The Big Animal

An anthology film following different stories around the theme of invisibility in the modern world.

Jerzy Stuhr Poland s most beloved actor wrote and directed this charming comedy that caters to his image as an innocent caught in a cynical world. Stuhr stars as Gustav, a Krakow professor who is roped into showing a visiting Swedish professor around town. The randy Swede soon tires of Gustav s dull dissertations on Polish heroes and suggests looking for female companionship, but the task proves beyond the skills of the shy academic. Eventually, Gustav calls Isa, an old girlfriend from his distant past who was writing a dissertation on the mating habits of geese the last time they spoke. While Isa is not what the Swede had in mind, Gustav sees his old flame through the rose-colored glasses of time.

A man, after having abandoned his family to live in a monastery, goes back into the world after 17 years.

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 (Dominika Ostalowska) puts the teacher in an awkward spot when she reveals her love for him. An 11-year-old (Karolina Ostrozna) informs the priest that she's his daughter. The army officer is pleased when confronted by a past lover (Irina Alfiorowa). The drug dealer, taken prisoner, must decide whether or not to trust his wife (Katarzyna Figura) with his hidden loot. In the wrap-up, the elderly accountant (Jerzy Nowak) passes judgment on all four men. Stuhr acted in films by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski, who had some input here by offering advice to Stuhr on this screenplay. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival, this film is also known as Love Stories.

Jerzy Stuhr wrote, directed, and starred in this drama about a man sworn to uphold the law who applies a very different moral code to himself than he does to others. As Adam Borowski, Stuhr plays a government lawyer prosecuting a variety of cases, including smuggling, theft, child abandonment, and racially motivated assault. However, Adam's own life is hardly a model by which to live. He's overextended himself financially and is trying to figure out how to avoid paying the hospital bills for his terminally ill mother. Adam is married, but he's been having an affair for some time, and, while he breaks off his relationship with his mistress, he's easily tempted into other liaisons. His wife wants to adopt a handicapped child; Adam would prefer not to have another child in the house, and he uses his influence to slow up the paperwork. And in order to reduce his tax bill, Adam has involved himself in a charitable donation scheme of dubious legality.

A morality tale that starts from answering a mysterious passenger's mobile phone left on a train, and intertwines the lives of student Bartek, who leads an immoral life, and several strangers.

An attempt at depicting the life of a generation born and raised in communist Poland; a generation that lived through all the stages of that system and made it to democracy. Throughout his life, the film's protagonist has always tried to be active, but something always got in his way, either through an absurd coincidence, as a result of his own lack of ability, or due to the unpredictable nature of certain events in our recent history.