My mother’s blue sky
the village. They earn their living thanks to a small mine which makes them
independent. The owner of a large mine nearby tries to take over the smaller
companies. When Amir’s mother dies, the village council decides to move the
boy back to the village and take the mine away from him. However, true to his
mother’s wish, Amir opposes their decision.
My Nikifor
Neon
When Poland regained its independence after WWI, the first neon lights appeared in Warsaw. After 123 years of partitions they were a sparkle of hope and a symbol of the returning glamour. Destroyed during WWII, paradoxically, they came back during the times of real socialism: in a system opposing the capitalist philosophy of the West, neon lights were extraordinary advertisements. The Warsaw neons lights were put out during the martial law. Most of them have never returned to their former glory.
New World
An Afghan, Azzam, who works for the Polish army as an interpreter is seen as a traitor in his homeland. After he is evacuated to Poland he can’t recover from his war experiences. Will he find a place for himself in a world where he will always be a stranger?
A Ukrainian, Wera, flees to Poland to undergo a sex change surgery in secret from her family. An unexpected visit from her father and her little son makes her consider the question of her own identity yet again.
Nightmares
Wojciech Marczewski’s cinema debut, honoured with the Andrzej Munk Award. An adaptation of a formerly scandalous novel by Emil Zegadłowicz with a strong autobiographical overtone. The director’s first story about childhood and its initiations, with a crucial question recurring in his later films: how to save yourself and find your place in the world.
Noodles the Gate
A long, long time ago or maybe not so long ago... in a land far far away or maybe somewhere close... in an alley in Wrocław there lived a Handyman who loved the traditional Silesian noodles above all else in the world. Every morning the smell of noodles cooked by his wife was filling the whole alley, until one day it reached the Mayor...
O-bi, O-ba: The end od civilization
The II part of Szulkin’s tetralogy refers to the traditions of dystopia. The pessimistic vision of the future as interpreted as an allegory of Poland under the martial law but also more universally, in existential terms.