Małgorzata Szumowska

Spring 2020, Poland. 16 filmmakers create 14 short films about unexpected experience of isolation caused by pandemic.

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For her entire life, the cult she was born into has been all that teenage Selah has known. Along with a band of similarly cloistered young women she lives seemingly unstuck in time, cut off from modern society in a remote forest commune presided over by a man called Shepherd, a controlling, messiah-like figure with a frightening dark side. But when her insular world is rocked by a series of nightmarish visions and disturbing revelations, Selah begins to question everything about her existence—including her allegiance to the increasingly dangerous Shepherd.

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It is night in Warsaw. Two very different homes. In one, a father watches sports lying on the sofa, expecting the son to do the same. In another apartment, a wealthy-looking mother sits at the table to dine with her daughter, completely different from her. At the same time, the boy and the girl embark on a nocturnal adventure of transformation, during which they strip off the various stratifications of gender that they have inherited. The streets of the city are transformed into a liberating walkway. When by chance they meet – face to face, body to body – they mirror each other in silence, offering comfort, safety.

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After fun-loving metalhead Jacek is disfigured in an accident at work, he becomes the first person in Poland to receive a face transplant. This leads to his status as a media spectacle and martyr, all while battling ensuing identity issues as a consequence.

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A busy attorney, worried that his anorexic daughter Olga, who is still grieving her recently deceased mother, might try to harm herself, sends her to see a psychiatrist who's dealing with her own loss in an unusual way.

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The contemporary story of a priest who launches a centre for troubled youth in a small parish. He is a good priest and is well-liked by his congregation, which remains unaware of his complicated past.

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A journalist tries to balance the duties of marriage and motherhood while researching a piece on college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.

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The Polish artist Julia and her husband Piotr, a talented and successful composer, live in Kraków. When Julias's mother, Barbara falls ill with stomach cancer, the life of the family is falling apart. Julia accompanies her mother to death, but her husband Piotr is at rehearsals in Cologne and leaves her to cope with this difficult situation. Only her friend Adrian is at her side. Her father Jurek is also overwhelmed by the impending loss of his beloved wife. After the death of the mother her father takes comfort from alcohol. Shortly after the father dies. Julia found only in the arms of Adrian to rest, but this in turn destroyed her marriage to Piotr. After the loss of the parents and break up of the marriage she is now alone in the world with an uncertain future where Adrian is of little help

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The inhabitants of a village in Masuria talk about rituals, customs, and beliefs related to death. They talk about it casually, as they would about other matters, yet sincerely, with eloquence and humor. They have come to terms with death, while people in cities lack the time to think about it. This causes fear of its arrival. "What is there to be afraid of?" wonder the protagonists of the film.

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A 2005 novella film created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement. It consists of 13 10-minute shorts. There are various forms: mini-feature, music video, documentary, animation, interview.

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Maciej Szumowski was a journalist, reporter, documentary filmmaker, opposition activist, film director, publicist, editor-in-chief of "Gazeta Krakowska", creator of the so-called "school of television documentary", co-founder of independent television, laureate of the Boleslaw Prus Award and two-time winner of the Golden Screen Award. The film "My Dad Maciek" was made by his daughter, Malgorzata Szumowska. From fragments of the author's memoirs, archival materials and accidentally recorded situations, a picture is formed of a very modest man, not chasing cheap acclaim or fame, a man always looking for the truth, unflinchingly honest, sensitive to human injustice, involved in the struggle for freedom and justice.

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A pregnant 22-year-old with a dreary job, a difficult home life and an absent boyfriend learns to love her life and share this love with the child in her womb.

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Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

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When Malgorzata Szumowska was an elementary school student, she had a diary in which her friends, acquaintances and loved ones wrote in. Now she has a movie camera. So she decided to ask her friends to repeat this old entry in a new form - on film. The attempts to record their statements become the material from which Szumowska creates a documentary film that is - paradoxically - in a way directed against the documentary. Kasia and Marek, Magda and Kamil, Przemek, Julka and Wojtek, grandmother Stefania, Malgosia talk about love, happiness, relationships with loved ones, dreams, betrayal.

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When Malgorzata Szumowska was an elementary school student, she had a diary in which her friends, acquaintances and loved ones wrote in. Now she has a movie camera. So she decided to ask her friends to repeat this old entry in a new form - on film. The attempts to record their statements become the material from which Szumowska creates a documentary film that is - paradoxically - in a way directed against the documentary.

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The story of three people and their complicated emotional relationship. A mother and her 30-year-old son live in a poor neighborhood in a big city. She is having trouble finding a job, he is having trouble finding his way in modern realities. The mother's sudden illness shatters the son's previous life. The new situation requires from him maturity, which he unfortunately lacks. A woman appears in his life, whom he uses in his game with his mother.

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A mysterious guest comes to the inhabitants of one of the tenement houses in the country of the former Eastern bloc and sends money from heaven. The appearance of money evokes in the inhabitants dreams, memories and reflection on their own sad life.

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Ms. Zosia, once thought to remain with her mother forever, frequents the “Wrzos” Day Care Center in Lodz’s Bałuty district. There, she meets Mr. Tadeusz, who has struggled with loneliness and alcohol after his mother’s death. They decide to marry, surprising their families and the center’s regulars. Malgorzata Szumowska documents their journey, capturing the reactions of those around them. The wedding, held at “Wrzos,” transforms their lives, bringing companionship despite their continued modest circumstances.

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A portrait of a family living in a village in Masuria.

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A documentary portrait of a generation in the form of a story about young businessmen. Malgorzata Szumowska portrays Poles who find themselves perfectly at home in the capitalist system and are primarily focused on success and acquiring material goods.

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Student film by Małgorzata Szumowska.

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One woman's journey for self-discovery and turns into a harrowing tale of survival.

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Zenia is an industrious Ukrainian migrant worker in Poland who makes house calls as a masseur to the needy and aspirational residents of a middle-class gated community near Warsaw. He is privy to all of their problems, anxieties and secrets – and something of an unwitting guru figure. Zenia’s grounded spirituality, apparent healing powers and broad shoulders make him an object of lust for many of the lost souls in the community.

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It is night in Warsaw. Two very different homes. In one, a father watches sports lying on the sofa, expecting the son to do the same. In another apartment, a wealthy-looking mother sits at the table to dine with her daughter, completely different from her. At the same time, the boy and the girl embark on a nocturnal adventure of transformation, during which they strip off the various stratifications of gender that they have inherited. The streets of the city are transformed into a liberating walkway. When by chance they meet – face to face, body to body – they mirror each other in silence, offering comfort, safety.

Open details →

After fun-loving metalhead Jacek is disfigured in an accident at work, he becomes the first person in Poland to receive a face transplant. This leads to his status as a media spectacle and martyr, all while battling ensuing identity issues as a consequence.

Open details →

A busy attorney, worried that his anorexic daughter Olga, who is still grieving her recently deceased mother, might try to harm herself, sends her to see a psychiatrist who's dealing with her own loss in an unusual way.

Open details →

The contemporary story of a priest who launches a centre for troubled youth in a small parish. He is a good priest and is well-liked by his congregation, which remains unaware of his complicated past.

Open details →

A journalist tries to balance the duties of marriage and motherhood while researching a piece on college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.

Open details →

The Polish artist Julia and her husband Piotr, a talented and successful composer, live in Kraków. When Julias's mother, Barbara falls ill with stomach cancer, the life of the family is falling apart. Julia accompanies her mother to death, but her husband Piotr is at rehearsals in Cologne and leaves her to cope with this difficult situation. Only her friend Adrian is at her side. Her father Jurek is also overwhelmed by the impending loss of his beloved wife. After the death of the mother her father takes comfort from alcohol. Shortly after the father dies. Julia found only in the arms of Adrian to rest, but this in turn destroyed her marriage to Piotr. After the loss of the parents and break up of the marriage she is now alone in the world with an uncertain future where Adrian is of little help

Open details →

The inhabitants of a village in Masuria talk about rituals, customs, and beliefs related to death. They talk about it casually, as they would about other matters, yet sincerely, with eloquence and humor. They have come to terms with death, while people in cities lack the time to think about it. This causes fear of its arrival. "What is there to be afraid of?" wonder the protagonists of the film.

Open details →

A 2005 novella film created to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement. It consists of 13 10-minute shorts. There are various forms: mini-feature, music video, documentary, animation, interview.

Open details →

A pregnant 22-year-old with a dreary job, a difficult home life and an absent boyfriend learns to love her life and share this love with the child in her womb.

Open details →

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Open details →

When Malgorzata Szumowska was an elementary school student, she had a diary in which her friends, acquaintances and loved ones wrote in. Now she has a movie camera. So she decided to ask her friends to repeat this old entry in a new form - on film. The attempts to record their statements become the material from which Szumowska creates a documentary film that is - paradoxically - in a way directed against the documentary. Kasia and Marek, Magda and Kamil, Przemek, Julka and Wojtek, grandmother Stefania, Malgosia talk about love, happiness, relationships with loved ones, dreams, betrayal.

Open details →

The story of three people and their complicated emotional relationship. A mother and her 30-year-old son live in a poor neighborhood in a big city. She is having trouble finding a job, he is having trouble finding his way in modern realities. The mother's sudden illness shatters the son's previous life. The new situation requires from him maturity, which he unfortunately lacks. A woman appears in his life, whom he uses in his game with his mother.

Open details →

A mysterious guest comes to the inhabitants of one of the tenement houses in the country of the former Eastern bloc and sends money from heaven. The appearance of money evokes in the inhabitants dreams, memories and reflection on their own sad life.

Open details →

A portrait of a family living in a village in Masuria.

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