Sushi
Directed by Juliusz Machulski
Written by Jarosław Sokół, Juliusz Machulski
Photography: Edward Kłosiński
Starring: Marek Kondrat, Katarzyna Hermann, Robert Więckiewicz

A comic story about a producer and a duo of scriptwriters commissioned on short order to pen a screenplay on the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity.

The scriptwriters, called to a brief talk about the project, do not have the foggiest idea what the script should be about. The producer tries to make them realize how their lives would look like if there had been no Solidarity: They would have to run around the town in search of toilet paper, would have to write a script about the Battle of Lenino; the female of the two scriptwriters would have to be a housewife rather than an avowed feminist, and the man rather than be happy his new script has been OK’d, would be frustrated with having his passport denied and would try to figure out how to defect from the country.

First, the scriptwriters don’t fall for those bleak prospects. Second, they conclude all those changes would have happened anyway because of Ronald Reagan and the Pope. At last they set a condition: If the producer mentions at least one thing they unquestionably owe to the Solidarity, they’ll try to write the script. Suddenly, the door opens while they are talking and a Japanese pops his head in the room and asks, “Anybody has ordered sushi here?”

The Great Bear
Written and Directed by Jan Jakub Kolski
Photography: Michał Pakulski
Starring: Maciej Zakościelny, Eryk Łubow, Cezary Łukaszewicz

The first day of breakthrough, Lech Walęsa’s speeches as reflected on by spelunkers, tied up in a Tuscan cave. Włodek records with his makeshift recorder the French RFI Radio news about ‘the electrician Lech Wałęsa.’ His friends tied up in the cave of Antro del Corchia dream of a free Poland. Włodek lets them hear the mysterious news from the French radio. The spelunkers feel there is hope for their dreams to come true.

Petrol
Written and Directed by Filip Bajon
Photography: Bartek Prokopowicz
Starring: Marcin Dorociński, Maciej Stuhr

The lead tells a story of his trip to Gdańsk on Aug. 20, 1980 with a jerrycan of gas. He is going to his wife, who phoned him about shortage of gas on the Coast, as she cannot return home from holidays in Warsaw. On a completely empty train, he meets a young man who looks like a member of the opposition and at first blush takes him for a provocateur. The lead is also suspicious of the traveling companion.
When both take out the Small Apocalypse by Tadeusz Konwicki, issued by underground presses, their suspicion is dispelled.

They talk about Jan Palach and Buddhist monks who incinerate themselves. The young man suspects that his companion is going to incinerate himself in front of the shipyard. When his hints find no response, he finally asks point-blank why that gas. He won’t believe the explanations. He tries to convince the other one that he shouldn’t fall prey to provocation, because there is hope and one should believe.

Finally persuaded, the lead impulsively throws the jerrycan out of the window of the speeding train. They reach Gdańsk in silence. They say goodbye and each goes on his way.

The lead’s wife is waiting at the station. There is really a shortage of gas on the Coast. She just cannot possibly believe that he’s chucked a jerrycan with gas. “It’s because of him. He spoke so beautifully about hope...” A panoramic view of the young man  walking away toward the shipyard.

Blackboards
Written and Directed by Jerzy Domaradzki
Photography: Zbigniew Wichłacz
Comments: Maciej Grzywaczewski, Arkadiusz Rybicki

A story of the boards, on which the Solidarity demands were written during the strike in the shipyard, that entered the UNESCO Register of World Cultural Heritage called Memory of the World.

A mimeograph deposits consecutive pieces of paper with the Solidarity demands printed on them during the strike in the shipyard, into the hands of workers, who read them out loud. It transpires that there are too few pieces to distribute among all the workers. The point is to have everybody in front of the shipyard know what’s going on inside. Someone suggest that they make boards.

One of the workers gives a can of iron oxide red to two young men in work clothes, who begin to write on two plywood panels on the grass. They write with a brush, however; which covers too much writing space. So after an unsuccessful attempt, they begin again but on the back side of the panels. This time the title is painted with red paint, whereas the remaining demands, in pencil.

The finished boards with the demands are put on two battery-powered vehicles, on which sit the two young men, who hold up the panels for all to see. A group of at least 20 workers accompany them and they drive across the shipyard, along the waterfront with cranes and port equipment in the background.

The two vehicles continue driving across the shipyard. The closer the main gate the smaller number of workers who accompany them. When they reach the gate, only the two students are left still holding up the boards.

A commentary runs through the whole film, narrated by Maciej Grzywaczewski and Arkadiusz Rybicki.

Ballpen
Directed by Piotr Trzaskalski
Written by Piotr Trzaskalski, Wojciech Lepianka
Photography: Piotr Śliskowski
Starring: Elżbieta Okupska, Waldemar Czyszak, Piotr Sieklucki, Mirosław Najnert

It’s a story of the 45-year-old Janusz, who devotes all his time, enthusiasm and effort to produce ballpoints. The business venture fails to deliver the expected profits, the wife complains, the reality is gray, and the grocery stores only occasionally feature low quality smoked meat and toilet paper.

Despite the odds, Janusz feels this is the time of breakthrough, when everything may straighten up and fly right. Therefore, he does not give up his dream, his wife’s bitching notwithstanding. And they have their reward watching Lech Wałęsa sign the August Agreements with Janusz’s ballpoint.

Written and Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi
Photography: Edward Kłosiński
Starring: Krzysztof Zanussi, Grzegorz Pacek

December 1980, the first winter of the Solidarity, there are strikes and general tension. On the Polish-Soviet border, on the Ukrainian side, there are Warsaw Pact maneuvers.

With the People’s Poland authorities’ permission, Krzysztof Zanussi is shooting, in Kraków, a British-Italian coproduction, funded by Americans, about the life of Karol Wojtyła, whose title is From A Far-Away Country. The permission to shoot the film in Poland was given on condition the media would pass the shoot over in silence. The shoot is going to be wrapped in December. Winter footage
on location.

Kraków. The Old Town Market Square. The scene of Soviet troops entering the country in 1945. Suddenly the gag order is broken: the director is told to appease the population in the local TV news, as tanks, according to the script, have rolled into the square, which may give rise to panic. The shoot starts in the morning. Crowds are gawking. The Market Square is closed. There are seven tanks in the square, and at the last moment, the authorities forbid to paint red stars on them to avoid panic. Polish soldiers play extras. They are supposed to dress as Russians and Germans, the latter to march as prisoners of war.

A squad car drives in between the tanks. With a bullhorn, the director asks the crew to climb down from the crane and answer the phone in the squad car. On the line a voice with a strong English accent, the American Embassy secretary in Warsaw. He asks if he is not disturbing and explains that an hour ago an American spy satellite transmitted pictures of tanks in Kraków streets. Washington asked the embassy in Warsaw to check out if an invasion of Warsaw Pact armies had begun.

The secretary went to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was given reassuring explanations. To lend credence to them, he was connected with the director by the police line.

In a doorway, there are some scores of military extras, who rather than put on Soviet uniforms, prefer to play German POW’s, afraid of getting a drubbing in a dark doorway if, clad in Soviet uniforms, they’ll try to answer nature’s call. The soldiers do not realize that the film is about the Pope. But having been informed about it, they decide to put on Soviet uniforms for the Pope.

The story is completed with fragments of From a Far-Away Country. Zanussi narrates Wojtyła and the director’s own commentary.

Scenery
Written and Directed by Robert Gliński
Photography: Bartek Prokopowicz

This story is a portrait of the Gdansk Shipyard today. Empty halls, deserted docks, gigantic cranes, and muddy streets. The shipyard looks like a landscape after a battle that was fought long ago, and nobody happens to remember it.

Before the present day view of the shipyard, there are archival materials: August ’80, the moment the Gdańsk Agreements are signed, Lech Wałęsa carried on the shoulders of his fellow workers through the gate of the shipyard. The festooned gate features a portrait of John Paul II. Euphoria, hope, unity, solidarity...

Next a story about the shipyard today, whose deserted landscape looks like a bitter metaphor: a fence painted in places, a part of refurbished hall juxtaposed with a littered street full of pot holes. The small grocery on the corner reminds you of the times of People’s Poland. Rubbish and cigarette buts are all over the place.

This documentary description will collide with a sound track that reminds us of the Glorious History of the place: a fragment of the Party Boss Gomółka’s speeches against the background of the December ’70 shooting, a song about Jan Wiśniewski segues to cheers of “Solidarity”, the joy of signing the August Agreements is drowned out in the noise of the martial law sirens. A fragment of Jaruzelski’s address is drowned out by the Pope’s words about the renewal of the face of the earth. We hear a crowd sing the anti-German anthem, an actress announces the fall of communism. And the rest is silence...

And You Know What?
Written and Directed by Jacek Bromski
Photography: Marcin Koszałka
Starring: Janusz Gajos, Krzysztof Stroiński, Anna Romantowska

Teresa and Roman, former oppositionists, today mostly grapple with the economic problems of every day. The nightmare of the past gets at them in the bank, where they want to ask for credit. The bank president is a former D.A., who a dozen years ago demanded that Roman serve a seven-year term.

It’s an attempt at answering if wrongs can be redeemed, if there are credible moral criteria, objective or relative to the here and now. The answers to the questions notwithstanding, Roman, eye to eye with his past executioner, is still afraid and unsure of himself.

What Happened To Our Solidarity
Written and Directed by Ryszard Bugajski
Photography: Piotr Śliskowski
Starring: Grzegorz Markowski, Mariusz Guzik, Mariusz Bąk

A dialog between generations in the form of a music video. A father tries to explain to his son the story of the birth of the Solidarity through his own life story. It’s an attempt to explain the unprecedented phenomenon of union and common hopes, also those that haven't been fulfilled.

Short Story Of One Blackboard
Written and Directed by Feliks Falk
Photography: Edward Kłosiński

A story of the historic plywood board with the logo of the Solidarity that accompanied Poles on their way to freedom. From doubts through the euphoria of the strikes and speeches, the first Solidarity Union Rally, to the here and now, where it transpires that there is no room for any symbolism.

The board becomes a lot in an auction house and, among other historic peculiarities, is sold for the asking price.

Father
Written and Directed by Małgorzata Szumowska
Photography: Michał Englert
Starring: Maja Ostaszewska

The story is told from the perspective of a small girl, a young one, and, finally, a mature woman. In a large measure, the film is based on the voice-over commentary of the female lead, scenes from her apartment, and materials from archives. Its form resembles a collage.

At the birth of the Solidarity, she was 7, at the first free election, 16, and when Poland entered the EU, 31. The film has five parts. A woman is born out of the girl, just like Free Poland is born out of People’s Poland.

The first part – 1980. Dad is involved in oppositionist activities. The girl remembered the noise of Radio Free Europe from behind the wall, the high-rise, built with concrete slabs, where she’d lived; the small kitchen, where dad’s friends would meet for overnight discussions; and the ubiquitous cigarette smoke.
Dad explained to her what the word solidarity means.

The main setting is just the kitchen in the high-rise, a meeting place of oppositionists, where the small girl roams among their legs. She does not understand much of it, but knows that something important is going on. This part will be interspersed with short flashbacks from the archival materials of Maciej Szumowski’s documentary The Birth of the Solidarity.

Part Two – 1981. The girl remembers the imposition of martial law. She was happy
because she didn’t have to go to school, Dad was home all the time, having been fired, and she finally had him all for herself.

Part Three – 1988. The small girl became a big girl now. Father was jobless for seven years, but they got food packages from abroad. That was the time of strikes that brought about the Round Table and the first free election. For those seven years their kitchen in the high-rise was full of friends involved with struggle, people would help one another. To her, it was the time of first love. This part and the next will be interspersed with flashbacks from the archival materials of
Maciej Szumowski’s Spring of the Solidarity.

Part Four – 1989. After all those years, a victory at last, the first free election.
Great enthusiasm. Paradoxically, year in, year out, the kitchen in the high-rise is becoming deserted; no more nighttime meetings. In the free Poland Dad sits in the kitchen, listening to the radio no longer jammed. The girl is sorry her dad is all alone there. At his name day party there are paltry 5 people rather than 50. For the first time people find no time for themselves and this is to stay that way. Dad thinks that making money in the new Poland fills in for philosophy of life. But he enjoys the freedom he has fought for his daughter.

Part Five – 2004. The girl is thirtysomething now. Poland entered the EU.
She lives in a large modern apartment. Dad has stayed in the high-rise, unwilling to move. In the new Poland, he has made no spectacular career, has withdrawn and is an old man now in an empty kitchen, which hasn’t changed for years. The woman builds a career, has no time for her private life or for a child. She feels European and has stopped going to church. Completely different things matter in her life now. To her, the word Solidarity matters little. To be sure, it’s the past, important, but now history. She doesn’t believe in human solidarity, as she fails to notice it around. Now everyone lives only for himself.

This, however, hardly worries her, and she is happy, because she lives in a free country and has a choice, which is the greatest gift. Father wonders all the time what it is we have really arrived at and lights up another Woodbine.