In the Name of Their Mothers:

               The Story of Irena Sendler

Through the memories of Irena Sendler, 'In the Name of Their Mothers' tells the unknown story of a secret network of Poles who fought to aid the Jews during World War II. Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, led an underground operation to rescue 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The film recounts her youth as a Polish socialist, wartime conspiracy work, Gestapo arrest and imprisonment, and her ongoing efforts to heal the childhood wounds of war.

Trans-Action

                         (Trans-Akcja)

Trans-Action (HBO Central Europe 2010) tells the story of an extraordinary woman. Anna Grodzka who in 2011 became the first transgender person in the Polish government, and the third transgender member of government in world history, was born in the male body and decided to finally begin her life as a woman only in her 50s. Trans-Action is an inspiring story of the pursuit of happiness and authenticity. It explores some of the most misunderstood phenomena and touches upon the most fundamental aspects of identity and the human condition.

Castaways

                         (Wyrzutki)

The small town of Lapy was one of several train stations on the way to Treblinka. Cattle trains with transports of Jews would slow down in Lapy or even stop for a few minutes while the tracks were being adjusted. This is how the idea of trying to save small children by throwing them off the train was born. Several dozen Jewish children are reported to have been cast from the trains in attempts to save them from death in the gas chambers of Treblinka. The last eyewitnesses to this story live in Lapy to this day and they remember the horrific times.

Coming Out Polish Style

                 (Coming Out Po Polsku)

"Coming Out Polish Style" offers a rare look into the lives of gays and lesbians people in contemporary Poland. The film explores the issue of gay and lesbian rights in a conservative society, which is undergoing a very dynamic transformation, allowing for more and more successful liberal changes. The documentary focuses on the diverse and complex identity struggles involved in the process of 'coming out'. It profiles both celebrities who are openly gay in Poland, as well as young people from small towns who are still in the process of 'coming out'.

Rainbow Folk

                             (Teczowi)

"RAINBOW FOLK" is a 26 minute long documentary, which presents some of the complexities involved in being gay or lesbian in contemporary Poland. A number of young people recount different experiences of 'coming out' to family and friends in the very dynamic Polish context, where homophobia is intertwined with signs of a growing social acceptance. The struggle for equal rights continues as young gays and lesbians face personal challenges in their pursuit of happiness and authenticity.

The Peretzniks

The film tells the story of a Jewish school in Lodz, Poland. The school was shut down following the Communist antisemitic campaign, which took place in Poland in 1968. As a result of this, the Peretz School graduates are dispersed today between the US, Canada, Israel, Sweden, Poland, and other countries. The bittersweet memories of their youth in post-war Poland are what binds the Peretzniks together till this day. The Peretzniks is the first documentary, which addresses the complexities of Jewish existence in post-war Poland under the Communist regime.

The Red Button

                      (Czerwony Guzik)

The Red Button tells the dramatic story of Stanislav Petrov, the Russian officer who, in 1983, saved the world from atomic war. On September 26, 1983, Stanislaw Petrov was in charge of monitoring American missiles that could potentially be sent to Russia. Shortly after midnight, Petrov noticed a five missiles on his screen. Several minutes later things became much more serious: The siren began wailing, on a upper screen showed “Missile Attack”. The future of the world was in the 44-year-old Russian officer’s hands as he wrestled with the decision of whether or not to use Russia’s atomic button.

The Pencil

                         (Olowek)

A short feature film based on a script by Tomas Wisniewski is intended as a pilot for a full feature movie. The film tells the story of a birth of a difficult love, which happened between a Jewish boy coming for a religious family and a Polish girl brought up in a Catholic family. As a result of their persistence and love, both are able to break a resistance coming from both religious communities. Slowly as a result of their honesty and patience, although reluctantly, they obtain an acceptance of their relationship.

Action of this film takes place at one of the last pre-war original Bialystok yards. It is the same building and the same Sienkiewicza Street (the street name remained also the same) where Jews and Poles lived next to each other until 1939. This film's intention is to show that despite tensions and conflicts among Poles and Jews in the pre-war Bialystok there was reasonably good atmosphere full of tolerance and respect among these neighbors.

Magda

The film portrays Magda (Magdalena Grodzka-Gużkowska) who joined the Polish Underground in the fight against Nazis at age 15. She risked her life in efforts to save Jewish lives in Warsaw. Decades later, she discovered her own Jewish roots, which she had been hitherto unaware of.

Paint What You Remember
(Namaluj co pamietasz)

Mayer was born in 1916 in a small shtetl: Opatow. He completed seven grades of Polish school and immigrated to Canada at age 17. After he retired over 20 years ago, his daughter Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, began urging him to tell and paint whatever he could remember of his childhood. The images yielded by his memory exceeded everyone’s expectations, probably including his own. Mayer’s photographic memory allowed him to meticulously recreate Jewish life in Opatow, as it was before the war.

Coming Out in Poland

Many Polish gay men and lesbians remain in the closet for fear of being ostracized from family and friends, and in some cases losing their jobs. "Coming Out in Poland" offers a rare look into the lives of "out" gay people in Warsaw. The film profiles a radio personality who came out as a gay man on his own live show, while confronting homophobia, and a lesbian couple, one of whom lost her teaching job, as a result of speaking out publicly as a gay woman. "Coming Out in Poland" explores the issue of gay and lesbian rights in a conservative society, while providing a glimpse into the complex identity struggles involved in the process of 'coming out'.

Portraits of Emotion:
The Story of an Autistic Savant

Portraits of Emotion is a feature length documentary film that follows over the course of five years, the life of 14-year-old Jonathan Lerman, an artistic prodigy who is diagnosed with autism, a lifelong developmental disability that affects learning, communication and social interaction. While capable of drawing astonishing portraits that capture the nuances of human emotion, Jonathan is unable to effectively verbally communicate his feelings.

Saved by Deportation:

An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews

Saved By Deportation is the first feature length documentary film to tell the dramatic story of Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust through their deportation to the Soviet Union. The film recounts the 1940 deportations of Polish Jews from Soviet-occupied eastern Poland to Gulag labor settlementsin the Arctic north; life in Soviet Central Asia after release from the Gulag; and the deportees' experiences upon returning to Poland at the end of World War II and confronting the aftermath of the Holocaust. In recounting the epic saga of the deportations the film examines the essential constructs - family, culture, religion, personal relationships - upon which the deportees relied during their years of exile from 1940 to 1946. The film also addresses how inter-ethnic relations played out in the remote areas of the Soviet Union among the disparate nationalities of Jews, Poles, Russians, and Central Asians.

Płonący Facet 'Burning Man'

On the 20th anniversary of Burning Man, the biggest open festival of art in the world, we followed a dozen Polish artists as they experienced this unique American tradition. This picturesque event, shot in HDV, which brought over forty thousand participants to the Nevada desert, is visually stunning. Because none of the Polish participants had ever been to such an event, their virgin reaction and fresh feelings created a dramatic as well as humorous narration for the film.

Michael & Svetlana

A fascinating transatlantic love affair journey and a documentary about an American who subscribed to matchmaking service to find himself a Russian bride. Michael ultimately chooses Svetlana, a young woman living in a small village in central Russia, who doesn't speak Russian and has never traveled outside of Russia.

The Legacy of Jedwabne

In the small town Jedwabne in northeast Poland, Jews lived side by side with local Poles for over two centuries, but on July 10, 1941, almost the entire Jewish population of the town was murdered – not by the Nazis, but at the hands of their Christian neighbors. This thought-provoking film hopes to increase tolerance and understanding, thereby forging new alliances between Jews and non-Jews.

The Last Witness

The documentary spins a tale of Samuel Willenberg's life. He was 20 at the outbreak of the armed revolt on August 2nd of 1943 in the death camp of Treblinka in Poland. As a result of the revolt 400 out of 1000 inmates managed to escape Treblinka. 67 of them survived the war. The Last Witness is the first film to tell the story of the Treblinka revolt and the SS Sonder Commando (special unit).

Tell Me Why

Tell Me Why is a documentary film about love between two people, whose youth was interrupted by perhaps the most terrifying events in human history. It is also a story about an extraordinary feeling, which may have rescued them from death, but could never outshine the horrific shadow of the Shoah.

The Closure Myth

The Closure Myth tells the story of Aba Gayle, a woman whose daughter was stabbed to death in 1980, yet who now visits the murderer on death row and acts as an advocate on his behalf. Tracing Aba Gayle's dramatic transformation from before her daughter's murder to the present, The Closure Myth tells a powerful story of forgiveness and gives voice to an often overlooked perspective in the death penalty debate.

The Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto 1940-1943 is documentary project that features three films. The main film is 912 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the two short ones are Children in the Ghetto and Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. These films were created for the Jewish Historical Institute as part of its permanent exhibit on the fate of Warsaw's Jews during the period from 1939 to 1945. They present the daily lives and deaths of those imprisoned in the ghetto, their hopes and efforts to survive, their armed resistance and struggle, and finally their total extermination. Unique Polish and German archival materials were used in the preparation of these films.

BORDERLINE:
The People v. Eunice Baker

BORDERLINE is a feature length documentary that tells the story of Eunice Baker, a borderline mentally retarded woman who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for murdering a young child, despite evidence that the death was accidental.

FENCELINE:
A Company Town Divided

Fenceline follows the story of Margie Richard, who claims that her African American community is suffering adverse health effects, due to the chemical emissions of a neighboring plant owned by the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company.

SCHOOL PRAYER:
A Community at War

A Mississippi mother of six sues her local school district to remove intercom prayer and Bible classes from the public schools. Christian community members rally against her to protect their time-honored tradition of religious practices in the schools. Both sides claim they are fighting for religious freedom.

Zielona Karta (Green Card Gamble)

In Polish

Jest to 31-odcinkowa filmowa telenowela opowiadajaca o losach Polakow, ktorzy wylosowali 'zielona karte' w loterii wizowej organizowanej przez rzad amerykanski. Kilka pierwszych odcinkow pokazuje zycie bohaterow filmu przed wyjazdem do USA - czym sie zajmuja, jakie motywy sklonily ich do wziecia udzialu w loterii i jakie nadzieje wiaza z emigracja. Nastepne odcinki zrealizowane sa juz za oceanem, gdzie 'Polonusi' staraja sie ulozyc nowe zycie.

In English

The documentary series Zielona Karta (Green Card Gamble) follows the lives of three Polish families who, as a result of winning a Diversity Program visa lottery, each received a green card, allowing them to become permanent residents of the United States.

B&B Guestbook 9/11

This half-hour documentary, shot at a bed and breakfast four hours Northwest of New York City, captures the reactions of guests to the September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Regular people, many of whom witnessed the World Trade Center attacks in New York City, describe where they were, what they felt and the actions they took on that day. They speak at the breakfast table, outdoors against a backdrop of fall trees with decaying leaves, and at other locations around a rural log cabin inn. The documentary, entirely shot on digital Betacam and edited digitally, captures the strikingly personal stories of regular people forced to consider fearful realities of humanity in the blink of an eye.

CHELYABINSK:
The Most Contaminated
Spot on the Planet

For forty-five years, Chelyabinsk province of Russia was closed to all foreigners. Only in January of 1992 did President Boris Yeltsin sign a decree changing that. Shortly afterwards, I made my first trip to this region, which later Western scientists declared to be the most polluted spot on earth.

From Chechnya to Chernobyl

The tiny, little-known country of Belarus suffered more than any other in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Winds scattered the heaviest radioactive deposits across the country, where, even after a decade, 25% of the land is judged uninhabitable. Thousands of villages and towns were abandoned or evacuated, and their populations resettled to safer areas.

Like a Butterfly

After spending half of his life in a home for handicapped people, the severely physical handicapped Przemek is given the chance to express himself for the first time. Presumed to be “a vegetable”, gradually he realized that nobody had any idea that he was mentally completely healthy. Accidentally, a therapist discovered the signals, which Przemek was sending. He himself narrates this reflective picture.

Adopting Olya

Four-year-old Olya has lived in the Children's Home in Chelyabinsk all her life. She has been diagnosed with a vague "developmental disability." Olya knows her future American family only from a little photo album: "This is Daddy Sam, this is Mom, this is my kitty."

When the Family Gets AIDS

This documentary traces, over a 15-month period, the ravaging impact AIDS has on the Strenger family of rural Pennsylvania. Bill Strenger narrates the video. His wife, Donna, who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, infected him, along with his son.

Is This Life Worth Living?

The new technologies that allow us to prolong life have raised many questions of medical ethics. What is "quality of life?" Who determines or defines this concept? Is This Life Worth Living? examines the different cases of families forced to ask such questions.Their difficult circumstances and their varying reactions are rendered without bias, leaving the audience to continue the debate and grapple with the issues presented.

A Tower of Babel, USA

Dutch from Amsterdam, NY is a family portrait that demonstrates how Americans are as diverse in their ideas and lifestyles as they are in their aspirations and interpretations of the "American Dream." Part of an original four-part series A Tower of Babel-USA, screened on select PBS stations.

My American Dream

This video collection of three episodes is part of a larger ten-part series that explores the "American Dream." The three segments presented in this collection are portraits of unique individuals whom the filmmaker met during his travels to Middle America.

Anna Proletarian

Weeks before Christmas in 1970 the government, under Gomulka's leadership, raised the prices of food, fuel, and other basic goods, and furthermore cancelled the Christmas bonuses for workers at the shipyards. Strikes erupted in the port cities of Gdansk, Szczecin, and Elblag and casualties ensued. Eventually Edward Gierek replaced Gomulka, and after continued strikes, the price hike was finally rescinded in 1971. However, workers had won neither the freedom of speech nor the right to organized free trade unions. In 1978, the Polish activists organized the Constituent Committee of Free Trade Unions of the Baltic (KWZZ) to promote non-violent collective action. The members in the underground organization included Lech Walesa and Anna Walentynowicz. This is the story of Anna Walentynowicz, a seminal figure in the history of the Poland's Solidaronsc. To know Anna's story is to understand the story of Poland.

The Sunday

The boredom of a typical Sunday is relieved when the circus troupe, comes to town. The politically charged performance given by the "Arnoldo and Mellissa Boticellissa" performers turns out to be the troupe's last show.