Zbigniew Zapasiewicz

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

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.

Jacek climbs into the taxi driven by Waldemar, tells him to drive to a remote location, then brutally strangles him, seemingly without motive.

Raised by the monks, Stanisław gets involved in a scheme to murder the king.

A famous Polish journalist presents a problem for the powers-that-be when he displays his full political skill and knowledge on a television show featuring questions and answers on a world conference by a panel of journalists. His enemies take away his privileges when he is away. The shock of being "unwanted" parallels a deeper disappointment in his private life: his wife has an affair with a jealous young rival, and after 15 years of marriage and two daughters wants a divorce. She offers no explanations as he tries to untie these problems himself. All the moves he makes are the wrong ones. He takes on drinking heavily with students eager to attend his seminar after discovering the class has been canceled. The journalist, once suave and commanding, is reduced to silence.

Matylda reflects on her life on her 30th birthday.

The last days in the life of Edward Dembowski (1822-1846), the organizer of the Cracow Uprising in 1846. The informal leader of the uprising, determined to fight for the unification of Polish lands and the liberation of the peasants, negotiates with other politicians.

A detachment of the Polish IFOR forces in Bosnia is led by Major Keller, who is being investigated for insubordination during a patrol in Srebrenica. The investigation is to be led by two arriving officers - Lieutenant Czacki and Major Kusz who will also replace Keller as CO. When the camp's RTO receives a communication from a downed Norwegian chopper, Keller ignores his standing orders and leads a platoon to rescue the crew.

Strange human-shaped phenomenon appears in Piotrowski's new flat and he approaches all available institutions to help him get rid of it.

The famous play by Sławomir Mrożek, directed by Maciej Englert. A 1999 production.

Set in 1905. The story focuses on a young and inexperienced man in a revolutionary execution squad. He does his killing job out of idealism, and for the love of a woman. The young student murders a Russian spy and is afterwards arrested by the police. Much to his surprise he is released after a session with the traitor-judge, hinting at some leaks in the organisation. Student reports his suspicions back to the organisation, but in response is given a new hit mission.

In good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from secret police used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all the privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz would soon find that some of his friends are on the other side.

A forty-year old man, destroyed physically and mentally by life experiences recounts his life.

Tomasz, a doctor, and atheist, is diagnosed with cancer. His ex-wife offers him the money for treatment in Paris, but his lung cancer is past the operating stage. Facing imminent death, he questions the beliefs he has held all his life and starts experimenting with both his own life and those of others.

Retired Sypniewski stands before a bizarre task - he must drown kittens.

A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.

Seven stories based on unusual court cases from Poland.

In 1969 a young writer decides to write an essay on a well known Polish writer, who had to leave the country in the 50's, later living, working and dying in exile. He slowly assembles the character and even the exterior appearances of his idol until his own identity tragically disappears.

Bearing traces of the old Anton Chekhov play The Wedding, The Contract is set during an "arranged" ceremony. The bride and groom barely know each other, but this matters not at all to their tradition-bound families. At the last minute, the bride balks. Only slightly nonplused, the groom's father, a status-seeking doctor, decides to go ahead with the expensive reception anyway. Polish director Krzysz Zanussi uses this scenario to stick it to capitalist corruption, and to society's destruction of the individual spirit. Leslie Caron, the one recognizable member of the cast, is outstanding as a wealthy, over-the-hill ballerina who happens to be a kleptomaniac.

Alex is a young boy who grew up without the warmth of a family home. He is lonely and lacks money. He is in love with his college friend, Maja, without reciprocity. However, the girl decided to get involved with a wealthy man from the criminal world. Meanwhile, as part of his student internship, Alex takes care of a former employee of the Security Office, Franciszek Kozar. The elderly and sick man suffers greatly. His only desire is euthanasia. For some time, Kozar has been persuading his guardian to help him commit suicide for a few thousand dollars. Finally, Alex agrees. His financial situation improves significantly. With the money he earns, he rents a luxury apartment and changes his lifestyle. From then on, he decides to provide services to people who want to end their lives but are unable to do it themselves...

This heroic story follows the life of Karol Wojtyla, a Polish Roman catholic who ascends the throne of St. Peter as Pope John Paul II. As a young boy, Karol is a bright and talented student. Archbishop Sapieha recognizes the very special, moving qualities Karol possesses and encourages him to consider the priesthood. Although determined to study Polish literature, Karol turns to the church; he is ordained and studies in Italy, France, and Belgium. Torn by fear and repression in post-Stalin Eastern Europe, Karol becomes a poisonous thorn in the communists' side. His deer reverence and commitment return him to Poland as Pope John Paul II.

A famous opera singer comes to his hometown in Poland, where he loses his voice.

Jerry arrives in New York alone to escape his painful divorce and, penniless, meets Giselle, a free-spirited dancer with unfulfilled dreams. A single phone call sparks a passionate romance, but their love is tested by shifting affections and the lingering presence of Jerry’s estranged wife, turning their affair into a crowded triangle.

A beautiful Polish girl whose lover has gone to Rome to seek a divorce from his previous wife travels around Europe in search of him and suffers a variety of tragic adventures as the men around her try to fit her into their own selfish schemes.

A young architect is locked up in prison. He recalls his uncompromising youth and gradual sliding into the moral swamp of compromises. He was not alone. A group of his friends, dreamers and glass house builders, accompanied him.

Accomplished playwright supervises the stage rehearsals for his new play away from home. He rents a room at a private house, which is owned by mother and daughter. Wiktor gets entangled in the two women's bizarre relationship.

A moral conflict between a young assistant and an associate professor arises during a university linguistics camp.

Laura is personnel manager in a hospital. Her father-in-law was a high ranking cadre, her mother-in-law is an influential functionary, it is only her husband - director of an archives - who is unfit for everything. Laura does not like to be home. During one of her rovings she meets her former classmate, who wants to break into the world of pop music with a new band.

A certain inhabitant of Lailonia named Tat, very much wants to become a famous man. He ponders for a long time what to do, especially since there are people more famous than him in all fields of science, culture and art. He comes to the conclusion that he can become famous by doing the worst thing in the world. However, he wins only temporary applause from the crowd or exposes himself to ridicule. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that he will gain fame by becoming the least famous man in the world. This is what he does. Soon everyone forgets about him and Tat achieves his goal.

A stonemason Ajio, quiet, honest and conscientious by nature, works on road construction in Lailonia. One day, a hump grows on his back, which quickly turns into Ajio's double. Ajio's double is aggressive, vicious and lazy. He quickly manages to convince those around him that he is the real Ajio. Soon an epidemic of humpbacks affects all the residents of Lailonia. Real people are replaced by their doubles. They are aggressive and imperious. Ajio's double takes over the city of humpbacks. Only Ajio's son manages to escape the city. He hopes that when he grows up - he will return and deal with the humpbacks.

Etam, a young man from a small town in Lailonia, plucks pears from a neighbor's tree for his friend Nita. He is branded with a red patch on his pants for the theft. It soon turns out that the patch is contagious. Red patches appear on the pants of all Etam's friends. The patches get bigger and the boys wear a big red patch instead of pants. So they decide to pretend that they have red pants. When they come to school, however, the Teacher sees red patches instead of pants. He tells them to return to school only when they have pants. The boys, on Nita's advice, make holes in the patches and sew the real colored patches onto them. To the boys' surprise, the Teacher at school accepts the patched pants. He explains to them that the previous day they had red patches, and now they have patched pants. This is because it is possible to patch pants, while patches cannot be patched.

Nino, a baker's apprentice from the kingdom of Lailonia, has a very beautiful face. He notices that wrinkles are appearing on it. He borrows money from the court and buys a trunk of immutability. He hides his beautiful face in the trunk and henceforth lives without a face. He claims that only by storing his face in the trunk of immutability can he ensure its eternal youth and immortal beauty. The neighbor demands the loan back. So Nino pawns his beautiful face in a pawnshop. He receives a sum less than he borrowed. He cannot repay the debt and is thrown in jail for many years. The owner of the pawnshop, not having lived to see Nino's return, takes his beautiful face out of his trunk and gives it to the children to play with as a ball. Only the imprisoned Nino thinks he has the most beautiful face in the world.

The brothers Ubi and Obi live in Lailonia in the city of Ruru. The authority over the city is held by the god Maior. The basic law of the god Maior is that everything for humans is at the bottom, what for the god is at the top. The brothers live according to the laws established by the god Maior, until Obi rebels against them. Soon the brothers separate and Obi dies. For breaking his laws, the god Maior sentences Obi to stay in hell. Ubi also dies, and since he always obeyed the god's laws, he goes to heaven. The brothers are separated even after death. Ubi is not happy in heaven and wants to go to hell. The god Maior, however, does not agree. A revolt breaks out in heaven. God Maior abdicates. From now on, the living and deceased residents of the city of Ruru have to fend for themselves.

Ditto is an idealist. He does not, unlike Lina, his life companion, attach importance to the things around him. Lina, on the other hand, is captivated by objects and all her attention is focused on collecting them. One day all things revolt against Ditto. The objects complain to Lina that it is Ditto who mistreats them and Lina believes the objects. Ditto decides to turn himself into a thing to show Lina their true nature. However, the things are not malicious towards Lina. After a while, Ditto begins to understand that he has lost the war with things.

A young raspberry ice cream vendor named Gyom lives with his wife Mek-Mek in Lailonia, in the city of Batum. Since he believes that only older men can get good jobs in Lailonia, he decides to change his appearance. He grows a beard and a mustache, but it turns out that this is not enough to be considered an old gentleman. So he buys a bowler hat, glasses, an umbrella and wellingtons. He becomes an old gentleman and thanks to this he gets a job in a hotel as a "removalist" of flowers from vases.

The protagonists of the film are three brothers: Eino, Aho and Laje. The brothers live from the cultivation of the family land. Eino works from dawn to night. Aho likes to spend time playing at a nearby inn. Laje once helps Eino, and once accompanies Aho. Once Aho gets cheated by playing dice and losing his family land. The brothers set off in search of a job. They reach a road fork. Eino wants to go left, Aho to the right, and Laje agrees once with one, once with the other brother. The brothers, unable to convince each other for their reasons, start a great quarrel.

An adaptation of Franz Kafka's "The Trial"

A story of high-ranking party members from the 1970s embroiled in political deception.

A peasant girl is abandoned by her fiancé after she has talked her father into giving her his land as a dowry.

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.

A Polish ambassador finds his life falling into ruin following the death of his wife.

Francis Ratay witnesses the theft of church painting "Angel with violin". The entire incident recorded by an amateur camera. The thief turns out to Benedict Weber, gallery owner and art connoisseur. Francis comes to his gallery. Blackmails him, that will provide police record, unless the image in three days back in place.

On a single day the fate of three couples are joined and some of them sealed.

A biology professor, Adam enters a hospital for observation. He is a loner and a serious-minded man, who dislikes any display of emotions. He spends three months in the hospital while being tested. After observing patients and hospital routines around him from a distance, he learns that he will need a kidney transplant. Meanwhile his personal and professional life is falling apart: he refuses his wife's offer to donate the kidney for him; the scientific problem he was working on has been solved elsewhere. In the end Adam cracks under the prolonged pressure, waiting for the sound of an ambulance bringing a moribund patient whose kidney may be used for the transplant.

Zbyszek volunteers as an organ donor for his friend.

Pawel Markowicz suffers from Stendhal syndrome and it is to Dr.Giordano that he tells his secret.

Set in the late '20s. A thirtyish young man, who heads a small factory, faints at the funeral of a close friend. He decides to go home to his aunt and uncle for a while, but gets involved with a family of five women who had been in love with him at one time though he had apparently loved only one, who, unknown to him, has died since his departure. The women are mainly disillusioned with life or estranged from husbands while the youngest has a crush on him.

In a border town two sons of the local commander using stolen arms take hostages of eighteen girls in a dormitory, because they want to go West by plane.

Jan is a young assistant professor in chemistry and a workaholic, Anna is an unsuccessful science writer who turns to Jan for advice and human compassion, but Jan, absorbed with his career, remains immune to Anna's clumsy efforts to pierce his defenses.

Friedrich is a wealthy, handsome German soldier fighting in World War II. His unit is stationed in Poland and occupies the estate of Countess Elzbieta. Forced to remain in her presence, Friedrich begins to pursue Elzbieta out of boredom.

Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi once more explores the dilemma of intellectualism at the expense of humanity in 1982's Imperative. The story concerns math professor Robert Powell, who feels that there is something lacking in his ever-so-precise life. What is missing is truth, specifically philosophical truth. Thus he philosophizes at great length, allowing director Zanussi plenty of room for didactic but little room for warmth. Leading ladies Brigette Fossey and Leslie Caron occasionally melt through the cold logic of Imperative.

A documentary in which a picture of pre-war Poznan is reconstructed with the help of archival materials from regional collections and staging. The structural axis of the film is a radio broadcast from August 1939 with the participation of well-known and respected residents of the city, who answer the question: is there going to be a war?

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 psychological portrait of a missing girl is drawn by the people who knew her, being interviewed by a journalist helping in the search.

A thriller about Polish Intelligence Service working on detecting a net of foreign spies.

A TV special - host Irena Dziedzic interviews notable figures of Polish history at the Wawel Castle.

Andrzej and Grzegorz are students of Warsaw Conservatory and preparing for the International Piano Competition. Eva - a beautiful Grzegorz's girlfriend is seriously ill, the doctors suspect she has brain cancer. Even for the sake of health and life of his beloved Grzegorz disagrees to miss even a single day of preparation for the contest. Andrzej has a girlfriend Zosia (the daughter of a professor of music), but the young pianist falls in love with Grzegorz's girlfriend and takes care of the sick Eve.

Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver, brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief for Piotr the injustice of killing of any kind.

An idealistic scientist is encouraged by his wife to use his good looks to get ahead, but his new job carries with it temptations and traps.

In this mixture of fiction and documentary Krzysztof Zanussi invites a number of Poland’s great actors—Maja Komorowowska, Daniel Olbrychski, and Jan Nowicki—to "revisit" characters they played in the director's earlier works.

An examination of the relationship between an indecisive medical student and his fiancee.

Berlin, 1990. At the invitation of his actor friends, who have already lived abroad for many years, Max, a Polish theater director, comes to Berlin. They begin to work together. They try to realize their dream: to stage a play, the staging of which was prevented by the imposition of martial law ten years earlier. The way they raise funds (selling pieces of the "historic" wall) and struggle against the heartless machinery of bureaucracy forms the axis of the film. In their efforts, the four protagonists are assisted by Regina, a translator familiar with local customs and practices. The film deals with the problems of artists in the new, commercializing reality.

In Nazi-occupied Warsaw, teenage scouts Alek, Rudy, and Zośka risk their lives pulling down a swastika and hoisting the Polish flag atop the German “Zachęta” cultural center and then blowing up a mobile propaganda cinema.

The film is set in 1905, in a time of feverish revolutionary underground activity in Poland partitioned between three neighbours. All the characters are committed anarchists. The bomb maker puts an invention together to place it at the disposal of young inexperienced terrorists fighting against Tsarist oppression. The story follows the passing of this bomb from anarchist to anarchist as several attempts are made on the life of Tsarist governor general, until, at the end, it is effectively and harmlessly defused by a bomb expert. The presence of the bomb has a destroying effect on all of the Polish revolutionaries, they either die or breakdown.

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.

A well-regarded engineer in a big enterprise is hounded by trumped up attacks on his integrity when he delves too deeply into how bonuses are handled by the management. He gets into an argument with the guard, is arrested and subsequently fired. An old friend, a journalist, tries to sort things out but the victim's stubbornness and past problems with his wife lead to lossess by both.

A man is tried in court for failing to help his brother to avoid suicide.

A girl who overdosed on drugs dies in the intensive care unit. The doctor on duty notifies the management of Monar, where the deceased was being treated before she ran away. Jacek, who ran away with Jola a few weeks earlier, returns to the Monar center. Dr. Krystyna agrees to let him spend one night there, even though the rules strictly forbid it. Further decisions regarding the boy will be made by Grzegorz, the center's manager.

Shortly after World War II an American soldier (Norman) and a Polish refugee (Emilia) fall in love. Eventually he will return to the U.S. and both expect that she will soon follow him with her mother. Emilia's mother is sick, but will recover with the right medicine. But the mother, and not Emilia, knows that there will only be one ticket...

Shortly after the beginning of World War 2 a young idealist doctor is employed in a psychiatric hospital, where his notions of proper care for the patients are challenged by staff and the German occupation.

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.

The staging of "Kordian" by Juliusz Słowacki, refers to the November Uprising and attempts to understand the reasons for its defeat. It tells the story of a young boy who attempts to liberate the Polish nation, while struggling with internal dilemmas and moral difficulties.

A doctor plunged into a marital crisis receives an attractive job offer.

August 1980, Strikes break out on the coast. The famous writer cannot decide whether to take the side of the oppositionists or wait for the course of events to unfold. A few months later, he meets an SB agent who followed him as a writer in the 1950s. They remember the Stalinist times.

A man stops at night in an unknown house. There he meets an unpleasant surprise. He is attacked by several men. Initially, he decides to yield to them, but later resists them.

Kochanowski's tragedy refers to the classic plot of ancient literature. The events presented in it precede the expedition of the Greeks against Troy, described in Homer's "Iliad". Greek envoys arrive in Troy, demanding the release of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, abducted by Prince Paris, also called Alexander. In fact, everything speaks in favor of giving beautiful Helena to her rightful husband.