An Ordinary Country

Poland, 1970. When popular protests erupt in the streets due to rising prices, the communist government organizes a crisis team. Soon after, the police use their truncheons and then their firearms. The story of a rebellion from the point of view of the oppressors.

Composed from the conversations that the director holds with people passing by in the street under his Warsaw apartment, each story in 'The Balcony Movie' is unique and deals with the way we try to cope with life as individuals. All together, they create a self-portrait of contemporary human life, and the passers-by present a composite picture of today's world.

The true story of Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first woman in the world and the first person from Poland to climb the highest peaks on earth, told by herself.

The Kyiv Trial, also known as the ‘Kiev Nuremberg’, took place in January of 1946 in the Soviet Union, and was one of the first post-war trials convicting German Nazis and their collaborators. 15 criminals, guilty of atrocities, which were later identified by the Nuremberg trials as “crimes against humanity”, faced justice in case No.1679 “On the atrocities committed by fascist invaders on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.” Using unique, previously unseen, archive footage, Sergei Loznitsa reconstructs key moments of the proceedings, including statements of the defendants and testimonies of the witnesses, survivors of Auschwitz and Babi Yar among them. The film lays bare the ‘banality of evil’ and is devastatingly relevant today, as Ukrainian people are once again being subjected to the violence of barbarian invaders.

An intimate portrait of the city and its people. We meet the characters in the NYC subway and we follow them to the surface finding out about their lives, cravings, passions, hopes and dreams - sometimes lost and sometimes still waiting to be fulfilled. What comes out of it is an emotional tale of solitude that haunts us in 21st century western world.

Nazi troops massacre 30,000 Jews over a three-day period in September 1941. Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Leopold Trepper, a former Red Army officer and hero of the anti-Nazi resistance, faces a Kafkaesque struggle in 1970s Poland as the demons of anti-Semitism resurface. Stripped of his job and under constant surveillance, Trepper leaves with no hope of return.

An unusual couple, Leszek and Mikolaj, move into a stud farm that one of them inherited form his father. When Mikolaj discovers that someone has destroyed their wooden fence, he becomes obsessed with fixing it. Yet, can the fence really protect this relationship from a hostile environment?

Bombed-out streets, destroyed Russian tanks, evening meals in an Underground repurposed into a shelter. Image by image, the directors push beyond easily reproducible images of war to enter the reality the country has experienced since February 24, 2022.

There is a classical music festival going on. The camera takes a look at the backstage, captures the last rehearsals, follows the work of the technical crew, costume preparations and the banter between the signer and the pianist. Backstage, fans are collecting autographs and take photographs with artists. This is the festival microcosm as seen from all possible perspectives. The stage seems to be somewhere far away as the process of music creation and the commotion that accompanies it is more important.

Documentary about Palace of Culture and Science located in Warsaw. It shows footage of everyday life in this iconic building. Movie is lacking any commentary - every scene speaks for itself.

What happens behind the closed doors of surgical wards, treatment rooms and other spaces where specialist medical consultations take place? Things you don't see but they can save people's lives.

Empty shelves, trading cards and chickens sold in a shoe store. This is Polish everyday life from over four decades ago. Although the starting point is the moment of introduction of martial law, thanks to selected recordings we go back in time by 16 months and 12 days in order to better understand the mood at that time and the complexity of the processes that led to the decision of December 13, 1981.

What will be left behind when humanity vanishes from the surface of the earth? Abandoned stations, schools and plants create a post-apocalyptic landscape of the world without people.

A seemingly normal afternoon in the city gets disrupted as passers-by are temporarily unhinged from their daily business. A man lying on the pavement becomes a problem not only for the local tenants but also medical services and the police.