Program series: Retrospective
In addition to premiering brand-new films, Kosmorama also turns its attention to film history through this year’s Retrospekt programme. In 2026, Retrospekt will focus on film censorship and artistic freedom of expression, with particular emphasis on Polish cinema and Polish filmmakers who were subjected to censorship, bans, and other forms of pressure or attacks on their freedom of speech, expression, and artistic practice during the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, censorship has once again become a pressing contemporary issue, both in Poland and around the world. This makes the need to look back at this period in film history especially timely and necessary.
A lonely woman
Single mother Irena lives in a run-down apartment with her eight-year-old son, the only bright spot in her life. On the margins of Polish society, she rarely socializes and struggles with constant financial hardship. When she meets Jacek, a disabled former miner, she allows herself a fragile hope for love and a fresh start. But the pressures surrounding her intensify, forcing her into choices with serious consequences.
Completed in 1981, the film was banned by Polish authorities and only released in 1987. Many consider it one of the finest works from Holland’s early career.
Blind Chance
Without realizing it, medical student Witek finds himself at a decisive moment in life as he sprints to catch a train. From here, the film splits into three different narrative paths, depending on whether he makes it or not. In one version, he becomes a member of the Communist Party; in another, he joins the opposition; in the third, he attempts to live an apolitical life. Small coincidences lead to enormous consequences.
Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland has described Blind Chance as possibly Kieślowski’s best and most original film. Tightly constructed and brilliantly performed, Bogusław Linda shines in the lead role.
Escape from the 'liberty' Cinema
Rabkiewicz works for the Polish censorship authorities and firmly believes that censorship is necessary for all art. One day, he is summoned to a local cinema where something extraordinary occurs: the actors in a banal romantic film break the fourth wall, sabotage the screening, and hurl insults at the audience. Reality itself begins to unravel, with spontaneous operatic outbursts in the streets and escalating chaos. Tasked with restoring order, Rabkiewicz must confront both his profession and his faith in the system he serves.
Escape from the ‘Liberty’ Cinema is both hilarious and a powerful reminder of the subversive force of art.
Man of Iron
Maciej is an activist in the anti-communist Solidarity movement. When he leads a strike at a shipyard in Gdańsk, journalist Winkel from the state-controlled press is sent to uncover damaging information about him. As Winkel investigates Maciej’s past, earlier labor protests and his relationship with his father come to light. Gradually, the assignment turns into a moral trial for the journalist himself.
After the Solidarity movement emerged in 1980, censorship in Poland briefly eased. When the movement was crushed in December 1981, freedom of expression was once again curtailed. Man of Iron was released during this narrow window and is remarkably critical of the communist regime. When censorship tightened again, the film was banned at home – but internationally it received widespread acclaim, winning the Palme d’Or and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
On the silver globe
A group of astronauts crash-lands on a distant planet and establishes a new civilization. Generations later, another traveler arrives from Earth and is hailed as a messiah – but salvation turns out to be brutal.
Andrzej Żuławski’s epic film is based on a novel trilogy by his great-uncle, Jerzy Żuławski. Presented here in a newly restored 4K version, the film stands as a chilling testament to state censorship. Production was halted by Polish authorities before completion. Nearly a decade later, Żuławski resumed work on the film, using his own voice-over to describe scenes that were never shot.
Possession
The spy Mark returns home to West Berlin to discover that his wife Anna wants a divorce. At first, Mark suspects that Anna has a lover, but after a series of increasingly bizarre events, he uncovers a horrifying truth beyond anything he could have imagined. What begins as a painful breakup turns into a nightmare.
Polish director Andrzej Żuławski made Possession with Western European funding after facing censorship in Poland during the turbulent production of On the Silver Globe. The political vulnerability he carried into exile permeates the film: a collapsing marriage mirrors the disintegration of Eastern Europe, intensified by the presence of the Berlin Wall. The film’s desperation is further heightened by Żuławski’s own painful divorce at the time.
Shivers
Wojciech Marczewski’s autobiographical film Shivers is set in the mid-1950s and follows teenage boy Tomek growing up under a totalitarian regime. When police raid his family home and arrest his father, Tomek is sent to a communist youth camp – where he comes face to face with the ideology that tore his family apart.
The film is a powerful and personal exposé of a totalitarian system’s use of brainwashing and psychological oppression. Though briefly screened upon completion in 1981, it was subsequently banned by Polish censors and withheld for three years.
The resistance Shivers encountered deeply affected Marczewski, who went on to direct only three more films. Nevertheless, he remained a central figure in Polish cinema, particularly as a teacher at the Lódź Film School.
