Vanilla Whip

At 82 years old, Lula is every inch the rebel. An openly gay man in communist Poland, he organized underground parties and after-curfew salons of men inside private apartments. He enthusiastically took up drag, despite a fiercely homophobic culture, to free himself from the stifling correctness of the 80s. But now, he's an old, single man in a youth-obsessed world. His friend was crushed by depression and killed himself, but somehow Lula, now Poland's oldest drag queen, remains buoyant. Is he escaping loneliness with his constant clubbing, looking for love yet again to insulate himself against what he knows is coming? Lula isn't waiting for approval. Filmmaker Bogna Kowalczyk's energetic portrait pairs with her subject's kinetic drive, right down to the stellar soundtrack and nimble camerawork. Whether it's meeting fans at Pride or selecting an artist to sculpt his specialty crematorium urn, try to keep up with a man who knows life is to be lived out loud.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first prime minister of free Poland, takes us through successive stages of the political transformation at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. He ponders, listens and negotiates sharply. He must be aware he’s making a great revolution. What values and ideals inspired this transformation? What can we learn from him today? “Make Revolutions by Phone: A Short Movie about Tadeusz Mazowiecki ” is a documentary essay based entirely on archival materials from various periods of Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s life, edited in a creative way suggesting that Mazowiecki is conducting the conversation with himself. Dynamic animations and young alternative music give a counterpoint to the story.

An animated protest created by 49 animators in 48 hours as a response to the decision of The Constitutional Court about abortion ban in Poland. Moved and broken by the situation in our country, we, a group of students from the Animation Department of Lodz Film School have decided to act. We strongly oppose the recent events in our country and it’s shameful that such a ruling has been pushed through during this extremely difficult time of pandemic. The Constitutional court has issued a ruling that will end legal termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. Many of us are afraid right now, this is why we want to express unity in a just cause.