Barbara Lass

An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.

Roman Polanski lived in Cracow/Krakow during 1936-1955 - almost 20 years of his life. These years formed him to become one of the most popular film directors of the world. The title of the documentary refers to Roman Polanski's autobiography "Roman by Polanski". By the end of 1930's Cracow/Krakow 250 000 inhabitants, about 50 000 were Jews. It was one of the happiest time in young Roman's life. WWII made him leave the Cracow ghetto and he was hidden by a Polish family near the city. After the war till 1955, it was not only the hard Stalin's time but also the time when young Roman discovered his passion for art, especially the cinema. In these times he played in social realistic plays in Young Spectator Theatre and in puppet plays in Groteska Theatre, Cracow. Finally he left Cracow for Lodz in 1955 to study directing at the Film Academy.

A trusting, naive police officer is prepared to follow the ever new ideas and quirks of his spirited, enthusiastic wife out of honest conviction. However, he cannot keep up with the pace of her willingness to turn to the next new thing. As a result, he is condemned to always do the wrong thing in his love, so that in the end the only refuge left to him is a mental asylum.

Polish socialist and Marxist Rosa Luxemburg works tirelessly in the service of revolution in early 20th century Poland and Germany. While Luxemburg campaigns for her beliefs, she is repeatedly imprisoned as she forms the Spartacist League offering a new vision for Germany.

Ines and Hans try to save their crumbling marriage with a vacation trip. With three children, the grandmother, and some hamsters in the overloaded car to Sardinia.

An internist is accused of murdering the sixth of his seven wives. During the court hearing, numerous statements, especially those made by his former wives, confront him with his past. Finally acquitted, the doctor loses himself in feelings of deepest guilt and confusion as he searches for the truth about himself. The strict film adaptation of the novel by Max Frisch (1982).

When 17-year-old Effi Briest marries the elderly Baron von Instetten, she moves to a small, isolated Baltic town and a house that she fears is haunted. Starved for companionship, Effi begins a friendship with Major Crampas, a charismatic womanizer.

A scientist is persuaded by the government to inject himself with the brain fluid of a dying colleague in order to preserve missile-defense secrets. However, he finds that he is now torn between his own wife and that of his dead colleague, who was a Nazi sympathizer.

A former U-boat commander becomes a pastor to ease the suffering of young Hamburg women in trouble.

Two ambitious men — one, a self-described director, another, a self-described writer, meet on a train to Zakopane and decide to make a movie together.

No synopsis available yet.

Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

1821 Rome: Ulysses enrolls in the Italian Fascist party because he cannot find any employment. The first task entrusted to him leads Ulysses to the printer Fossati, where he's hired as an apprentice.

Van Hekken, an old gangster, arrives in Tokyo to direct a bank hold-up in order to get a very valuable diamond.

1944 : Occupied France. Juliette (Vice) is Wehrmacht General Bamberg's mistress and enjoys a privileged life. Her younger sister Justine (Virtue) is about to marry Jean who is in the Resistance and come to Juliette for help. Both sisters end up at "la Commanderie", where Juliette becomes SS Colonel Schonberg's mistress and Justine is detained with other pretty girls who must satisfy the sexual needs of high-ranking nazi officials. Inspired by "Justine ou les infortunes de la vertu" by the marquis de Sade

The new science teacher Dr. Julian Olcott with a mysterious past arrives in an institutional boarding school for troublemaker girls. Along the night, the intern Mary Smith, who is blackmailing another teacher - Sir Alfred Whiteman - with some love letters, is slaughtered by a werewolf. The detective in charge of the investigation attributes the crime to a wolf, while her mate Priscilla believes she was killed by Sir Alfred. On the next days, other deaths happen in the school, reducing the list of suspects.

An international gang of gun dealers in the USA has stolen the prototype of a laser rifle from a German laboratory. The FBI agent Cormoran is being sent to recover the state-of-the-art and highly effective weapon. But there are some indications that he has defected to the enemy. Since agent 007 is currently on another mission, the chief of intelligence has to fall back on his second best man, the previous number 006. And so the German secret agent John Krim is given the assignment to get the rifle back, find evidence of Cormoran’s treachery and finally eliminate the colleague. Krim’s journey takes him across the ocean, and there he experiences incredible adventures in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Two women get in his way, and Krim can’t be sure whether he can trust them or whether they too are working for the other side.

To convince the prison warden against releasing him, a middle-aged Polish man recounts his life, one he considers to have been characterized by exceptionally bad luck.

Marek is a promising athlete having his share of affairs with women. One day at masquerade ball he meets a an enigmatic Jowita and becomes obsessed with her, even when he finds seemingly true love in Agnieszka.

Absurd gag comedy about a grotesque pursuit of a "snow man" allegedly imported to Poland. A box with a shipment from India, which was supposed to contain a yeti, turned out to be empty. The desperate professor tries to find it. He even gets into prison, from which, however, he escapes handcuffed with the thief. Meanwhile, the "snow man" begins to be considered the perpetrator of more and more crimes. Eventually, everything becomes clear. In the telegram notifying of the shipment, a word was twisted and hence the whole misunderstanding.

An average notary finds a small fortune of coins hidden in his fireplace alongside a manuscript dating back 100 years.

An old man against the public housing project.

Five short stories. (1) “Czas przybliża, czas oddala” – Edward recalls his unfulfilled love for Anna and, years later, writes to her sister Zofia, mistaking her for Anna. (2) “Krąg istnienia” – A girl falls for Wacek at an ice rink; pressured by family, she marries a soap manufacturer. (3) “Paryż 1945” – A Polish refugee soldier and an American woman share a fleeting wartime bond before she leaves at dawn. (4) “Stary profesor” – Two men seek an old professor to fulfill a dying prisoner’s last wish; Roger impersonates a former pupil. (5) “Nauczycielka” – Neglected wife Zofia accepts film tests, only to find the director seeks an ordinary woman.

The film features two men who emerge from the sea carrying a large wardrobe, which they proceed to carry into a town.

The twenty-one-minute-film is set in a men's public rest room and recounts the day to day existence of an elderly woman who serves as an attendant in the lavatory. As an endless procession of men pass before her, relieving themselves in the urinals, the attendant escapes her reality by daydreaming about the past and the soldier she once loved and the child she bore him.

Mister Anatol investigates a gang of thieves looking after a young woman who has just won a lottery.

Ewa Bonecka, a young student about to start school in a new place finds herself without a place to sleep after she is declined a room in a women-only hotel. Helped by a pleasant policeman, Piotr, she tries to find a lodging in the strange town full of thieves and petty troublemakers.

A small cardboard train embarks on a long journey full of strange events.

A shy lawyer tries to win the hand of a beautiful girl and hilarities ensue.

A short film based on a story by Sławomir Mrożek of the same title. The need to have an elephant in a fictional zoo gives rise to the idea of making one. A giant inflatable animal is created, but instead of becoming the main attraction, it flies away in front of a school trip.