Twists of Fate

The Ten Commandments, exact and uncompromising, literally cast in stone, continues to provide a source of moral conflict in contemporary society. In the ten part collection of films, The Decalogue, Krzysztof Kieślowski examines the dilemma of fundamental sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens.

Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.

Jerzy Stuhr plays a high school teacher with a sensitive outlook on life and a soft spot for students who like art and literature as passionately as he does. His adversary is a possessed sports instructor, gaining growing control over the students and authorities. His methods are questionable and his influence dangerous, but the handball team's prospects look good and the school needs success...

Witek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Two scientists are chosen as guinea pigs for a time experiment: they are placed in hibernation and should be brought back to life after three years. In the meantime, however, World War III breaks out and life has been wiped off the surface of Earth. When they wake up, it turns out that not only 50 years have passed but also that they are the only living specimens of the male sex in a new, underground society composed exclusively of women.

When the circus leaves town, Zygmunt and Marysia unwittingly adopt a camel into their home. The couple quickly forms a close bond with the nameless camel, but as the bond grows stronger, their neighbors slowly begin to ostracize them.

An old film director, unhappy with the movie he's shooting about a Hungarian circus stranded in Rome during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, faces divorce from his producer wife and other problems.

Set during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the story follows Michał, who witnesses the murder of his mother, wife and child and then is hurled into a life that is not his own; a surreal world littered with trapdoors, doppelgängers and wormholes.

Jurek Kiler has become a VIP - sponsoring the Polish government, playing tennis with the President, meeting world leaders. He must oversee a transfer of a substantial amount of gold. However, in his past activities, he has made enemies. Mighty ones. And thus Jurek Kiler's next adventure begins as he has to face attempts at kidnapping, assassinations and problems in his love life...

Created to mark the 60th anniversary of Poland's regained independence, Andrzej Wajda's acclaimed seven-hour stage production As the Years Go By, As the Days go By... follows two Kraków families between 1874 and 1914.

A dramatic story about a young man entangled in complicated matters of war, conspiracy and political struggle. The action of each part of the triptych presents one day from different years. These are fictionalized experiences of an authentic participant of the Polish resistance movement during the Nazi occupation.

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 mysterious craft known only as 'The Ark.' He wanders among the masses, performing his regular daily tasks; keeping morale from plummeting, wooing prostitutes, squashing rebellions, and sometimes feeding the hungry. But as the true and sinister nature of 'The Dome' comes to light, Soft must ask himself if humanity is worth saving...

Poland, Christmastime. A band of hyperintelligent, bloodthirsty Martians take over the country and enlist hapless television newscaster Iron Idem as the voice of their propaganda machine. But when Iron dares to go off message, he makes an enemy even greater than the aliens—the state itself.