62nd KFF Films

dir. Giorgi Gogichaishvili

14′fab2021

On an ordinary, lazy and warm, day, in an ordinary flat in an ordinary city, there are two ordinary women on two sides of the telephone. They can dream about everything, confide in each other, complain a little, joke and dance, curl up in an armchair and listen to music. It is just an ordinary film, or maybe it is not?

dir. Ran Tal

90′dok2022

‘Sometimes the most horrible things can be aesthetic’ – says Micha Bar-Am, a legendary photographer. His work was mostly a chronicle of 60 years of Israel’s history, in particular local ethnic tensions and armed conflicts. The artist tells us his story remaining outside the frame, while the film adopts the form of a collage of his iconic photos.

dir. Emilia Śniegoska

25′dok2019

dir. Armand Urbaniak

74′dok2022

Michał ‘Gier’ Giercuszkiewicz is a master of percussion, primarily known for his membership in the legendary band Dżem. Soon after the front man’s death, he isolated himself in the mountains of Bieszczady to live on a raft. Despite the passage of time, his drums and plates did not become covered with dust and the artist is planning to record an album.

dir. Łukasz Iwanicz

9′dok2022

Who is closer to the truth about the end of life: cold faces from tombstones or eyes and hands of the living sharing their reflections and fears with us? Will the eponymous seven words bring us closer to the truth?

dir. Hirotoshi Takeoka

120′dok2021

The Kists are Georgian Chechens who live in the Pankisi Gorge. The local men are known for their bravery but also infamous for being ‘terrorists’. The documentary is a multi-threaded story of inhabitants of a little known place in the Caucasus.

dir. Shaunak Sen

97′dok2022

In New Delhi nowadays, the fate of people and animals may be the same. Shrouded in deadly smog, the city is also the setting of xenophobic persecution aimed primarily at Muslims. That is why brothers Nadeem and Saud do not feel safe here. But they keep on doing their thing – for two decades they have been running a bird clinic at home.

dir. Julia Roesler

18′dok2022

Self-therapeutic and soothing, the film is a portrayal of Anna. As a child she experienced violence and resentment from her peers and her own father because of her excess weight. After years of fighting for herself, she became a self-aware woman who accepts her body and is not afraid to expose it.

dir. Helena Třeštíková

66′dok2021

During the day Anna works in a public toilet and at night – in the street. The viewer meets her when she is 47 and then the camera accompanies her for the next 16 years. Helena Třeštíková, a laureate of Krakow’s Dragon of Dragons in 2012, is faithful to her method of the long-term observation of her characters.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

8′dok1954

"Are you among them?!" It is a snappy satire on the tendencies of polish people to disrespect the common good and disregard general rules. The dire consequences of these vices are depicted in humorously staged episodes accompanied by a harsh commentary. Background – 1950s Warsaw.

dir. Alexander Koridze

67′dok2021

Tsotne Zedginidze, a 10-year-old piano genius from Georgia, is sometimes compared to Mozart. Bestowed with an extraordinary talent, he seems as if he played with music. His grandmother, who is his teacher, carer and international career manager, keeps an eye on all this.

dir. Miro Remo

85′dok2021

Jaroslav seems to be an antihero: he failed to fulfil his dream of becoming a racing driver or achieve a financial success. In front of the camera, he becomes the hero of our times – funny and tragic at the same time, led astray by various, sometimes populist, forces.

dir. Etgar Keret

6′anim2021

dir. Michał Toczek

19′fab2022

Sometimes we get beguiled the most by simple unassuming stories, little gestures and timid words. A man and a woman meet on a film set. Filip is a middle-aged man and Łucja is a woman who runs a café and is renovating her flat. Together, they are playing a dead couple.

dir. Gerhard Funk

9′anim2022

The plot starts out perfectly normal: a boy eats breakfast and goes to school. When the kid returns home and smashes the sky into a million glass pieces using a goat’s milk, we already know that nothing will be predictable from now on. This surreal, twisted animation takes us on a psychedelic journey through the author’s imagination.

dir. Jindřich Andrš

91′dok2020

The eponymous New Shift is a programme supporting employees of mines in liquidation. Tomáš is 44. He has 3 children, lives alone, supports the Baník football club from Ostrava and likes beer. He worked over half of his life underground and can use Excel. Therefore, he signs up for a 4-month programming course.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

14′dok1958

A lot of believers attend the celebration of the Mystery of the Lord's Passion in the sanctuary of the Bernardines in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, known as the Polish Jerusalem. The filmmakers managed to capture the moment of ecstasy of the pilgrims and the social phenomenon of the celebration.

dir. Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili

92′dok2019

In a Georgian village hidden in the forest-covered mountains, time has come to a halt and modernity has only rarely made a stop at the tiny railway station. Can such a place unexpectedly become the centre of a new world because of the eponymous tunnel?

dir. Thelyia Petraki

25′fab2020

Greece 1986-1987, a little before the fall of State Socialism and just at the end of the Cold War. In front of Anthi’s eyes the country is changing, the world is changing and with them Christos seems to be changing too.

dir. Alexander Niakaris Irvine-Cox

102′dok2022

This film is like a top-quality Scandinavian crime story set in the landscapes of the Far North. Despite reports about acts of paedophilia in the Norwegian town of Tysfjord for many years, it was not until a thorough journalistic investigation that the enormous scale of the crime and its racist context was revealed.

dir. Damian Kocur

26′fab2020

Black and white photographs, amateurs in leading parts and the small realism of Poland’s provinces. Paweł is a single man who works on a small river ferry. Day by day he keeps doing the same things until he meets Mohammad, an illegal immigrant. Paweł decides to help him. Finally, there is someone he can talk to.

dir. Lena Karbe

81′dok2022

Black Mambas is the first such all-female unit protecting rhinos and other animals from poachers in South Africa. The fearless rangers are tasked with patrolling the edges of the Kruger National Park day and night.

dir. Edyta Adamczak

10′anim2022

dir. Taras Tomenko

80′dok2022

dir. Artur Wierzbicki

63′dok2022

The Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) in Warsaw is a tourist attraction for some, a place of individual and collective manifestations of opinions or skills for others or just a workplace for yet another group. Artur Wierzbicki’s camera captures changing seasons, clothes and moods of the street, national victories and personal dramas.

dir. Artur Wierzbicki

63′dok2022

The Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) in Warsaw is a tourist attraction for some, a place of individual and collective manifestations of opinions or skills for others or just a workplace for yet another group. Artur Wierzbicki’s camera captures changing seasons, clothes and moods of the street, national victories and personal dramas.

dir. Bogna Kowalczyk

70′dok2022

Lulla la Polaca is the oldest Polish drag queen, fighting for the right to individual expression. The film shows Lulla’s more private side: the one of a sensitive dreamer treating his presence in front of the camera like another virtuoso performance.

dir. Tara O'Callaghan

15′dok2022

Sinead is a sex worker. It would be easy to pigeonhole her and label her as a bad mother or a slut. Meanwhile, she is a tough woman who has not been spared by life. Difficult, violent relationships, her mother’s alcoholic disease and her death, with four children and several pets to support. She could have given up, but she fought for herself and her loved ones.

dir. Zofia Kowalewska

21′fab2022

dir. Marcus Anthony Thomas‭

21′fab2021

A failed escape reveals the hell of modern slavery. For a group of teenagers, the British street is a sports field, playground and a place of joy where they can spend time together. For the Vietnamese boy watching them from his window, it is an unattainable dream.

dir. Ana Sofia Fonseca

93′dok2022

In the mid-1990s, she became a singer recognized in different parts of the world. In Cape Verde, where she came from, she still enjoys the status of a queen. The films portrays a woman painfully treated by fate and an artist paving the way for other female musicians.

dir. Evgenia Gostrer

18′anim2021

dir. Toby Andris

16′fab2021

An elderly woman, Eliso, lives in desolate Chiatura, a desolate and run-down mining town in Georgia, famous for its manganese extraction. This time her working day will be different from the previous ones. Hearing on the radio that the miners’ strike has ended, she takes her gun and sets off on a private protest. What are the motivations behind this dramatic decision?

dir. Filip Remunda

73′dok2021

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

48′dok1979

Father Franciszek Dźwigoński, a parish priest in Maków Podhalański, is preparing his parishioners for the celebratory crowning of the painting of Our Lady of Maków Podhalański by Pope John Paul II.

dir. Sanne Rovers

66′dok2021

For three years the Dutch National Opera had been preparing the performance of ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ with an international cast until the coronavirus arrived. The film is a recording of the special time when, despite the strict sanitary regime and the pandemic absurdities, the project was brought to a grand finale.

dir. Katarzyna Miechowicz

7′anim2021

dir. Daria Kashcheeva

15′anim2019

In a hospital room, the Daughter recalls a childhood moment when as a little girl she tried to share her experience with an injured bird with her Father.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

40′dok1982

On December 16, 1980, the Fallen Shipyard Workers Monument was unveiled at the second gate of the Gdańsk Shipyard. The director, thanks to Anna Walentynowicz, manages to meet with shipyard workers who participated in those events. They recall the days leading up to the tragic date of December 16, 1970, the massacre and its victims.

dir. Betina Bożek

7′anim2022

dir. Betina Bożek

7′anim2022

dir. Samir Karahoda

15′dok2021

In post-war Kosovo, driven by the ambition of keeping their beloved sport alive, two local players wander from one obscure location to another carrying with them the only possession of the club: their tables.

dir. Anna Petruželová

10′dok2018

We are waiting for a puddle: no rain, cracked soil, withered flowers, grass rustling. The city without puddles, people are putting little plastic bowls with water for animals on their balconies. It’s raining, gladness. Different puddles on different places have different shapes. Puddle: something nonpractical: dirty shoes. Puddles and water pleasure.

dir. Nicolas Keppens

14′anim2021

The Chinese restaurant is empty. The exotic bird’s cage stands wide open. Two friends, Jason and Kevin, see this as an opportunity to catch and sell them. Catching the birds ain’t as simple as it seems.

dir. Wojciech Szumowski

73′dok2021

dir. Pedro Morato

61′dok2021

Paco Mora, a distinguished flamenco dancer and choreographer, gave up his career to take care of his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and fulfil her dream of dancing. We can observe closeness and everyday care that undermine stereotypes about a man’s role in a family.

dir. Jason Loftus

86′dok2022

In March 2002 members of the group Falun Gong, outlawed in China, took control of a state television station. They wanted to express their disapproval of persecution by the communist authorities, but as a result repressions grew only worse. Animating drawings by Daxiong, one of the victims, the film recreates the atmosphere of the events.

dir. Maciej Bochniak

71′dok2017

Thirty years ago, Francis Falceto, a French musicologist, discovered and promoted the phenomenon of Ethiopian music – a unique fusion of traditional music with jazz, soul or rock’n’roll. The film tells the story of a passion for music that survived despite any political or social changes.

dir. Jan Bubeníček, Denisa Grimmová

80′anim2021

dir. Erika Hníková

80′dok2021

Deciding to have this baby, Lenka and Michal knew they wanted to dedicate themselves unconditionally to him. The Kamevéda method, which involves comprehensive physical and intellectual development as well as on-going competition, is a model for them. Their son Miško has no time to get bored. His parents devote every minute of their life to him.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

27′dok1983

A shocking picture of the reality of the Warsaw Ghetto. Typhus, lice and other diseases were nothing compared to the epidemic of hunger that reigned behind its walls. Thanks to archival photographs and recordings, we may see a sample of the nightmare that befell a thousand people.

dir. Arthur Jones

92′dok2020

dir. Daniel Raim

88′dok2022

Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the screening of a famous musical made by Norman Jewison. With the participation of the film creators, the documentary tries to explore the phenomenon of ‘The Fiddler of the Roof’. It presents a variety of contexts related to its development, including literature, film, politics, history and obviously music.

dir. Inés Toharia

119′dok2021

Orson Welles once said, ‘Film has a personality, and that personality is self-destructive. The job of the archivist is to anticipate what the film may do — and prevent it.’ The Spanish director’s documentary portrays attempts of saving even just a fraction of the multitude of stories registered on celluloid film.

dir. Alex Gibney

119′dok2014

dir. Diana Maria Olsson

57′dok2021

dir. Anna Zakrzewska, Łukasz Ronduda

69′dok2022

When at the Venice Biennale in 2019 Roman Stańczak showed an aircraft turned inside out, some saw it as a reference to the Smolensk air crash. Capturing the creation process of ‘Flight’ and presenting his earlier works, the film authors portray the artist who finally ‘rose from the dead’.

dir. Jakub Radej

28′fab2022

A Polish school becomes the arena of events that seem unlikely, albeit not impossible, in Poland. Is a Polish student in the time of globalisation, so much different from a student in America, Asia or another European country? What did Adam plan for a school event attended by Olga Tokarczuk at a prestigious high school?

dir. Simon Plouffe

16′dok2022

dir. Sławek Zalewski

13′anim2021

The town is preparing for an enemy attack but no enemy has arrived yet. The inhabitants, ready for inevitable death, are frustrated by the prolonged state of emergency. However, the culprit for the situation has to be found. A parody of an authoritarian state and the ineptitude of those in power with a bitter reflection on the status of the individual in a clash with the system.

dir. Jaan Stevens

31′dok2021

dir. Igor Ivanko

85′dok2022

In a dacha near Odessa, the film’s director has found old photographic films that belonged to his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, a Ukrainian filmmaker. Using the photos and footage shot by Burlaka throughout several decades, the documentary aims to save his life from oblivion.

dir. Adam Koloman Rybanský

18′fab2017

It's saturday, beautiful summer weather and the tournament begins in a small village. Futnet is played, rump is being roasted and everybody is drinking beer. Monday is still far away so no one has to worry about anything. At least until the moment when gypsy team called Jamaicas appears.

dir. Robin Petré

78′dok2021

Visually sophisticated and poignant, this documentary, or rather poem, honours the silent witnesses of our planet’s past entangled in the network of civilisations of migrants from the primeval ocean. The film is for adult viewers only.

dir. Yuval Shapira

20′fab2021

A group of girls of different ages freeze motionless. They are playing the game of statues. Gila is the eldest in this family of Orthodox Jews, and she is responsible for looking after her younger siblings. It is clear that the teenager would like to get out of her crowded flat.

dir. Bartłomiej Żmuda

77′dok2022

A son, overwhelmed by a religious zeal, embarks upon a crusade to convert his father. The neophyte’s fervour will be put to a test by the unapologetic, sharp-tongued anticlerical.

dir. Bartłomiej Żmuda

77′dok2022

A son, overwhelmed by a religious zeal, embarks upon a crusade to convert his father. The neophyte’s fervour will be put to a test by the unapologetic, sharp-tongued anticlerical.

dir. Adán Aliaga

22′dok2022

‘Pass me a joint’, says Rafa to his mother. The man has been bedridden for over 15 years, which has not stopped him from skydiving, making music or watching pornography. Rafa seems to be doing very well despite his paralysis, but chronic pain is increasingly getting to him.

dir. Pat Collins

105′dok2021

In this hypnotising documentary devoted to Henry Glassie, the director adopts the perspective of the eminent anthropologist, while the viewer unites with the researcher becoming his eyes and ears.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

46′dok1990

San Francisco, Sydney and New Korczyn are three locations with links to the Macugowskis. Józef and Stefania Macugowski saved nine Jews. Modest and meek, they kept silent about their heroism after the end of the war. They were afraid of the reaction of their neighbours.

dir. Daniel Gray

11′anim2020

One, two, three – let’s play hide-and-seek! What if you hid so well that no one would ever find you? One of the brothers comes up with such an idea during a hide-and-seek at home. Closed in a wardrobe, he has been observing the life of his family through a crack in the door for years.

dir. Osi Wald, Noa Berman-Herzberg

17′anim2021

Jennifer is black German with German, Austrian and Nigerian roots. Noa is an Israeli from Tel Aviv. They meet in Paris during a drawing class and quickly become friends. They keep in touch until Jennifer finds out that she is a granddaughter of a Nazi criminal, Amon Goeth.

dir. Sarah Saidan

15′anim2021

dir. Jay Rosenblatt

29′dok2021

dir. Konrad Królikowski

59′dok2022

Three radically different protagonists, with polar opposite political views, try to define their identities against the background of contemporary Poland. Each of them is at the turning point of his or her life.

dir. Marta Pajek

16′anim2021

The third and final part of Marta Pajek’s series shows the protagonist walking through a deserted city. Empty streets stretching endlessly create a labyrinth of figures and geometric shapes. The city absorbs us, frightens and evokes anxiety and only the wrinkles on the characters’ faces remind us that life once flourished here.

dir. Oleksiy Radynsk

70′dok2022

‘Architecture is like music - it must have a rhythm’, says the film’s eponymous character Florian Yuriev, an architect, painter, violin maker and all-round artist. The investors who want to build a shopping mall on the site of his legendary building are of a different opinion.

dir. Eliane Esther Bots

22′dok2021

dir. Christoph Büttner

12′anim2022

dir. Jan Naszewski

23′fab2022

Monika organizes her first workshop in the women's circle formula, but the more she tries, the worse everything turns out.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

12′dok1955

"Watch out! Hooligans!" is a documentary showing the phenomenon of hooliganism among young people from the city. It begins the "blacks series" of Polish documentaries. Such films focus on things that weren’t pictured in films of socialist realism during the last five years.

dir. Hadar Morag

17′dok2021

This is Evie - a cheerful and resolute woman of mature age who even sings merrily while cooking sausages. Theoretically, she does not have many reasons to be happy, as she takes care of her sick mother, Rose. The two women share a deep bond, a sharp tongue, an unusual sense of humour and a similar taste in films.

dir. Tomer Heymann

100′dok2021

Oren has Asperger syndrome and the fact that he is an adopted child makes it difficult for him to adapt. Suddenly, his life changes with the help of the camera, which becomes an extraordinary therapy tool assisting him on a long journey in search of his identity.

dir. Dagmar Smržová

84′dok2019

Jana is 28. She is an outspoken optimist dependent on the assistance of other people. She cannot move, but the world revolves around her. It includes her mother entangled in complicated relationships with men and alcohol, her friend, blind sister, grandma and three sexual assistants.

dir. Janusz Majewski

55′dok2022

A charming, nostalgic story, that will take you back to a jazz club in the mid-20th century. You will meet Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak, Wojciech Karolak and Zbigniew Namysłowski there. You will have a drink with Miles Davis, learn which Polish musician was popular with the German military and listen to a performance by Sonia Bohosiewicz.

dir. Kacper Lisowski

87′dok2021

One of the most important documentaries of recent years. It presents a crisis of democracy and the people who rebelled against the destruction of the independent judiciary. The protagonists are steadfast judges, with Igor Tuleya among them. We can see them at work, in political fervour, as well as in their private lives.

dir. Lucie Králová

91′dok2022

The biography of this Czechoslovak composer could not be recounted in a good old-fashioned way. Sung by a contemporary choir, it shows off the musical legacy left by Jan Kapr and his abundant private archives. Employing comic means, the film presents the artist navigating his life in a destitute time.

dir. Anna Oliker

60′dok2021

Drug-addicted American teenagers from a Jewish community end up in a rehab centre in Jerusalem. Under the care of charismatic leader Eric, they use their last chance to win with the addiction.

dir. Edris Abdi, Awara Omer

16′dok2021

dir. Bård Kjøge Rønning, Fabien Greenberg

53′dok2021

His childhood in archival photos and films looks like great Greek holidays with Leonard Cohen, a partner of Axel’s mother, at his side. How did it happen that this sweet, fair-haired boy, went on to spend a big part of his life in psychiatric hospitals?

dir. John C. Alexander

60′dok2021

She was a child who did not exist. A few years ago, Sharon Preston-Folta announced it to the world that she is the biological daughter of the musical genius Louis Armstrong. Almost no one knew about her existence because the famous jazzman was considered to be childless.

dir. Baggio Jiang

22′fab2021

On a warm evening, a young girl gets into an Uber where the driver informs her that he will be live-streaming during the ride. She does not mind as long as she is not within the range of his phone’s camera. Will the driver treat his passenger fairly?

dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen

13′anim2021

dir. Britt Raes

13′anim2022

dir. Raúl de la Fuente Calle, Amaia Ramirez

27′dok2022

Let yourself be seduced by the timbre of his voice and his extraordinary personality, which defies all categorisation. A beautiful image of a free, talented person who, despite people’s prejudices, is able to look at the world with great kindness and understanding.

dir. Mika Kaurismäki

90′dok2011

dir. Adam Ziajski

25′fab2021

Full of irony and sometimes grotesque, the film is a bravado commentary on the social and political reality. The protagonist is a lonely middle-aged man. He has just moved into a claustrophobic flat and voilà... the world ends.

dir. Petr Oukropec

80′fab2021

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

38′dok1985

An insightful and poignant recording of a mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Warsaw for the intention of the homeland celebrated for the first time without Father Jerzy Popiełuszko.

dir. Jack Gray

4′anim2022

An alarm clock goes off. You get up, open the window, feed the hamster, water the plant, go to work and so on and so forth. Your neighbours, their neighbours and the entire city do the same. In a playful way, Menagerie shows that our lives consist of the same actions repeated over and over again. It is Rybczyński’s Tango set in the world of The Simpsons

dir. Siddhant Sarin, Debankon Solanky

73′dok2021

‘If you don’t love me, I will destroy your face’. Such comments can be found by young Indian women on their social media. It is not uncommon that actions follows threats, which is a well-known fact for the protagonists of the documentary who were mutilated with acid.

dir. Karolina Karwan, Tomasz Ratter

30′dok2022

Crystal clear water, almost empty beaches and tall palm trees. This postcard image of the Indonesian island is occasionally disturbed by torrential rains, which its isolated inhabitants have to deal with. Poverty and loneliness also afflict Mudi and his elderly mother. The only escape from the mundane life turns out to be dancing.

dir. Dmytro Hreshko

70′dok2021

An ambulance crew visits hard-to-reach villages in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The camera captures fairy-tale mountain landscapes, neglected roads and ever-falling snow. Just like centuries ago, locals meet for weddings, funerals and Sunday service, which Dmytra Hreshko captures with a truly ethnographic flair.

dir. Władysław Jurków

56′dok2022

Jan Brzechwa fell in love with a hairdresser’s wife, but due to his Jewish roots and the wartime conditions, his feelings were put to the test. Not able to pursue his love affair, he lived in solitude, which gave rise to timeless literature. The director employs archival photos, numerous contributions of experts and fictionalised scenes to create a colourful documentary – a fairy tale about a poet in love.

dir. Sergei Loznitsa

248′dok2021

In March 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare independence, which resulted in economic sanctions and military aggression from the collapsing empire. The film is a detailed chronicle of these events, in which head of the state Vytautas Landsbergis played an instrumental role. Without him, history could have turned out very differently.

dir. Anna Sałacińska, Klementyna Margolis

8′anim2022

dir. David Semler

15′fab2020

Danny, a Czech student, and his Spanish boyfriend go on a trip to the Czech countryside. At the railway station they meet a couple of locals who do not know Danny understands them, so they start to make sarcastic comments.

dir. Karina Będkowska

58′dok2022

For a lonely protagonist, her journey from London to Ozerna, a small village in Ukraine, where she is to meet her relative, unexpectedly becomes the beginning of her way to recover and achieve closeness with another human being.

dir. Olga Lucovnicova

20′dok2021

A starting point for the shocking self-documentary by Olga Lucovnicova is her homecoming to Moldova. The house is filled with memories, yet everyone around her seems to idealise the past which hides a trauma.

dir. María Alvarez

81′dok2021

Isabel and Amelia Cavallini, twins from Buenos Aires, are 91 years old and have devoted their entire lives to music. The Steinway grand piano occupies a central place in their cluttered flat. The beautiful and talented sisters once made an exceptional duet. Today, doomed to each other’s company, they reminisce about their past successes.

dir. Marilyn Cooke

16′fab2022

The family will either accept the scandal or give their daughter in marriage to the man who raped her. Resolving the matter through the courts means a well-deserved prison sentence for the criminal, but it also dishonours the family of the victim. So provides the tradition. And what about the voice of the woman herself?

dir. Nikolay Stefanov

85′dok2022

Pernik in Bulgaria is considered to be the breeding ground for a radical football fan subculture. The director’s hometown was famous for its mining industry under communism. Now, it is past its prime, which gives rise to high levels of frustration and aggression. The film captures the lives of the protagonists without prejudice, leaving the judgement to the viewer.

dir. Jan Gębski

10′dok2022

Jan Gębski’s camera carefully observes how one of the last remaining heroes of the Warsaw Uprising struggles with the reality. The elderly woman's closest companion is her cat. Even though the person and the cat do not speak, minute gestures reveal the depth of their connection and everyday rituals become imbued with new meanings.

dir. Eliza Godlewska, Alan Ruczyński

27′fab2022

A well-balanced narrative with a social streak. Roma, who is 50 years old, has found herself at a turning point in her life. She chose freedom, which means an independent life without her husband. But she will no longer have a roof over her head. The money she can make on temporary jobs is not enough to rent her own place. How to escape from such a reality?

dir. Maria Pincikova

75′dok2020

Every six years in Prague, there is a big get-together of Sokół gymnastic societies. Out of thousands of participants, the director selected two very Forman-esque characters - Mirek, a coach, and Radek, a gymnast - to tell a story about timeless values related to the membership in Sokół societies.

dir. Piotr Szczepański

69′dok2022

In a stylish townhouse renovated by the city, carefully selected tenants were supposed to form a truly multigenerational community. Now none of them is willing to cooperate, while mutual accusations, denunciations and insults arise instead. The micro-community, divided just like Poland before the elections, plunges into a conflict.

dir. Piotr Szczepański

69′dok2022

In a stylish townhouse renovated by the city, carefully selected tenants were supposed to form a truly multigenerational community. Now none of them is willing to cooperate, while mutual accusations, denunciations and insults arise instead. The micro-community, divided just like Poland before the elections, plunges into a conflict.

dir. Jonas Mekas

68′dok2012

In this film, the American avant-garde guru takes a journey after 60 years of creative work. The private chronicle from the second half of the 20th century reflects Mekas’ artistic attitude which, as he stated in one of his interviews, always relies on searching for the intensity of the moment that which is important in the incidental and inconspicuous.

dir. Pim Zwier

80′dok2021

Science may be a kind of organised madness. Entire fields of knowledge owe their existence to obsessed scientists, such as Max Schönwetter from Germany. His collection of almost 20 thousand bird eggs is invaluable for Oology.

dir. Sergio Tréfaut

85′dok2021

For a long time, in the gardens of the former Presidential Palace in Rio de Janeiro, older people have been meeting at dusk to sing love songs, accompanied by instruments. But this beautiful world will soon be gone, as the coronavirus pandemic breaks out.

dir. Mehdi Imani Shahmiri

24′dok2021

dir. Rishi Chandna

20′dok2021

dir. Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová

77′dok2021

Six Czech men leave their favourite pub in Jihlava and go fishing to Norway. For some of them, it is the first time, while others are veterans of such expeditions. They dream about catching the halibut. They are looking forward to a male adventure. Can anything go wrong in this documentary comedy about the individualities of Czech fishing?

dir. Claire Doyon

88′dok2021

For eighteen years, director Claire Doyon accompanied her daughter, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, with her camera. It is an extraordinary film diary documenting the story of life before and after the diagnosis and the unique relationship between the mother and the daughter.

dir. Michał Edelman

17′fab2022

Karol, a cameraman, takes his girlfriend Emilka and her dog Pucci to a provocative artistic performance which is an expression of objection to the police brutality. Soon, things get out of hand and the young couple’s idealism and relationship are put to the serious test.

dir. Eva Dzhyshyashvili

75′dok2021

A simple rural life in a village lost among forests acquires an almost magical character in the lens of the filmmakers. But life in the Ukrainian countryside is not a fairy tale - the echoes of the war, like a menacing memento, reappear in in children’s questions and faded photographs from long ago.

dir. Lun Sevnik

22′fab2019

Boris and Hugo, 16 years old friends bought a gun. They set up livestream video on the internet and announce that in in one hour they will commit suicide. If Boris is sure about decision, Hugo still have some doubt. During the final moments of their life, sadism, homoeroticism and desire to destroy are released.

dir. Luke Griswold-Tergis

100′dok2022

There are many documentaries about the boundary between genius and madness, but this one is definitely among the funniest of them. Luke Tergis follows a bravado attempt to restart the primeval ecosystem of remote Siberia, a return to the state recorded in the fossils of Pleistocene.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

12′dok1960

Zakopane is the winter capital of Poland, where Marszałkowska Street smoothly changes into Krupówki. Hitchhiking, views from Gubałówka, mountaineering – all of them, from a male perspective, could be an opportunity to meet a beautiful woman.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

48′dok1986

This most ‘iconographic’ documentary of Jarmo Jääskeläinen is a story based on nearly two hundred photographs taken secretly in several internment camps between May and October 1982.

dir. Eva Neymann

72′dok2021

A picturesque slice of life at one of the oldest and largest markets in Europe. The crowded stalls offer product tastings, price negotiations and reflections on the universe and the sense of life. There is something for everyone.

dir. Gabriel Böhmer

13′anim2020

Bartholomew Whisper went to the doctor today. There he met administrators keen on experimental surgery, and lonely MRI machines. At least the growing hole in his head was becoming quite beautiful. Selected at Riga International Film Festival

dir. Lee Yong Chao

79′dok2021

The rain does not stop. The water pours into the houses and covers the floors, while the inhabitants become accustomed to its presence. Submerged up to their knees, they cook, pray and look after their children.

dir. Jan Sikl

100′dok2021

Thanks to archival footage unknown so far the year 1968 in Czechoslovakia is more than history. Many years later, ghostlike images and lip-read words gain new power and make it possible to show the Warsaw Pact invasion from the perspective of ordinary people.

dir. Matthew McGuigan

13′fab2021

dir. Nele Dehnenkamp

16′dok2020

dir. Nash Edgerton

14′fab2021

dir. Gilad Inbar

56′dok2021

Born in Morocco, this Israeli singer and drummer treats his music like a prayer. At the same time, it is a social message drawing attention to the situation of Mizrahi Jews. Shlomo Bar’s art is the space where the East meets the West.

dir. Natalia Koryncka-Gruz

97′dok2021

Larger than life and ahead of her time, Simona Kossak was an eminent biologist and ecologist who pursued her passion throughout her lifetime. On the basis of reminiscences and abundant archival materials, a portrayal of this remarkable woman was created.

dir. Manu Luksch

43′dok2022

This harrowing story of Artur Ligęski, a Polish businessman and personal trainer illegally sentenced to life imprisonment in Abu Dhabi, was outlined with minimalist means. It is a film about loneliness, the strength of spirit and an indomitable will to live, which helped the protagonist to survive in hell.

dir. Rita Baghdadi

78′dok2022

Their music throws down the gauntlet to the Middle Eastern stereotypes related to creativity, gender and sexual orientation. ‘Slave to Sirens’ is the first metal band in this part of the world which is entirely made of women. The director captures up close their musical struggles and emotional perturbations.

dir. Michael Bohnenstingl

18′anim2022

dir. Kijek/Adamski

11′anim2021

dir. Galina D. Georgieva

26′fab2021

A surprising eco-post-apocalypse in pastel colours and to the rhythm of a retro tune. In the devastated and sad world, Eva sees no future for herself. She decides to commit government-assisted suicide. In these hopeless circumstances, however, there is a sliver of hope - snowdrops that love music.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

16′dok1957

"Sopot 1957" pictures vacationers at different times of the day, in most frequented Sopot places during the summer: on the beach, pier, promenade, in cafes, holiday homes, beauty salons, on the dance floor at the Grand Hotel. Combined with a commentary by Stefania Grodzieńska, read by Jerzy Wasowski, the scenes take on a humorous, kindly ironic approach.

dir. Laure Portier

78′dok2021

In this intimate portrait, the director follows her younger brother across several countries as he tries to find his place in society. To achieve the freedom he craves the man is ready to make substantial sacrifices.

dir. Barbora Bereznakova

7′dok2022

Is it a dream or reality, the past or the present, the sacred or the profane? This is one of the most mysterious documentaries of the short film competition. A black and white, whispered by a child, poetic film. An oneiric story about the disappearing world of a small Ruthenian community living in Slovakia.

dir. Ohad Milstein

53′dok2021

An oneiric story about fathers and sons. Alva is 6 years old. He is a curious boy, about to start school. Just before sleep, when the lights fade, he and his father are transported to the land of whispers.

dir. Nora Štrbová

8′anim2020

The film explores memory as a container of our identity. It's based on the personal story of the author and her brother who got a brain tumor diagnosis.

dir. Maciej Miller

22′dok2022

Magda never met her parents. As an adult, she finally decides to look for them. The filmmakers accompany the protagonist in her painstaking search but every attempt to uncover the truth crashes against the wall.

dir. Léahn Vivier-Chapas

14′anim2021

dir. Zofia Strzelecka

6′anim2022

dir. Denis Dobrovoda

87′dok2022

An idealist driven by his faith for some and a madman full of sinful pride for others, Justo Gallego started erecting a huge cathedral 60 years ago. He invested his own funds and built it almost entirely with his own hands. But what will happen to it after the builder’s death?

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

10′dok1956

One of several films by the Hoffman-Skorzewski duo made as a part of the "black series" of Polish documentaries. It shows social problems hidden from viewers until the mid-1950s. The problems were masked with typical productions of socialist realism. The effects of alcoholism are the theme of the film. Unfortunately, children become innocent victims of that addiction.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

51′dok1977

The film presents the events surrounding the tragic death of Stanisław Pyjas, a student from Krakow. The director tries to explain the circumstances of the incident.

dir. Marjan Khosravi

25′dok2021

In a mountainous but extremely green landscape goats jump over the rocks and laughing children run after them. In this paradise on earth, nomadic families have found their temporary home. From one of these families comes a teenage girl, Shahnaz. The girl should be getting married soon, but her thoughts are focused on the world of literature.

dir. Stefan Eberlein

92′dok2021

In this brilliantly directed and documented story of a man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, agents, terrorists and secret CIA prisons play the main part alongside chance. The filmmakers have exposed operation mechanisms of the secret service showing how easy it is to lose sight of human rights in a conflict situation.

dir. Tomasz Wolski

26′fab2022

In subtle semi-darkness, somewhere in the provinces, a drama between tenderness and enmity, understatement and the absence of acceptance unravels. Since his father’s death Michał has been running a small stud farm on his own. But he is visited by a guest who destroys the fence at night. Are these wild bores or the wind? Neither can walk with torches.

dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski

85′dok2022

‘To be or not to be’ – these words take on new meanings in wartime conditions. A few months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a group of young people prepare a play in which Shakespeare will voice their own doubts, fears and dreams. Life, theatre and cinema blend into one for a moment turning into a thrilling psychodrama.

dir. Aneil Karia

12′fab2020

Riz Ahmed delivers a standout performance in this overwhelming and explosive experience which places us in the frontline as witnesses to the extreme consequences of what hate speech and racism can ultimately lead to. A visually arresting, rhythmically powerful and thought-provoking slice of dystopia.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman

8′dok1966

A beautiful, ethnographic documentary that shows traders of small goods at fairs. Traders advertise their goods in such a way, that professional artists would envy them. They do it in a humorous, creative manner.

dir. Lorin Terezi

15′fab2020

A newly married woman lives with her in-laws while her husband works in the neighboring country, Greece. One day he discovers a corpse and the whole small town faces in a battle to get coverage on national television.

dir. Tadeusz Chudy

52′dok2022

A story of a remarkable relationship between troublesome dogs from a shelter and inmates who take care of them. The prisoners are supposed to train the dogs so that they are fit for adoption. The stakes are high because if they fail, the dogs will be put down.

dir. Łukasz Kowalski

81′dok2022

Grey streets, poor district and a pair of colourful birds in the midst. Jola and Wiesiek have been running one of the biggest pawnshops in Europe for years. The business, so prosperous in the past, is now in decline. Can the increasingly conflicted couple avoid bankruptcy?

dir. Grete Suarez

18′fab2021

dir. Marcin Lesisz

30′dok2022

A touching, warm and painfully accurate portrait of a person with mental disability. Animation brings Ewa’s drawings to life and helps us to see the world though her eyes. We may realise what kind of problems she faces and notice the person, not the illness; the person who has the right to be who she wants to be.

dir. Mirjam von Arx

93′dok2021

Mirjam von Arx takes viewers upon a journey to the heart of fear – the underlying cause of all fears. She combines the subjective and objective order to look for answers to the question about what drives human behaviour: humans or their fears?

dir. Mohammed Ateeq

15′fab2021

The family will either accept the scandal or give their daughter in marriage to the man who raped her. Resolving the matter through the courts means a well-deserved prison sentence for the criminal, but it also dishonours the family of the victim. So provides the tradition. And what about the voice of the woman herself?

dir. Judyta Fibiger

60′dok2022

dir. Alison Kuhn

30′fab2022

A prestigious boarding school, the anxieties of adolescence, competition and a teenager who refuses to be a victim. At the Sankt Severin school, even more problems are hiding under the surface and the game of appearances keeps going on. This non-obvious film was inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s short story ‘Die Turnstunde’.

dir. Dominika Montean-Pańków

73′dok2022

dir. Julia Orlik

8′anim2022

dir. Ülo Pikkov

14′anim2022

The Estonian island of Ruhnu is less than 12 km2 in size. During World War II, all the inhabitants had to evacuate for fear of an attack. Now, some of them are returning to the island to find fragments of their former lives in the scraps of nature, small objects and surviving houses.

dir. Laura Sistero

70′dok2022

Bojewaja Klassika is a group of young people who practice illegal drifting. They drift in old cars, Ladas, which once made their hometown of Tolyatti famous. We can see another lost generation of Russians in the city in ruins.

dir. Lin Po-Yu

25′fab2021

Every day a single mother takes the hardest test of love. Taking care of a disabled son is a challenge for her heart and her head, but above all for her fragile body. When the boy becomes a man and the woman grows old, both need to face the most painful decision of their journey together.

dir. Jerzy Hoffman, Edward Skórzewski

16′dok1960

This documentary is focused on Stolica Boża i Barankowa, a Polish religious movement. The members had their own interpretation of the Bible, they also supported the socialist system.

dir. Jarmo Jääskeläinen

48′dok1987

What happened there is impossible to believe. Archival photographs and, above all, a conversation with a witness and participant of those events, Marek Edelman, help us to understand it. This remarkable and modest man patiently answers the director’s questions, reconstructing the image of a terrifying, borderland place.

dir. Artur Wyrzykowski

22′fab2022

When your life plans fall apart and everything goes wrong, the best way is to escape, wrap yourself in a few layers of clothing and hide under a blanket. Or maybe it is not? Maybe you need an unburial, a mysterious ritual organized for his adult daughter Berka by her concerned father?

dir. Joe Berlinger

101′dok2012

dir. Karolina Porcari

28′fab2022

Amelia feels that her marriage of almost 30 years lacks passion. Her husband is more fascinated by armour and reconstructions of medieval battles than by her body. One day, tired of her daily routine, she finds a pink parcel at the door of her flat with the contents that will change her life.

dir. Mina Petrović

52′dok2020

dir. Simon Target

29′dok2022

dir. Verica Pospíšilová Kordić

12′anim2019

Sylvie´s life beats in a rhythm of responsibilities. And she is efficient, flawless, wonderful and - tired. A small accident happens and everything changes... or maybe not.

dir. Tymoteusz Kałużewski

21′dok2022

Adam does not say much. He comes alive at the shooting range and at the Equality March, proudly holding a blue, pink and white flag. He knows who he really is and will do anything to finally be able to feel truly himself.

dir. Julie Engaas

9′anim2022

Imagine a world from which human beings have suddenly disappeared. The wind rumbles in deserted cafes and empty shopping malls are haunted by creaking staircases. Unexpectedly, vegetation starts to come to life planting a seed of hope in this apocalyptic vision of the world.

dir. Kier-La Janisse

194′dok2021

dir. Sebastian Mihăilescu

101′dok2021

dir. Michał Bolland

70′dok2022

A legendary Polish driver returns to take part in one of the most difficult car races in the world. Will Sobiesław Zasada win the next car race at 91?

dir. Robert Kaczmarek

80′dok2021

He died just before his 33rd birthday, at the top of his musical abilities and the start of his international career. An inspiring person, he left a mark in many people’s lives. The Krakow-born virtuoso is now remembered by both his family members and jazz stars.

dir. Robert Kaczmarek

80′dok2022

He died just before his 33rd birthday, at the top of his musical abilities and the start of his international career. An inspiring person, he left a mark in many people’s lives. The Krakow-born virtuoso is now remembered by both his family members and jazz stars.

dir. Jonatan Schwenk

4′anim2021