Contra Studio

As Poland prepares for a presidential election, the country is consumed by political campaigning and media spectacle. Among the candidates is Jan Rydel, an outspoken and unconventional man who openly mocks the political establishment and refuses to play by its rules. As the campaign progresses, Rydel makes an unexpected decision that turns the election on its head. Determined to put his principles into practice, he sets out to give away what he has accumulated, only to discover that helping people is far more complicated than he imagined. His attempt to distribute his wealth brings a succession of eccentric characters into his life and forces him to confront the contradictions of a society driven by bureaucracy, ambition and self-interest.

In 2011, a psychiatric patient is visited by a postulate. The patient is a retired head of the "D" Group – a secret department of the Security Service to fight against the Polish Catholic church. Murders, beatings, blackmails, provocations, robberies, those are standard methods of operation for its officers. The postulate wants to unravel the mystery of the death of priest Roman Kotlarz, a parish priest from Pelagow.

A poetic narrative about the dream and longing for ideal art. The protagonist is a 19-year-old musical genius Joachim (modeled probably after F. Schubert or R. Schumann). A creator inhabiting the borderline between reality and madness. . . or perhaps genius? A man who steers his fate or perhaps merely follows the glamor and darkness of women (such as Clara Wieck, Schumann's wife; Mozart's Constance; or mysterious Rosamund) encountered along the way. Music of the great Romantics provides the backdrop for the story: Mozart's Quintet in A-major, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata, and Schumann's eponymous Märchenbilder.

Russian Federation Duma deputy Omar O. Begov, when asked if Stalin can be put on the same level as Hitler, is offended. He says: Poland should be grateful to Stalin that it was separated from other countries, that it became independent. Truman, Churchill and others wanted to divide her like Germany. Stalin insisted that the Republic of Poland remain independent. Most Russians think similarly - if they think about it at all. Some, however, like historians from the Memorial Association, are uncovering the horrifying truth about the methodical, multi-stage extermination of Poles that began on Stalin's orders in 1934.

This is the story of a man who travels the country alone, dragging all his small possessions behind him on a cart he has constructed. His attitude causes a variety of reactions from people - from kindness to outright dislike and intolerance.