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ASHES AND DIAMONDS  1958  105 min.  (VHS) 

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Adam Pawlikowski, Waclaw Zastrzezynski
Ashes and Diamonds illustrates the conflict of idealism and instinct in this story of a young resistance fighter who assassinates the wrong man at the close of World War II. 

AUSTERIA  1982  110 min.  (VHS) 

Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Wojciech Pszoniak, Ewa Domanska

On the First day of World War I, a group of Jews flee from the Cossack army in Polish Galicia and find themselves trapped overnight in a border inn.  Relationships develop, love affairs are snatched, the religious pray.

THE BIRCH WOOD  1971  100 min.  (VHS)
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Daniel Olbrychski; Olgierd Lukaszewicz; Emilia Krakowska
Based on a story by Jaroslav Iwaszkiewicz, who wrote the screenplay. Cheerful Stanislaw, gravely affected with tuberculosis arrives at his brother's cottage.  The relationship between the brothers is explored.

BORDER STREET  1948  110 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Alexander Ford
Originally titled Ulica Graniczna, this film is a recreation of the doomed Warsaw Ghetto uprising.  It was a prize winner at the Venice Film Festival in 1948.

CAREER OF NIKOS DYZMA  2002  105 min.  (DVD)

Director:  Jacek Bromski

Cast:  Cezary Pazura; Anna Przybylska; Andrzej Grabowski; Ewa Kasprzyk

An incident that appears to be of no significance becomes the turning point in the career of Nikodem Dyzma, a funeral eulogist.  When he embarrasses the hated Vice Prime Minister, his life changes dramatically as he shoots up the political ladder and becomes a favored hero amongst the politicians and their jaded wives.

COLONEL WOLODYJOWSKI  1969  160 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Jerzy Hoffman
Cast: Tadeusz Lomnicki; Magdalena Zawadzka; BarbaraBrylska; Daniel Olbrychski
Two knights engaged in the defense of the eastern borderland of Poland against Turkish attacks in 1668 vow that they will fight to the last drop of their blood.

CROWS  1994  66 min.  (VHS) 

Director:  Dorota Kedzierzawska

Cast:  Karolina Ostronzna; Kasia Szczepanik; Malgorzata Hajewska

A hauntingly beautiful story of loss, redemption and hope, Crows is a bittersweet modern fairy tale about an alienated and adventurous nine-year-old girl's search for purity.

THE DOLL  1969  159 min.  (VHS)   
Director: Wojciech J. Has
Cast: B. Tyszkiewicz; M. Dmochowski; T. Fijewski and others
Based on the novel by Boleslaw Prus, a nostalgic story of great love and of the tragedy of unfulfilled desires and plans, a counterpart to Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.  (note: subtitles tend to run off the screen.)

EROICA  1957  83 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Andrej Munk
Cast: Edward Dziewonski, Kazimierz Opalinski, Leon Niemczyk
One of the key works of post-war Polish cinema, the film looks at the Warsaw uprising through the eyes of a drunken black marketeer.  In the second "movement," Polish prisoners in a German camp fanatically believe in the heroism of their comrade, which turns out to be a farce.

A GENERATION  1954  85 min.  (VHS) 

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Taeusz Lomnicki, Urszula Modrzynska, Taduesz Janczar, Roman Polanski
Wajda's first feature takes place in 1942 occupied Warsaw, and follows the pursuits of a young man whose life is hardened under the Nazis. When he falls in love with the leader of the Resistance group, he learns to fight back. 

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS  1973  142 min.  (VHS)
Director: Wladyslaw Slesicki
Cast: T. Medrak, M. Rosca, S. Jasiukiewicz, E. Fetting
The children kidnapped by Mahdi's followers from Khartoum escaped somewhere in the upper Nile.  A story of adventure, courage, and friendship.

JANOSIK  1974  132 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Jerzy Passendorfer
Cast: M. Perepeczko; E. Lemnska; B. Bilewski; W. Pyrkosz
The main character is a legendary hero of the Tatra Mountains who robs the rich and helps the poor.  An action film.

KANAL  1957  96 min.  (VHS) 

Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Terisa Izewska, Taduesz Janczar, Wienczyslaw Glinski, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski
Part of the famous Andrzej Wajda trilogy that included A Generation and Ashes and Diamonds. The almost hallucinatory portrait of a group of Polish citizens and patriots who attempt to flee the Nazis through the
sewer system of a war-devastated Warsaw. 

KORCZAK  1990  118 min.  (VHS)

Director: Andrzej Wajda

Cast: Wojtek Pszoniak, Ewa Dalkowska

The true story of Janusz Korczak, a renowned physician and author who ran a home for Jewish orphans in 1930's Warsaw.

LOUDER THAN BOMBS  2001  92 min.  (DVD)

Director: Przemyslaw Wojcieszek

Cast: Sylwia Juszczak, Rafal Mackowiak, Grazyna Krukowna

After the death of his father Marcin must contend with the funeral arrangements while hosting his out-of town relatives who disparage his small town life as a mechanic. In addition, Marcin's longtime girlfriend has decided to leave Poland for the U. S. Left alone, Marcin is forced to decide where his life is going.

MAN OF MARBLE  1976  160 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radzilowics
Hailed as "a milestone in Polish cinema" by Variety, Man of Marble is the story of a young filmmaker trying to reconstruct a truthful picture of the Stalinist past, a past obscured by 20 years of shifting propaganda. 

MAN/WOMAN WANTED  1974  89 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Stanislaw Bareja
Cast: W. Pokora; M. Czechowicz; W. Golas; M. Chwalibóg; J. Dobrowolski
A light-hearted comedy characteristic of films based on a mistaken sexual identity.

NIGHTS AND DAYS  1975  Part 1: 130 min,  Part 2: 124 min.  (VHS)  

Director: Jerzy Antczak

Cast: Jadwiga Baranska, Jerzy Binczycki, Barbara Ludwizanka, Jerzy Kamas

The trials and tribulations of a Polish noble family after the failure of the "January Uprising" in the second half of the 19th Century. 

NO END  1984  104 min.  (VHS)   
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Cast: Grazyna Szapolowska, Jerzy Radziwlowicz, Aleksander Bardini
The film's hero, a young liberal lawyer, dies four days before the film begins, leaving the case of a worker arrested for organizing a strike unresolved.  His widow gets involved in the trial while trying to overcome her husband's death, but there seems to be no end to his pervasive influence.  Kieslowski's film paints a compelling portrait of life under martial law in Poland.

THE WEDDING  1982  103 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: E. Zietek; D. Olbrychski; A. Lapicki; W. Pszoniak; M. Walczewski
Based on the 1903 play by Stanislaw Wyspianski about the wedding of a peasant's daughter to a poet.

WITH FIRE AND SWORD  1999,  Part 1: 104 min.  Part 2:  101 min.  (DVD)

Director: Jerzy Hoffman

Cast: Izabella Scorupco, Michal Zebrowski, Aleksander Domogarov

At the time of its release, this lavish historical epic was the most expensive Polish film ever made.  Based on a novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, the film is set in Poland during political and social turmoil of the 17th century.  Cossacks are waiting to strike Poland on the Eastern border that neighbors Ukraine, the nearby Tartars and Turks are waiting for the opportunity to attack Europe, and the Polish ruling class is busy feuding among themselves.

YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN  1984  106 min.  (VHS)
Director: Krzysztof Zanussi
Cast:  Scott Wilson; Maja Komorowska; HannaSjarzanka
The story of a Polish widow after World War II who meets an American soldier involved in a war crimes investigation. Although they can communicate only through gesture, they find much to share.

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FILMS WITHOUT SUBTITLES:

ASHES (POPIOLY)  1965  Part 1: 100 min.  Part 2: 100 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Andrzej Wajda 
Cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Boguslaw Kierc, Piotr Wysocki 
An adaptation of a novel by Stefan Zeromski.  This film is an historical epic that portrays the fate of three heroes and the tragedy of the Polish nation fighting for freedom during the Napoleonic Wars.  In 2 cassettes. 

THE COMEDIENNE (KOMEDIANTKA)   120 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Jerzy Sztwiertnia
Cast: M. Pieczynska; B. Tyszkiewicz; K. Figura and others
An abridged version of the highly popular TV series based on a novel by Wladyslaw St. Reymont.  Set in the late 19th century, the series tells the story of a beautiful provincial girl who is both resolute and ambitious.

THE DELUGE (POTOP)  1973  185 min.  (VHS)
Director: Jerzy Hoffman 
Cast: Daniel Olbrychski, Malgorzata Braunek, Tadeusz Lomnicki 
In 3 cassettes. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1974.  Set in the turbulent period of the Polish-Sweden war in the 17th century, this film tells the love story of Andrzej Kmicic for a young gentlewoman named Olenka.  Based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

GIRLS OF NOWOLIPKI (DZIEWCZETA Z NOWOLIPEK)  1985   94 min.  (VHS)
Director: Barbara Sass
Cast: M. Ciunelis; I. Drobotowicz; E. Kasprzyk; M. Klubowicz
A faithful adaptation of the first part of a popular cycle of two novels by Pola Gojawiczynska, it paints vivid portraits of four young women from a poor Warsaw district shortly before the outbreak of World War I.

A PRAYER  1973  120 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has 
Cast: Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Irena Orska, Gustaw Holoubek 
An adaptation of Bruno Schulz's novel, this film is a surrealistic tale about the inevitability of death.  While visiting the sanatorium where his father died, the hero imagines himself back in the town of his youth and somehow plunges into the past trying to restore that world and life. 

THE SANDGLASS (SANATORIUM POD KLEPSYDRA)  1973  120 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Wojciech Jerzy Has 
Cast: Jan Nowicki, Tadeusz Kondrat, Irena Orska, Gustaw Holoubek 
An adaptation of Bruno Schulz's novel, this film is a surrealistic tale about the inevitability of death.  While visiting the sanatorium where his father died, the hero imagines himself back in the town of his youth and somehow plunges into the past trying to restore that world and life.

FILMS IN ENGLISH:

MOONLIGHTING  1982  106 min.  (VHS)
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

Cast: Jeremy Irons
Four Polish workmen are trapped in England, working illegally after the imposition of martial law in Poland. Winner of Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival.  Produced in Great Britain.

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