change the minds of the older party members and the unsuccessful attempts to win new supporters intersect with the difficulties in their personal lives. Comrades is an empathetic time-lapse portrait that shows how the current young generation is losing its illusions, and how difficult it is to keep faith in what we believe makes sense.
