Henryk Bista

King Ubu (2004)

A grotesque Shakespearean tale of Ubu who comes to power in a bloody way. When his absurd reforms fail and the treasury gets empty, Ubu and his flatterers start implementing terror across the country. ...

Sztos (1997)

Two friends recall the PRL. After serving time in jail, they took up an illegal currency exchange. Cheated by partner - they decide to take revenge. Preparations take many months, but the action ends differently than it was planned. ...

Love Me and Do Whatever You Want (1997)

Sławek Wiśnik, a young, ambitious musician and graduate of the conservatory's organ class, wants to escape from Kaliszewo, a small town near Suwałki, and pursue a career in music. Unfortunately, he does not receive the expected scholarship to study in H ...

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1997)

A television staging of the 1941 Brecht play, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. ...

Aquarium (1996)

Film based on the book of Viktor Suvorov, a former Soviet military intelligence officer. The story of the strange friendship between the two GRU officers. That relationship began in the Soviet military range where daring young officer Witek action drew the ...

Czapa, czyli śmierć na raty (1996)

Two death row prisoners willingly confess to more murders to delay their execution. A TV adaptation of Janusz Krasiński's play. ...

Nothing Funny (1996)

One day, hospital orderlies, watching corpse in the morgue, recognize film director. Man, even though he died, he begins to remember his life. He made a career making movies, had numerous mistresses, but never realized their dreams. His life was interspers ...

Doctor Semmelweis (1995)

The story of famous Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis. ...

Les Milles (1995)

In the beginning of the Second World War, Germans, Austrians and persons without nationality living in France are sent to the concentration camp of Les Milles by France government. Commander Charles Perrochon is the responsible for this camp and he promise ...

Provocateur (1995)

Warsaw, 1909. Arthur Herling makes an assassination attempt on a Russian police official and his family. During the action, the officer's daughter is killed and his wife is maimed. The wounded militant is arrested. Tormented by remorse, Herling agrees to c ...

Polish Death (1995)

Young man frustrated with his life and pointless job becomes one of the suspects in serial killer investigation, but he suspects someone else... ...

The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (1994)

Set in a small Ukrainian village during the outbreak of war with Germany in 1941 Private Chonkin, not overly endowed with intelligence, is left to guard a downed military aircraft. The authorities appear to have forgotten about him so this leaves him free ...

Reverted (1994)

Young democracy activist is being chased by police in a very funny way. ...

At the End of the World (1994)

The year is 1989, and the country's first free elections in a long time are approaching. A man in a cycling cap organizes a chain of clean hands, using it as a tool in his election campaign. In the queue outside the passport office, people chat, make plans ...

A Time for Witches (1994)

Twenty years old prostitute and drug addict, Jola, by chance meets Andrzej, a "railway station gay". They try to stay together, in spite of numerous diffculties. They both are carriers of the HIV virus. At the end of their travels they find themselves in t ...

Schindler's List (1993)

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II. ...

Two Moons (1993)

Panoramic view of a resort town in the summer of 1930. In seventeen episodes we get a glimpse at the microcosm of its colourful inhabitants and visitors, Poles and Jews, the high society and the desperately poor. ...

W środku Europy (1993)

A small town located right in the middle of Europe, but in reality probably at the end of the world. It is dominated by the depressing atmosphere of the Stalinist era, the still vivid memory of wartime atrocities, and bitter ethnic conflicts. Above all, ho ...

Taranthriller (1993)

Looking for a place to conduct research, docent Marek and his family move into an old villa where strange events take place. ...

The Little Apocalypse (1993)

An unknown Polish writer can't publish his novels, so his ex-wife decides to help him and get some of the profit for herself. She finally finds a publisher, but there's a strange single condition that could cost the writer his life. ...

Sauna (1992)

A film based on a simple situation: several men talk in the sauna. ...

Apricots in the Baskets (1992)

Poland, 1991. Two elderly political refugees, Demosthenes and Argyris, take the train from the coal mining region to the cemetery where the former's wife and the latter's mother are buried. Stuck in a cramped train carriage because of the rain, they begin ...

Who Is Joe Louis? (1992)

The story of Finnish boxer Joni, who brings up a son Simppa from his relationship with Polish girlfriend Eva. The mother left them years ago and returned to Poland. Eve is about to marry, but she still loves Joni. ...

Kanalia (1992)

A Russian investigator is demoted after a young PPS militia escapes from Poland and vows revenge. ...

Tango (1992)

A TV adaptation of Sławomir Mrożek's play, about a family whose rejection of traditional values leads to erosion of their daily lives and Artur's, the youngest one's efforts to reinstate rules in the house. ...

30 Door Key (1991)

A young writer in 1939 Warsaw faces the conflict of acting his age or relapsing into childhood during the brink of World War II. Based on the famous novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz. ...

Cynga (1991)

A young Varsovian runs away from the Nazi's attack on the East. He falls into the hands of the NKVD. Suspected of espionage, he ends up in a camp in Siberia. He will spend the war in a psychiatric hospital. ...

Eminent Domain (1991)

A high-ranking Polish politburo member is banished from the party, and must find out why. Set in 1979 Poland before the Solidarity events. ...

Life for Life: Maximilian Kolbe (1991)

The story of catholic saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz. ...

Death of the Kidmaker (1991)

Januszek – the town's Casanova, returns from the army. Waiting for him at home is Blada, the mother of his future child, the daughter of the head of the local security service, who arranged for the candidate to be a son-in-law to shorten his military ser ...

The Return of She-Wolf (1990)

A young couple arrives to the palace, where years ago the Countess Julia, She-Wolf was terrorising its inhabitants. Soon the ghost of the Countess attacks the fiancée. ...

Escape from the Liberty Cinema (1990)

The screening of a movie "Daybreak" at the "Liberty" Cinema is interrupted by an unusual event - actors come to life on the screen, start conversations among themselves, draw the audience into them. Crowds gather around the cinema, the relevant authorities ...

An Immoral Story (1990)

Told as a film within the film, the story concerns an aging actress. Ewa is a flamboyant, pushy actress whose career and love life have come to a dead end. She lives in a faceless housing development. She is totally engrossed in herself and dreams of makin ...

Farewell to Autumn (1990)

Atanazy Bazakbal navigates a destructive love triangle between his innocent fiancée Zofia and the decadent Hela Bertz while seeking meaning through hedonism. As their personal lives unravel, a communist revolution sweeps through Poland, crushing the arist ...

Bal na dworcu w Koluszkach (1990)

During the "winter of the century," impatient passengers wait for the train to arrive at the station in Koluszki. Railway communications are disrupted. At the same time, a train is stuck in snowdrifts near Koluszki. The atmosphere in its carriages is cheer ...

Porno (1990)

Michał, a mature man and father, is full of bitterness, regret, and longing for unfulfilled youthful dreams of true love. He reminisces about all his past lovers. With his first, Asia, he went on a seaside camping trip. He was 19 at the time, and she was ...

A Tale of Adam Mickiewicz's 'Forefathers' Eve' (1989)

On the eve of the Day of the Dead, among mysterious old rituals of the Vilnius region, ghosts of the past and present start to appear. ...

The Last Schoolbell (1989)

As high school students put on a politically-engaged school play, tensions begin to rise between them and their headmaster. The conflict seems to mirror the social situation in the 1980s Poland. ...

Sérénité (1989)

Poland, 1930s. Agata, a twenty-year-old young woman, a niece of the lady of a small manor, is about to get married. This fact causes dramatic changes for three people: Miss Stawro, a music teacher who cares for Agata, and two sixteen-year-old boys, Witek a ...

Inner State (1989)

December, 1981. World-class champion Ewa Jaskólska is looking forward to a cruise around the world with her yacht. At her farewell party, several people are present that are connected to the new Solidarnośc movement. The guests are filmed by a TV journa ...

Konsul (1989)

After a con-man is released from prison, he gradually gets back to his old tricks, but his cons grow ever more elaborate and travel steadily up the ladder of society until he has local politicians and important government ministers involved in his schemes. ...

Decalogue X (1989)

Jerzy and Artur's father dies, leaving behind a valuable stamp collection, which, they discover, is coveted by dealers of varying degrees of shadiness. The more involved the brothers get in their father's world, the more dire and comical their situation be ...

Upstairs, Downstairs (1989)

Young artist arrives at Zakopane and meets local people. ...

Prywatne niebo (1989)

The nouveau riche chinchilla breeder hires a painter-portraitist. ...

Soccer Poker (1989)

Laguna was once a great soccer player whose career was interrupted by an injury. He spent years climbing the ranks to become an international referee. He sees the prevailing arrangements, manipulations, and bribery around him. Now desperate, he decides to ...

Męskie sprawy (1989)

Young residents of a town near Poznań are getting ready to fight the Germans. ...

On the Silver Globe (1989)

A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture ...

I Love Cinema (1988)

The manager of a small provincial cinema finds her lost son, and he tries to save the movie theater. ...

Mr. Blot in Space (1988)

It's Christmas, and children at an orphanage in Maliszewo receive a computer that was given to them by another orphan who used to live there many years ago. During the night, the computer awakes itself and tells the children a story that will happen in 25 ...

New York, 4 A.M. (1988)

A sleepy provincial town with only one "Błysk" bar. If it weren't for the nearby prison, it would be forgotten to the world. This is how guests come. Agnieszka works in the bar and dreams of New York . Krzysiek and Józek love the girl. Józek tells her a ...

The Curse of Snake Valley (1988)

The trio of adventurous pals, a man who is a scientist, a fine lady and a former military pilot are in the Indochina jungles looking for some mysterious vase that holds a metal container that is of no mundane origin. ...

Porcelain in an Elephant's Shop (1988)

An ordinary man has to do constant favors for other people in order to reserve a place for himself in a queue. ...

Sonata marymoncka (1988)

Main character, Rysiek, tries to live through dangerous times of war-torn and later stalinist Poland. ...

The Death of John L. (1988)

Zbigniew Gąsior, a thirty year old singer, is a youth idol. Despite fame, money and success with women he can't neglect the emptiness in his life. ...

Koniec sezonu na lody (1988)

The owner of an ice cream parlor in a coastal town is murdered. The investigation is conducted by platoon leader Rogowski, but soon he is joined by Lieutenant Joanna Szczęsna from the voivodeship headquarters. ...

Fik-Mik (1988)

Cupid's Bow (1988)

Lavish romantic melodrama, obsessively concerned with sex. Maryska's husband is off to war. He soon is reported missing, and she does not protest much when is seduced by the husband's friend, a seedy professor with sickly wife and other mistresses on the s ...

Stacja (1987)

The 8th Plenum of the PZPR is underway. Passengers waiting for a train learn that their traffic has stopped. ...

Sala nr 6 (1987)

An introverted, experienced doctor is the director of a mental hospital. Despite his friendly nature, he has long been no longer appreciated by the staff, and a younger colleague is waiting for his job. ...

Między ustami a brzegiem pucharu (1987)

The young count makes a bet with his friends about who will be the first to win the favor of a girl they meet. The opportunity to meet her arises unexpectedly quickly. ...

The Faithful River (1987)

Set during the insurgency of 1863, the story focuses on a tragic romance between a poor gentlewoman and a rebel noble. After a bloody battle a unit of insurgents have been wiped out and only one survived, but badly wounded. He eventually finds shelter and ...

Inner Life (1987)

The life of a grumpy 40-year-old man living with his wife in a high-rise block. Every day is like the other - quarrels over dinner, taking out garbage, annoying neighbours, rides in elevators, lost socks. He hates everybody, especially his wife. Not even s ...

Komediantka (1987)

A young woman runs away from her home to the big city, gets a job in theatre and gets involved with shady characters. ...

Child's Scenes of Provincial Life (1987)

Based on a short story by Andrzej Mencwel. Somewhere in Poland, spring 1980. Julian S. is an intelligent young man with a lot of interests. After another argument with his father, he leaves the house. Comrade R., the mayor of the city, engages Julian as hi ...

The Mother of the Kings (1987)

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 ...

Tanie pieniądze (1986)

Inmate Adam leaves prison after two years of imprisonment. He returns to his homeland with the decision to take revenge on his uncle, who handed him over to the authorities. Before that happens, however, he will accidentally get a job on the highway constr ...

Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes (1986)

Scope is a prisoner on a behemoth space station and is chosen, like all his fellow prisoners, to 'volunteer' for the exploration of far-away planets. Landing on planet Australia 458, he is given a hero's welcome with all the sex, booze, and violence that a ...

W cieniu nienawiści (1986)

In 1943, Ewa decides to take care of her Jewish neighbour's daughter and brings her home just for a few days. When the ghetto uprising begins, the woman keeps on looking after the little girl. ...

Wet Dough (1986)

The protagonist of the film is Wojtek, who works in finding amber. One day, someone attacks him and steals a whole bag of them. Wojtek decides to find the attacker. However, it is going to be very dangerous. ...

Travels of Mr. Blot (1986)

The second part of adventures of Mr. Blot and the students of his magic school. ...

Medium (1985)

Story of four people in Sopot in 1933, mysteriously brought together to an old villa to reenact a murder ritual that took place 36 years earlier. ...

Przemytnicy (1985)

The 1920s, the southern border of Poland. Smuggler Józef Trofida is released from prison. From his friend Władek, he learns that he has lost his dominant position in the world of smuggling to the Alińczuk clan. To change this, Trofida organizes further ...

Yesterday (1985)

Set in the 60's in a provincial town: four high school teenagers approach graduation, but all they think about are The Beatles. ...

Przeklęte oko proroka (1985)

A continuation of the story "Oko proroka", which ended with the sale of a mysterious jewel and the purchase by the Bystry family of an inn near Tarnów. Unfortunately, times in 17th-century Poland are troubled, and a curse still hangs over Hanusz and his f ...

O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985)

The world has been ravaged by nuclear war. The planet is frozen and radiation kills anyone or anything that ventures outside of 'The Dome'. Soft is a shepherd for the last remnants of humanity who have gathered together as they await rescue from a mysterio ...

Nie było słońca tej wiosny (1984)

A Jewish woman escaping from a transport helps a family poisoned by carbon monoxide. The young host decides to hide the girl. ...

Thais (1984)

Thais, an Egyptian courtesan, is converted to a life of a penitant by Paphnutius, a holy man. She is taken to a convent in the desert and lives her life in the care of the abbess there. But Paphnutius is changed by the vision of Thais and becomes obsessed ...

Mister Blot's Academy (1984)

Thanks to the powers of magic, Adaś Niezgódka is transported to the fairy tale land of Mr. Blot – the protagonist of Jan Brzechwa's classic book. Mr. Blot is a teacher and a magician in one. His lessons cannot be boring. Especially when bIotology is th ...

Oko proroka (1984)

Sąd nad Braćmi Polskimi (1984)

A docu-fiction movie portraying the Polish Brethren religious group over the years. ...

Na odsiecz Wiedniowi (1983)

Film about the famous Battle of Vienna and the events surrounding it. ...

Ślepy bokser (1982)

A distinguished engineer is informed of being forcibly transferred from his current workplace to another construction site. ...

Vabank (1981)

October 1934. Poland. Famous bank robber Kwinto decided to quit his dangerous criminal job, but after his friend's death, he changed his mind and organized a burglary of famous and well protected bank which belonged to his former partner in crime, backstab ...

Polonia Restituta (1981)

A two-part historical film covering the years of the First World War and the post-war period up to 1919 - until the signing of the peace treaty in Versailles near Paris. An attempt to show the great and complicated process of regaining an independent exist ...

Wizja lokalna 1901 (1981)

More documentary in its approach than dramatized history, this is a compelling story about a 1901 children's strike in Wrzesnia near the Polish border with Prussia. Poland was partitioned at this time, and a rigidly patriotic Prussian teacher in Wrzesnia f ...

Powstanie listopadowe. 1830 - 1831 (1980)

Most important events of November Uprising in Poland. ...

Green Years (1980)

World War II. The Germans enter Sosnowiec, which complicates the relationship between the three friendly children. ...

Hotel klasy lux (1979)

The five participants in the meeting for the construction of a luxury hotel meet years later at its opening. ...

The Card Index (1979)

A former partisan now 38 years old remembers his childhood in the war. ...

Placówka (1979)

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 ...

Sto koni do stu brzegów (1979)

World War II. Lieutenant Bogdan Mayer is tasked with delivering a sample of valuable metal alloy from Warsaw to London. ...

Hospital of the Transfiguration (1979)

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. ...

Quiet Is the Night (1978)

In 1920s Poland, a police commissioner leads the investigation into a series of brutal murders of young boys as the case grows increasingly unsettling and personal. ...

Passion (1978)

The last days in the life of Edward Dembowski (1822-1846), the organizer of the Kraków 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 ...

Death of a President (1977)

After Poland won freedom from of its long overlordship by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it took a further four years for its National Assembly to elect Gabriel Narutowicz as its first president. Narutowicz was a professor who until his el ...

Dagny (1977)

Dagny Juell was the doctors daughter who left Kongsvinger for Berlin to study music, and became famous painter Edvard Munchs mistress and model. Than she ran into August Strindberg. They had a brief affair but after a couple of weeks Dagny left him for Sta ...

Red Thorns (1977)

A descendant of a noble family takes the side of the proletariat, fighting against the mistreatment of factory owners and the oppresion from the Tsar during the 1905 revolution. ...

To Save the City (1976)

1945. Soviet offensive is approaching Cracow. Local resistance cooperate despite political differences to save the city from destruction planned by Germans. ...

Żelazna obroża (1976)

Kozyra - a former athlete wants to return to the circus arena, where young Błażyce is successful. ...

Kobieta (1976)

Green, Bygone... (1976)

A young landowner, fascinated by billiard, falls into the trap of gambling ...

Tajemnica Wielkiego Krzysztofa (1975)

Two boys in the Gdańsk City Hall follow the trail of a 15th-century legend about children of city councilors enchanted in sculptures. ...

Seksolatki (1972)

Two teenagers try to live together as adults, but new responsibilities overwhelm them. ...

Przystań (1971)

Settlers from various parts of Poland come to the Vistula Spit just after WWII. They are learning the difficult profession of fishing. The skipper Bosak and his wife are doing the best, but their peace is broken when their cousin Joanna comes to them, for ...

Ostatni po Bogu (1968)

Tensions rise between a crew of a submarine when an accident causes it to settle at the bottom of the sea. ...

Banda (1965)

A group of juvenile delinquents working in a shipyard try to clear themselves of a false accusation. ...

Rzeczywistość (1961)

The 1937 trial of communist journalists, working for the same student magazine in Vilnius, is shown through the tragic life of the paper's young collaborator Julek Szulc. ...

Eagle (1959)

Based on a true story of Polish submarine "Orzel" (The Eagle): September 1939, "Orzel" is coming to Estonian neutral harbor in Tallin. Under pressure from Germany Estonians have intern the ship. Commander Grabinski decides to escape to England through the ...