A ballad-like story about a group of young people who settled in a village near Olsztyn a few years ago and decided to stay and work on the land. Among them are art historians, an actor, and an engineer. The film, which has no commentary, is accompanied by a song whose chorus sounds like the young protagonists' credo: "So take life into your own hands, life as it is. You won't get any more of it, you know that very well."
Documentary portrait of a mysterious man who guarded order in Lomza in the '80s. Memories of the sheriff provide an opportunity to show the grim reality of Lomza. Focused like a lens on some problems plaguing the country - alcoholism, stupefaction, the disappearance of ambition and aspiration, crime, the lack of hope for any change. All this is tried to be remedied by the almost fairy-tale character of an extreme idealist from Lomza - the title sheriff - who single-handedly undertakes the fight against all manifestations of evil, exposing himself to ridicule and even suspicion of mental illness.
A portrait of the employees of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The film shows one night, during which we witness the duty of its guards, cleaners, guards, elevators. It's a pretext to listen to their stories about the Palace, its history. Everything happens while the wedding of the daughter of the Palace's guards is taking place in the background in the PKiN staff canteen.
Prominent heart surgeon Zbigniew Religa talks about his fears and hopes he had towards this operation, which was the first one successful heart transplant in Poland, made under his supervision. The doctor talks with great respect and affection about his patients and colleagues.
In photos and films, Praga resembles a small town rather than a district of Warsaw. One may see service facilities, sometimes only signboards and few craftsmen doing jobs becoming a thing of the past. Grinders, engravers, tailors, blacksmiths, saddlers rarely meet their customers. The symbol of the passing era is a cabman portrayed against high and modern blocks of flats. In the backyards of Praga, mangles are still visible. It is a thing of women, similarly to beauty and hairdressing salons. A lighthouse keeper still lights gas lamps, but the bygone world slowly dies out.
Portrait of a family emigrating to Sweden.
Abstract, geometric forms, became the basis for the most outstanding works of the avant-garde sculptor Katarzyna Kobro. With her 'Spatial Compositions', she created her own artistic language, with which she aroused a lot of criticism, which was based on the traditional assumption that a sculpture should be a compact, modelled mass. However, the task of "Composition" was to shape forms that were to come into being. Kobro, however, still wanted to change the space surrounding people with her own art.
Techniques for rapid drying and harvesting of grasses using various machines.
A special episode of the Chronicle commemorating the death of Bolesław Bierut. He died in Moscow, March 13, 1956. The President of Poland, the President of the Council of Ministers of the Polish People's Republic, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party, was a guest of the earth-shattering 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at which Khrushchev delivered a secret speech on the crimes of Stalinism. Obviously, the film does not mention that because in our country Bierut's death began the thaw period. An honor guard was set next to the coffin in Moscow. The funeral was attended by PUWP delegates, marshals of the USSR, family and workers. The last journey led through Moscow to the airport, where the Bulgarian Prime Minister gave his farewell speech. The funeral march created by Fryderyk Chopin accompanies the images in the production.
The documentary presents the flora and fauna of Spitsbergen.
A documentary about a small island in the Glacial Ocean, which during the Arctic summer becomes a kingdom of singing birds.
A film report from the Dar Pomorza (Pomeranian Gift) sailing ship's training voyage to Stockholm to celebrate King Gustav V's 80th birthday. The film shows the daily life of the sailors on board the ship, including physical exercise, entertainment and playing with the crew's mascot, the anteater Bear. "Dar Pomorza" was a ship of the Polish merchant navy in the 1930s and at the same time a training ship of the Maritime School in Gdynia - in 1930 it replaced the former sailing ship "Lwów". It was on this ship that the future sailors of the Second Republic of Poland gained experience. Thanks to the reportage "Dar Pomorza to Stockholm", it is possible to see the ship at the time of its greatest glory. The film was reconstructed in 2022 based on two copies found after the war in the USA and the Soviet Union.
The report shows places connected with the life of the writer Stefan Żeromski: the cemetery where his parents are buried, the ruins of his family estate. Views from the village of Leszczyny in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains are interspersed with panels featuring quotations from "Puszcza jodłowa".
A group of Polish plantation managers embarks on a voyage to West Africa to establish trade relations between Poland and Liberia. The film shows the journey across the ocean, the local people and their customs, and preparations for plantation expansion.
The film is a reportage, until recently unknown, found in 2015, showing the beauty of the mountains bathed in snow and the tourist attractions of Zakopane and its surroundings, including the Gubałówka cable car and the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch. Currently (2023), this is the only surviving pre-war reportage by Zbigniew Jaszcz, a cameraman who made documentaries in England and Scotland during the Second World War.
The Roma* in Poland are the largest and the most marginalised ethnic minority. Roksana identifies as both Roma (Gypsy) and Polish (Gadji). Employed as a teaching assistant, she works to keep Roma children in school as more than half leave education before the age of sixteen. She could be the perfect bridge, but each culture wants her to reject the other. Roksana, however, desires to belong.
