Franciszek Pieczka
A story, warm and full of humor, about Maszenka, an 11-year-old girl from an orphanage in the Bieszczady Mountains who loves ballet. The first stage on her road to fulfilling her dream is the entrance exam to the ballet school in Gdansk. To make it there in time, she escapes from the orphanage, taking newly hired educator Kordula with her. They travel all the way across Poland, hiding from the police and meeting people who help them in need.
Ranczo ["Ranch"] is a Polish television comedy series, directed by Wojciech Adamczyk, that has aired since March 2006 on TVP1. It follows the story of Lucy Wilska, a Polish-American who has inherited her grandmother's country home in the fictional small town of Wilkowyje. She arrives in Wilkowyje intent on selling the cottage but, after seeing the charm of the village, decides to stay.
Ancient Rome, during the time of Emperor Nero. Vinicius, a young patrician, falls in love with the beautiful Lygia, the daughter of a Barbarian commander who was killed in battle, and wants her for his concubine. For Lygia, a Christian, being a pagan's concubine is a severe sin and disgrace. However, when Vinicius is wounded, Lygia cares for him, and starts to reciprocate his feelings. Vinicius, in return, becomes interested in Christian learning and asks Apostle Peter to teach him. In the meantime, Emperor Nero accuses Christians of having started a great fire in Rome. He encourages the imprisonment, torture and murder of his Christian subjects.
The story is narrated by ten-year old Staszek, who writes in his diary about his school-friend Jozef. Jozef comes from a family of blacksmiths, all of whom bear the name Jozef. Since he is the sixth consecutive son to be called Jozef, he is nicknamed Szustek (meaning "sixth one").
On the road wandering minstrel finds a mare, which, upholstered and sickly, is dying. He buries mare and casts a curse in the village where the animal was tortured. In the village lives Jańcio, a philosopher, a man loving life and his young wife, Weronka. Jańcio lives in harmony with God and is not expecting that he will be put to the test by him. He is convinced he has the power to make miracles. He leaves his pregnant wife, and goes to see the world, promising to return before the due date.
This film is about life of a family, which lived in Prague since since 1968 to 1980. Father of the family comes from Ukraine and so every year someone from Ukraine to visit this family and to buy something more better than is in Ukraine. As the times go by, the friens of family live in Austria. And now for change the family visit "a better life" in west Europe and they found out how it is to be something second-rate.
Pograbek is a village philosopher with an unconventional way of looking at things. He is planning on buying a child since he cannot have one due to his infertility. However, the woman that promised him one has changed her mind, and now the provincial gigolo is trying to make his wife pregnant.
A 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...
The story of catholic saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz.
In the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire, David Hersko, a Jewish shepherd, witnesses the attack of a young girl. His home is burned down and he finds shelter with the family of a Jewish logger. The loggers find the body of a young woman which they bury, going against local laws. They are charged with her murder and it is believed that they killed her as a ritual murder.
Set in 1946, the film tells a story of a Polish villager returning home after years in a concentration camp. Mateusz is an old-timer, a saddler, who finds nothing but hostility when he makes it home after years away. He is not a Jew, though the villagers brand him one and give him a hard time. They feel guilty about the death of his son at the end of the war, and don't want the father around. In the background: beginnings of the Communist regime in Poland.
In a small town, everyone has tried to forget what happened shortly after WWII. That is, until a stranger finds a book that Jadup (Kurt Böwe) gave to the young refugee Boel (Katrin Knappe), who resettled in the town over 30 years ago. Painful memories about Boel and the post-war period begin to surface and shake up the whole town. Boel vanished back then and nobody knew why. Word spread about a rape and some tried to blame a Russian soldier. Jadup, the town's respected and popular mayor, remembers, though, how he mistrusted Boel and did not help her through this difficult time; HE didn't even notice THAT Boel loved him. Jadup's confrontation with the past gives him a new, critical view of his current situation and surroundings.
Set during the insurgency of 1863, the story focuses on a tragic romance between a poor gentlewoman and a rebel noble. After a bloody battle a unit of insurgents have been wiped out and only one survived, but badly wounded. He eventually finds shelter and care from a landsteward's daughter, hiding in a burned-out manor with an old servant.
A woodsman find and abandoned child in the forest and raises him as his son. When the child reaches 10, the woodsman suddenly goes blind. The kid is determined to help his "father" and answers a mysterious call. He must seek the Spirit of Darkness and defeat him if the woodsman is to see again. During his search for the Spirit he encounters a friendly monster who helps the boy in his quest. They are able to survive every dangerous test on their way and the final confrontation.
Made in 1982, shelved for five years. Story 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.
The 1930s. An investigetion after founding a dead body on the street of Cracow.
Based on an 18th Century novel by James Hogg. Tells the story of a young man whose memories, recounted after death, are supposed to be a series of wrong moral choices ending up with him killing himself.
A young, idealistic poet, turns his back on civilization and goes to small, backwood village, rents a bed in the house of an old woman, and decides to make his living as a lumberjack. Soon he realizes that the world around him is far from perfect.
Drama about historical figure Barbara Radziwiłł, her romance with King Sigismund II August, her death and her posthumous return to Vilnius.
Kaziuk, 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.
While studying in Moscow, the GDR resident Christiane falls in love with Hatem, a fellow student from Syria. The two become a couple and even have a child together. When their study draws to an end, Christiane and Hatem have to decide if they want to share their future together. After Hatem explains to Christiane that as a woman she will not be able to work in Syria, Christiane suggests moving to the GDR together. For Hatem, however, this is out of the question, since he considers it a betrayal of his country. Thus, the two young people are forced to go separate ways.
The crusty hero, Habryka, is an old miner who has won many worker medals and is now retired with his youngest son and latter's family living with him. To build new apartment buildings, the old houses are being bought out, the residents given apartments in the new houses, and being cleared away. But Habryka refuses to sell.
The document describes the preparations and organizational problems related to the outbreak of the Kościuszko Insurrection and the initial phase of the fighting to the Battle of Racławice. He also devotes a lot of space to the peasant question.
A film about the life and activities of the Polish revolutionary Ludwik Waryński. In his memoirs, Ludwik returns to his student years in St. Petersburg, to Warsaw, to Krakow, where he was arrested and put on trial. After the end of the process in Krakow, Waryński leaves for Geneva, where he meets with Russian revolutionaries. In 1881, he returned to his homeland and created the first party of workers in Poland...
Although members of the Hitler Youth chant anti-Semitic paroles in front of his house during the Purim festival, Rabbi Singer is still profoundly convinced that Germany will stay a safe country for him, his family, and his fellow believers. But several years later, his son David is banned from going to school because he is a Jew. Shortly after, Rabbi Singer and his wife are deported. Now, young David also fears for his life. In constant fear of being detected, he tries to find a way to leave Germany.
Historical novel by Boleslaw Prus . The problem of the Polish population displacement from their land within the limits of the Prussian partition. Germans come to the village harassing a wealthy peasant Snail, leading to the tragedy. Slug's cottage burns, his wife dies. The peasant does not give up, defending his inheritance. He sticks on a patch of his Polish soil and protects it like a soldier his post.
A miniseries about a pair of teenagers living in a slum at the fringes of Berlin. Alcoholism, prostitution, and violence are just a few of the themes of the three movies.
A middle-aged man's doubts about himself transform themselves into paranoia about his younger wife's behavior in this psychological thriller. The husband plants listening devices around their apartment and eventually drives the heretofore innocent woman into the arms of one of his co-workers.
"Budapest Tales" is about a group of people (consisting of Szabo regular Andras Balint along with Ildiko Bansagi and Karoly Kovacs) who find a broken down tram while trying to go to the city. The people band together and try to get the tram back on the train tracks and head towards the city. Along this journey the passengers encounter many people who join them on the tram. What started out as only a handful of people has now turned into a small village. As the people travel on to the city each person takes on certain roles and through the course of time these roles will change. Some people fall in love, others out of love, and a few even die. But life goes on. The people keep the tram going hoping to reach Budapest.
After discussions and dishonest negotiations, a decision is taken as to where a large new chemical factory is to be built and Bednarz, an honest Party man, is put in charge of the construction. He used to live in the small town where the factory is to be built, his wife used to be a Party activist there, and he has unpleasant memories of it. But he sets to the task in the belief that he will build a place where people will live and work well. His intentions and convictions, however, conflict with those of the townspeople who are primarily concerned with their short-term needs. Disillusioned, Bednarz gives up his post.
The Polish film based on the book of the same name by Wladyslaw Reymont. Taking place in the nineteenth century town of 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 shown through the eyes of one Polish town.
In medieval Germany, poor and witty Till Eulenspiegel fools and cheats citizens, churchmen, and landlords. Although in most cases he uses his wit for personal well-being, he often helps the poor and weak. Eventually, he gains an influential but also dangerous position as royal fool at the court of the emperor.
Told in flashback as Mieszko lies feverish in his bed just before the Battle of Cedynia, Gniazdo recounts how the revered leader extended Poland's borders, formed an alliance with Emperor Otto I, and ultimately strengthened his country's autonomy by achieving victory during that crucial battle in the year 972.
Small Polish village straight after WWII. Young man Zenek injured and awarded with Cross of Valour during partisan fight is torn between staying loyal to his partisan comrades (continuing their fight) and his own beliefs.
Following With Fire and Sword', this is an adaptation of the second and most spectacular part of Sienkiewicz's trilogy of warfare, romance, and derring-do. With war raging across Europe in the 17th century, a dashing warrior fights for the heart of a young gentlewoman. With almost four hundred actors, thousands of extras and twenty three thousand costumes, this is one of the most popular films in Polish cineman and received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Feature.
Set 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 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.
Film 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.
An ambitious, enthusiastic young geologist is entangled in bureaucratic red tape when he tries to drill for oil. Frustrated with the situation, he torches an abandoned mill, ignores his girlfriend, and fights with his friends who do not share his exuberance about the project. The feature premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival
The drifter has a name - Lenny Jacobsen" - An outsider is chased to his death. The case remains uncertain, while what otherwise interests at best incidentally, the sensitivities of the victims and the perpetrators, to seemingly trivial expressions, gestures, sentences becomes the main thing.
A man who is socially inept and out of touch with the world lives with his sister in a small farmhouse. The overly sensitive man lives off his hard-working sibling, taking odd jobs as he gets them to secure his meager earnings. When he brings home a woodcutter from the forest, the sister and the newcomer fall in love. Terrified over a life without his sister, the man can't cope and decides to kill himself. This depressing tale of alienation, doubt and uncertainty was the Polish entry at the Cannes Film Festival in 1968.
Czterej pancerni i pies was a Polish black and white TV series based on the book by Janusz Przymanowski. Made between 1966 and 1970, the series is composed of 21 episodes of 55 minutes each, divided into three seasons. It is set in 1944 and 1945, during World War II, and follows the adventures of a tank crew and their T-34 tank in the 1st Polish Army. Although both the book and the TV series contain elements of pro-Soviet propaganda, they have achieved and retain a cult series status in Poland, Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. The T-34 tank Rudy with the identifying number "102", a German Shepherd dog from Siberia Szarik and to a lesser extent the crew Jan Kos, Gustaw Jeleń, Grigorij Saakaszwili, Tomasz Czereśniak, and their commander and mentor Olgierd Jarosz, as well as other heroes of the series, have become icons in Polish popular culture.
Three idealists - a communist secretary, a former RAF pilot and a female political activist - need to face the hardships and accusations of postwar Stalinist years before being finally rehabilitated.
After a violent quarrel, Nitka leaves her husband Andrzej. He meets Grazyna, a young girl with whom he is getting closer and closer. After some time, both spouses conclude that they can not live without each other.
Polish communist imprisoned in thirties suspects his friend to be a traitor. Then the war begins.
A pair of lovers go off to a small hotel in a little town. The memories of war, however, intrude on their idyll. The girl and boy relive certain wartime experiences in flashback. She was a communist who drove a boy loving her to give himself up.
Set in the 17th century. A convent in a small town is being visited by high-ranking Catholic official trying to exorcise the nun supposedly possessed by demons. A local priest have been burnt for creating this condition by sexual temptation of the nuns, especially the Mother superior who bring on the collective hysteria of the group. There is another young priest who is to help with the exorcism. His first meeting with the convent head, Mother Joan of the Angels, has her seemingly possessed by Satan - she yells blasphemies and incites the priest. She begs the priest to save her and to help her to be a saint.
Stach is a wayward teen living in squalor on the outskirts of Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Guided by an avuncular Communist organizer, he is introduced to the underground resistance—and to the beautiful Dorota. Soon he is engaged in dangerous efforts to fight oppression and indignity, maturing as he assumes responsibility for others’ lives. A coming-of-age story of survival and shattering loss, A Generation delivers a brutal portrait of the human cost of war.
