Stefan Friedmann

Christopher Lee hosts this horror anthology series from Poland with stories from various classic authors.

An epic, multi-threaded story about the fate of Poles during World War II. "Czas pogardy" was shown primarily from the perspective of two main characters - Lieutenant Władysław Niwiński and Leon Kuraś - a petty crook, but not without heroic traits. The authors of the series sought to show, in particular, everyday life under Nazi occupation in Poland.

"Zmiennicy" is a grotesque comedy of absurdity and reality that masterfully blends slapstick, satire, and surrealism to expose the absurdities of life under communist rule in the People's Republic of Poland (PRL). The story follows Jacek Żytkiewicz, a taxi driver in Warsaw, and his mysterious new shift partner, Katarzyna Piórecka, who disguises herself as a man to get the job. The series is a comedy of the grotesque, filled with exaggerated characters, nonsensical bureaucracy, and surreal plot twists. It mocks the inefficiencies and contradictions of PRL institutions—from corrupt officials and inept police to bizarre workplace dynamics and social hypocrisy. Underneath the absurdity lies a thriller-like subplot: a drug trafficking operation smuggling heroin from Thailand to West Germany. This storyline, featuring shady sports officials, a Thai student, and a crooked firefighter, adds a layer of intrigue reminiscent of American crime dramas.

Mały Zgon may seem like a quiet town - but just below the surface lies a twisted web of crooked cops, drug kingpins and high-stakes poker games.

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

The story of Stanisław Wokulski, a wealthy merchant who falls in love with a haughty aristocrat, Izabela Łęcka. Causing a misalliance in the late nineteenth century Warsaw. Young Wokulski is forced to work as a waiter, while dreaming of a life in science. After taking part in the failed uprising, he is sentenced to exile in Siberia. Upon return to Warsaw, he becomes a salesman. Marrying the late shop owner's widow, he becomes rich, He uses his money set up a partnership with a Russian merchant, met in the exile. The two makes a fortune supplying the Russian army. Wokulski falls in love with Izabela, daughter of the bankrupt aristocrat. In his quest to win her, he ventures theatres and aristocratic salons. To help her financially distressed father, he founds a company with the aristocrats as shareholders. Wokulski ability to make money is respected, but his lack of social rank is often brought. Izabela eventually accepts his affection, but without true devotion or love.

Kolumbowie follows a group of Polish resistance fighters during WWII in the days leading up to the Warsaw Rising.

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Polish businessman Jarek Branicki organizes a beauty pageant. As the man in charge, he expects his girlfriend to win it and suggests this outcome to the judges. At the same time, however, he is on the verge of bankruptcy and tries to escape the country after being cornered by his creditors. Recognized by a passenger on the train, he flees and finds refuge in the underground passages of Warsaw’s central railway station.

In the last days of World War 2, people of various ethnic background meet in a Polish military hospital in a small German town, whereas a Nazi SS division hides in the local forests and tries to move westwards.

Andrzej Wajda's English-language film of a novella by Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, aka Joseph Conrad, about a young man in his first command as a sea captain. A series of crises prove incredibly difficult for his new authority, for the sea is curiously becalmed and the crew is weakened by feverish malaria. When the first mate's fear convinces many that the ship is haunted and cursed by the malevolent spirit of the previous captain, the young man must cope with their superstition as well as the conspicuous absence of much-needed medicine.

The post-state farm village of Piaski in Pomerania. A deputy minister shows up in the village. He is interested in finding a bust of Lenin, in which the now deceased former secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party smuggled a diamond of enormous value, the "Eye of Siberia." The confidential conversation between the deputy minister and the village head accidentally overhears the unemployed Stanislaw Michalek. He informs his friends about the case. The three men decide to find the secretary's treasure. The problem is that the secretary had a collection of busts of Lenin, which are now strewn all over the village.

Freed Polish soldiers are trapped in a small town in Germany during the last days of World War II. After a doctor's daughter is raped by a concentration camp worker, the Poles allow her and her father to stay in the house that is their temporary quarters. While waiting to be repatriated, the war-weary group is forced to fight some German soldiers who invade the town. The war brings out conflicting emotions of the Poles who find themselves trapped in the house and once again under fire from the enemy.

The life and reign of Polish king Casimir III The Great.

In 1931, just before the New Year, in a house of architect Henryk Zaremba scream rips the night. The daughter of Zaremba is found killed in her bedroom, obviously killed with a pickaxe. The police arrives and starts the investigation. Rita Gorgonova, the governess of the girl and also lover of Zaremba becomes the main suspect.

A dream-like meditation on post-industrial life in Communist Poland.

Set in the late 1930s in the Free City of Gdańsk, the series follows Bednarski, a private detective considered the best in his field—evidenced by his brief collaboration with Polish intelligence. Each episode presents a standalone story, united by the central character and the broader historical backdrop: the fate of Gdańsk, Poland, Europe, and the world as they edge inexorably toward World War II.

Ignacy Jan Paderewski returns to Poland. A journalist who is supposed to describe his arrival is called to the editorial office.

Jurek Kiler has become a VIP - sponsoring the Polish government, playing tennis with the President, meeting world leaders. He must oversee a transfer of a substantial amount of gold. However, in his past activities, he has made enemies. Mighty ones. And thus Jurek Kiler's next adventure begins as he has to face attempts at kidnapping, assassinations and problems in his love life...

Jerzy Szajnowicz-Ivanov, the son of a Polish mother and a Russian father, raised in Greece, reports to the Carpathian Brigade in the spring of 1941. While the Poles are wary of him at first, he proves his worth by taking part in several sabotage actions against the Nazis.