The Death of a Student

Finland, Poland1977documentary51'Retrospektywa Jarmo Jääskeläinena (2022)

The film presents the events surrounding the tragic death of Stanisław Pyjas, a student from Krakow. We can see excerpts from a black march in Krakow, a street gathering at the gate at 7 Szewska Street, a demonstration and the reading of a document by the Students’ Solidarity Committee at St Ann’s Church in Warsaw. These and many other events were triggered by the protest of a small group of primarily young people, members of the nascent opposition – the Worker’s Defence Committee. The director talks to the residents of the house at 7 Szewska Street, where Pyjas’s body was found in the stairwell, his friends and people who could shed light on the case - he seeks to explain the circumstances of the student’s tragic death.