Zbigniew Suszyński

Based on the only extensive prose work by the surrealist painter Josef Capek, Shades of Fern most resembles the philosophical fairy tales and fables of Josef’s older brother, the legendary Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. Two young poachers, more boys than men, kill a gamekeeper when they are caught illegally hunting. Panicked, they retreat into a forest that grows steadily more forbidding and deadly as their fear for the future—and guilt over their action—mounts. Loosely based on hundreds of oral folk tales and legends that haunt the woods of Czechoslovakia, Vlácil’s contemporary updating artistically underscores the relationship between man and nature, crime and punishment, isolation and society, and guilt and memory.

Anthropology professor Michal develops two overwhelming obsessions. The first one is a mummified, 3,000 year-old, perfectly preserved body of a shaman he and his colleagues have recently dragged out of a swamp. The second is an enigmatic student he meets by chance at a railway station.

Portraying the events that have taken place in Polish politics in recent years.

During the German occupation of a small Polish town, Franciszek Kłos, a lowly local policeman, will stop at nothing to become a Volksdeutsche. Eager to prove his loyalty, he zealously carries out the occupiers' orders. What begins as administrative compliance soon escalates when he commits his first murder of a fellow Pole. Condemned to death by the Polish underground, Kłos outwardly shrugs off the sentence while quietly drowning his growing fear in alcohol. As his inhibitions crumble, he descends deeper into violence—participating in the roundup and execution of hidden Jews, and earning a reputation for brutality even among the SS.

A 12-year boy feels left out by his classmates because he has no interest in athletics. He finally discovers his calling when his parents take him to a magic show. Picked by the magician to be his helper during a trick he is drawn into the world of magic and wants to learn more. He becomes proficient in tricks and also discovers his telekinetic powers. Unfortunately that further alienates him from his peers and his parents are afraid of his powers. Things change when a national emergency arises and the government asks him to help. After success he becomes a hero and is accepted by all. Written by Polish Cinema Database.

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, and ponder what's worth selling abroad. Writers observe the world around them. One of them is applying for a passport. In Dzierżyński Square, the monument to Feliks Edmundowicz is being dismantled. Two drunk men sleep on a bench, and behind them is a sign reading: "All is well." The two writers observe the ongoing transformation of the political system.

The second part of a story about young people entering adulthood in the harsh reality of predatory capitalism. The action takes place in 1994, a few months before the events of the first part.