A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A COUNTRY / ROK Z ŻYCIA KRAJU / РІК З ЖИТТЯ КРАЇНИ

Leonid Nefedovich
Sep 25
2 min read

2024 / 85' / documentary / Poland

A found footage film full of absurdity and crackerjack, frisky energy about a breakthrough moment in Polish and world history.

Poland, 1981. A country on the verge of an unraveling revolution, with communist authorities willing to do whatever it takes to suppress it. General Wojciech Jaruzelski announces a historic decision on national television: Martial Law is imposed in communist Poland on December 13. The next day, tanks take to the streets. Soldiers control the cities, enforce a curfew, and the army pacifies the striking workers. State-controlled journalists try to discredit the opposition led by Lech Wałęsa, and Solidarity members are imprisoned. Propaganda is in full swing. Rationing of goods, queueing for toilet paper, and other ridiculous attempts to kill the spirit of freedom and independence begin. Shall Poland cry over her fate or laugh about the farcical theater in which she’s the main protagonist?

Screenings schedule:

September 29, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. at the Zhovten Cinema, Anshlah Hall

Buy ticket

DIRECTOR - TOMASZ WOLSKI

Biography

Director, scriptwriter, editor, and cameraman of over a dozen films awarded worldwide, he graduated from Wajda School and holds a PhD from the Łódź Film School. He is a participant of Berlinale Talents and a member of the European Film Academy. His feature-length documentary, 1970, has been screened at more than 50 international festivals and has won numerous awards, including those at Visions du Réel, Kraków Film Festival, Zagrebdox, Festival Film Dokumenter, and the Batumi International Art House Film Festival. He is also the editor of Babi Yar. Context, The Kyiv Trial by Sergei Loznitsa, and Horse Riders by Anna Gawlita.