In nineteenth-century Łódź, Poland, three friends want to make a lot of money by building and investing in a textile factory. An exceptional portrait of rapid industrial expansion is shown through the eyes of one Polish town.
Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.
A taxi driver decides to take part in a robbery to earn money for the treatment of his sick wife.
A young doctor is tired of being sought by women. One night he meets a young girl who all but forces herself into his room where they talk of morals and love. But he loses her when he goes out to see some friends and then rushes madly around the city after her.
The world has been ravaged by nuclear war. The planet is frozen and radiation kills anyone or anything that ventures outside of 'The Dome'. Soft is a shepherd for the last remnants of humanity who have gathered together as they await rescue from a mysterious craft known only as 'The Ark.' He wanders among the masses, performing his regular daily tasks; keeping morale from plummeting, wooing prostitutes, squashing rebellions, and sometimes feeding the hungry. But as the true and sinister nature of 'The Dome' comes to light, Soft must ask himself if humanity is worth saving...
After being transferred to a new position, the young doctor becomes the target of harassment by her colleagues.
A young writer in 1939 Warsaw faces the conflict of acting his age or relapsing into childhood during the brink of World War II. Based on the famous novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz.
An architect Joanna tells her friend Halina on the telephone about her love troubles and suddenly hears a nice man's voice: "The best cure for love is another love." Then she becomes a forgers dispatcher mistaken for Honorata by telephone and decides to work out a forgers secret and the secret of her new love Andrzej.
A widower confuses the door and accidentally comes to the house of a lady bored of her lover.
A man approaching middle age gets more than he bargained for when he tries having an extramarital affair while his wife is away.
Two militia officers are assigned to a museum in an undercover assignment to protect a valuable painting from an international group of art thieves.
A Pole who spent time in an internment camp during the war on the Swiss-German border, visits the site many years later and recalls these days. He meets with other Poles confined in the same camp, including several women, in whose he had romantic interests.
Doccumentary about the PRL Icon, Kalina Jędrusik. A renowned theatre and film actress, as well as a singer, stole many people's hearts, although she lived a life full of controversy.
Ewa Bonecka, a young student about to start school in a new place finds herself without a place to sleep after she is declined a room in a women-only hotel. Helped by a pleasant policeman, Piotr, she tries to find a lodging in the strange town full of thieves and petty troublemakers.
Two Elderly Men are asked by the Prime Minister to take care of the city for one day. During this time, they have to deal with the heat, a diplomatic conflict, a love rivalry, and a lack of water. They do it in their style – with a song.
A shy Warsaw university student is in love with a girl who pays no attention to him. Change comes after her intimate love letters are read publicly at a party.
In a small village in West Prussia in the 1870s, Germans, Poles, Gypsies and Jews live together as neighbors. One night Johann, a German mill-owner, secretly opens the dam gates and floods the mill of his Jewish rival Levin. After his business is ruined and his calls for justice go unanswered, Levin leaves town.
The heroic struggle of Polish post office workers in Gdańsk on the first day of World War II.
Three short stories depicting the adventures of athletes from various disciplines. Reserve goalkeeper Antoni gets a chance to play in a match as a substitute for his sick teammate. Hanka and Piotr, although they are in love with each other, only meet at competitions. Adam is the first to arrive in the town where the finish line of a cycling race is located. The residents celebrate his victory.
A man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?
An actress travels from Warsaw to Paris and during the trip reflects on the last few years of her life. It goes back to the German occupation and her hiding of a fellow actor who has supposedly killed a collaborator.
Marek is a promising athlete having his share of affairs with women. One day at masquerade ball he meets a an enigmatic Jowita and becomes obsessed with her, even when he finds seemingly true love in Agnieszka.
A budding playwright is thrilled to find out that his play will be performed at a prestigious theater, but a series of problems pile up, along with the general feeling that opening night will be disastrous.
After completing a project, a shipbuilder grows restless and travels the country on his motorcycle. He leaves his wife as he engages in a series of drunken escapades.
Set in the 19th century Warsaw. The indolence of aristocrats who, secure with their pensions, are too lazy to undertake new business risks, frustrates Wokulski. His ability to make money is respected but his lack of family and social rank is condescended to. Because of his "help" (in secret) to "the doll's" impecunious but influential father, the girl becomes aware of his affection.
An ordinary man has to do constant favors for other people in order to reserve a place for himself in a queue.
An ambitious civil servant's career dreams are shattered when his nose falls off. All the worse, the nose starts living its own life and achieves the success its former owner wanted.
Two fairies, Terencja and Felicja are in posession of the Lucky Rain Boots, which they intend to give to the most deserving person in the city of Kraków. However, they consistently fall into the wrong hands, creating a multitude of absurd and comedic situations.
King Jan Kazimierz, Mazepa, a young Cossack from the king's entourage, and Zbigniew, the voivode's son from his first marriage, are all in love with Amelia, the voivode's wife. Dramatic coincidences and misunderstandings lead to a tragic ending. Zbigniew commits suicide, Amelia dies, the voivode orders Mazepa to be captured, stripped naked, and tied to a horse, after which he releases him, while he himself kills himself with a dagger in front of the king.
In 1943, a drunk cook is mistaken for a secret agent and sent on a special mission from London to Nazi-occupied Poland.
"Deserter's Gold", the sequel to the very popular "The Deserters", is a rich war comedy, skipping humorously around the more serious dangers of a war. Deserters Gold takes place during World War II, while the first film happened during WWI. The heroes' mission is to rob a Nazi-run bank in Poland for gold that will buy military supplies for the Polish Underground.
Confined to a hospital room, a seemingly healthy man endures a surreal night as his space is invaded by a procession of bizarre, dreamlike visitors—many linked to the imagery of railroads. Blurring reality with hallucination, the film transforms the ward into a stage for nightmarish encounters.
An unlikely couple - a Polish concentration camp inmate and a young German girl - stick together and try to survive the RAF bombing of Dresden in February 1945.
Set in 1918, this World War I drama follows a group of Austro-Hungarian soldiers—Czechs, Jews, Italians, and others—confined in a provincial barracks under German officers. Subjected to the cruelty of a sadistic lieutenant, they rebel, humiliate him, and later attempt escape. Disguised as guards for veterinary surgeons in Budapest, the deserters are eventually recaptured and returned for court-martial, forced once more to face their tormentor.
Five short stories. (1) “Czas przybliża, czas oddala” – Edward recalls his unfulfilled love for Anna and, years later, writes to her sister Zofia, mistaking her for Anna. (2) “Krąg istnienia” – A girl falls for Wacek at an ice rink; pressured by family, she marries a soap manufacturer. (3) “Paryż 1945” – A Polish refugee soldier and an American woman share a fleeting wartime bond before she leaves at dawn. (4) “Stary profesor” – Two men seek an old professor to fulfill a dying prisoner’s last wish; Roger impersonates a former pupil. (5) “Nauczycielka” – Neglected wife Zofia accepts film tests, only to find the director seeks an ordinary woman.
A former World War 2 resistance fighter returns to Poland to reconnect with his old comrades, but finds out they have moved on with their lives and have no time for him.