Social & External
The people behind it
September 3rd, 1939. Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany, only two days after the Wehrmacht invades Poland. This day, the sad date when the fate of the world changed forever, the Phoney War began: eight months of uncertainty, preparations, evacuations and skirmishes.
Pole, who are you? This film collage that combines archival and contemporary materials, documentary and staged pictures, press reports, social announcements, sale offers and speech excerpts is an attempt to answer this question. Referring to the Polish tradition of a creative documentary in the style of Wojciech Wiszniewski, the film presents various manifestations of Polishness: patriotic and religious rituals, everyday traditions as well as characteristic landscapes or intimate memories from childhood.
Warsaw is becoming a meeting place for people from different corners of the world, of different ages, with different life stories. What they have in common is a feeling of being lost and a dire need to run away from their solitude. The film shows an image of a contemporary city from couchsurfers’ perspective.
The youngest protagonist of the documentary is Wartburg, an automobile over 50 years of age. The car is still on the road, driven by Bogdan, a 70-year-old who is taking his mother to visit the German factory where she was forced to work during WWII. In this road movie which takes place between Majdanpek and Germany, the trip becomes a journey into the past, retracing memories from the war and revealing a unique relationship between an old son and his elderly mother.
In the run-up to parliamentary elections in mid-October, Polish filmmaker Marcin Wierzchowski travelled across his country to gauge the atmosphere in a society that is more divided than ever.
This movie shows Biebrza Valley's wildlife during the four seasons of the year. Spectacular wildlife images, exceptional sounds of nature and specially composed music make this poetic story about the lives of rare European animals come to life. Is Biebrza the European Amazon river?
Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz investigates why her Polish mother abandoned her and uncovers the truth behind her mother's wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, leaving Sophia to confront her own capacity for forgiveness.
Wolves divide and fascinate us. 150 years after they were driven to extinction in Central Europe, they are returning slowly but inexorably. Are they dangerous to humans? Is it possible to coexist? Using Switzerland as a point of departure, where wolves have returned in the very recent past, this documentary sheds light on the wolf situation in Austria, eastern Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and even Minnesota, where freely roaming packs of wolves are more common sight.
For almost three years, nature filmmaker and ecologist David Cebulla has been observing wild Common hamsters. He not only tries to learn more about the species, but also documents why hamsters are globally threatened with extinction. David travels from the western border of the distribution area in France via Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary to the eastern border of the distribution area in the Kazakh steppe. In the process, he manages to capture some unique and fantastic images. But during the project, it becomes increasingly difficult to find animals living in the wild.
Why are illegal abortions more accessible in Poland than legal ones in South Africa? This documentary feature explores and contrasts changes in Poland and South Africa regarding abortion laws and their impact on the lives of women. In the 90's, Poland banned abortion due to the increasing influence of the Catholic Church after the fall of communism; around the same time South Africa legalized it, reforming the health system after the fall of apartheid. The film reveals how the legal status of women is a direct result of the silencing or empowering of women's voices. In the Polish society and media, women's perspectives were made invisible; in South Africa, on the other hand, they were invited to give public hearings in the parliament about problems in the realm of reproduction.
The whole family is helping with preparations for Danuta and Maciej’s golden wedding anniversary party. Danuta knows exactly what she wants and delegates her wishes to those around her. Her German niece Alexandra, the maker of this film, has travelled to Warsaw to take part. Barely has she sat down at the kitchen table when a heated discussion ensues. Be it abortion or migration, it soon dawns on Alexandra that her view of the world could not be more different from that of her right-wing conservative relatives in Poland. Alone in her ‘liberal’ view Alexandra is mocked as a victim of western propaganda… Filmmaker Alexandra Wesolowski uses a family gathering as an opportunity to portray her own family and allows us intimate insight into Polish society and the populist national-conservative Europe of today.
A documentary tale about sport and politics under martial law. All of Poland saw the great goals of Boniek and Smolarek during the Espana '82 championships. For a moment, it was forgotten that the background of the sporting performance was martial law, censorship, an army on the streets, prisons filled with oppositionists. The performance of the players was so successful that it was called "the most beautiful series of martial law". The game is watched by interned activists of "Solidarity", sports journalists and censors, cutting out all manifestations of the opposition from television broadcasts. We also get to know the performance in Spain from the perspective of the players, trying to meet not only their ambitions but also to bear the burden of fans' expectations and regime propaganda.
Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland. Saddam Hussein's rise to power in Iraq. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The nuclear accident at the Harrisburg power plant and the birth of ecological activism. The year 1979, the beginning of the future.
Since 24 February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, several million refugees have already been taken in by Poles. In the Lublin region, near the Bug River, which marks the border with Ukraine and Belarus, farmers, shopkeepers, a photographer, and a teacher tell how their daily lives have been transformed by the outbreak of this war.
On July 4th, 1946, the crowd in Kielce, Poland, slaughtered forty-two Jews and wounded many others. Forty years later, in 1987, Marcel Łoziński visited those places and met some witnesses of the carnage.
2025, the year of the intensification of a total and deadly war, which nothing and no one seems able to stop, targeting military personnel and civilians, and which has now claimed more than 1.5 million lives or left that many wounded on both sides. But 2025 is also the year of our break with Donald Trump's America, an America with violent and unpredictable reactions, which risks abandoning the old continent, its most loyal ally for 80 years, for Vladimir Putin. How can we stop this bloodshed on our doorstep? How can we contain the master of the Kremlin, a dictator whose predatory logic threatens to spread beyond Ukraine? Sabotage, ghost ships, interference operations, and drone flights: he is already waging a hybrid war against the rest of Europe. Is armed conflict between Europe and Russia now a possibility?
The documentary takes the viewer to the Polish countryside of the mid-1970s. Andrzej, Leszek, Eugeniusz, Ryszard and Jerzy are young men who dream of finding their other half. The film's protagonists have advertised in newspapers and talk frankly and without inhibition about their search and the dilemmas it involves. The picture is complemented by the statements of their parents, who watch their sons' efforts to start a family with love but also concern. The film also gives an insight into the problems farmers face - not only love but also hard work on the land awaits the chosen one of their hearts. "Either get married or quit this farm", "What's one to do on a farm?" - say the characters in the film. The countryside is not a place made for living alone.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Behind-the-scenes documentary about how Lionel Messi succeeded in lifting the World Cup – the only trophy to have eluded him in an incredible career.
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
As England reach the final of the Euros at last, 6,000 ticketless football fans storm Wembley stadium, leaving destruction in their wake.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
RETURN tells the story of a retired Green Beret who embarks on a healing journey from Montana to Vietnam. There he retraces his steps, shares his wartime experiences with his son, treats his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and seeks out the mountain tribespeople he once lived with and fought alongside as a Special Forces officer.
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
After the high-profile killing of Damilola Taylor, Cornelius' family move out of London. But when they discover their new town is run by racists, Cornelius takes a drastic step to survive.
Daft Punk Unchained is the first film about the pop culture phenomenon that is Daft Punk, the duo with 12 million albums sold worldwide and seven Grammy Awards. Throughout their career Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have always resisted compromise and the established codes of show business. They have remained determined to maintain control of every link in the chain of their creative process. In the era of globalisation and social networks, they rarely speak in public and neither do they show their faces on TV. This documentary explores this unprecedented cultural revolution revealing a duo of artists on a permanent quest for creativity, independence and freedom.
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Featuring interviews with filmmakers and industry legends, discover the origins and evolution of The Joker, and learn why The Clown Prince of Crime is universally hailed as the greatest comic-book supervillain of all time.
