Simona Kossak - daughter of the painter Jerzy Kossak and granddaughter of Wojciech - deprived of the talent that has defined her family for generations, grows up without knowing the warmth of her despotic mother. When, after graduation, she leaves everything - home, tradition, social conventions - and takes up a job as a scientist in Białowieża, she starts life on her own terms.
Summer of 1945. A temporary orphanage is established in an abandoned palace surrounded by forests for the eight children liberated from the Gross-Rosen camp. Hanka, also a former inmate, becomes their guardian. After the atrocities of the camp, the protagonists slowly begin to regain what is left of their childhood but the horror returns quickly. Camp Alsatians roam the forests around. Released by the SS earlier on, they have gone feral and are starving. Looking for food they besiege the palace. The children are terrified and their camp survival instinct is triggered.
The film tells the story of two Highlander brothers – Maciek and Andrzej. After the death of their father, which Andrzej contributed to, and the loss of his beloved Bronka, Andrzej leaves the family home. On his way, he meets the mysterious Wolfram, an anthropologist and climber. He shares with him his mountaineering technique and knowledge about the Prague origins of the highlanders. Andrzej returns to Zakopane, war breaks out. To protect the Highlanders from wartime destruction, he wants to persuade them to cooperate with the Germans. Andrzej and Maciek are standing on opposite sides of the barricade. The brothers' confrontation is bloody and painful.
11-year-old Mickey House is no longer a child. But who is he? He doesn’t know. He’s friendless. He doesn’t understand his mother. He hates what’s happening to his body. Reality and imagination come together in a toxic mix. Events escalate to extremes… at home and at school. Mickey has to find the strength within him to put a stop to what’s begun. Where will his encounter with his own maturing body take him?
Five young Ukrainians discuss life following the Maidan Revolution of 2014. Not all fought in the Russian-Ukrainian war, but it, regardless, shattered their life plans. Representing 'Generation Maidan', they face the question of how to cope with experiences of violence, how to go on. A local theatre director produces Hamlet, wherein they can use Shakespeare’s tragic character as a mirror and face their traumas onstage. For them, 'to be or not to be' is not simply text but an existential dilemma with no clear answer.
14 year old Yuri has a strong bond with her father, border patrol guard Lorenzo, dubbed 'The Hunter': not only because he is good at his job, but also because he is a passionate huntsman. In winter, when the snow blurs the contours in the landscape Yuri turns 15. Lorenzo decides that she is now old enough to carry their family's generational rifle. Lorenzo, Yuri and her uncle Ivan drive deep inland to go on a hunting trip for a few days. But Yuri's 'rite de passage', this celebration and almost ritual initiation, takes a disastrous and irrevocable turn. Lorenzo struggles to place the impact the tragedy has on their lives.
Vlogger Eryk documents his preparations for his bodybuilding debut. He is helped by the woman of his life: his overprotective mother, Teresa. Before the competition, Eryk meets Mona. As they go out on a date, the online world clashes with reality. But it is still less painful than Eryk's debut.
Inspired by Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Rafał Mularz, a stranger in his own society, creates a daily routine and a lifestyle that protects him from the outside world. His method seems to work fine until he is confronted with another stranger. A man thrown out by the sea, an immigrant. Rafał has to make a decision: Will he confront this society unfit for strangers and take responsibility for this man? Or will he choose to continue to protect himself?
The life of a woman and a man at a crossroads - in two separate stories that perhaps have something in common. Ewa is an English teacher and translator, but she is hired as a caregiver for an elderly lady, whom she is to entertain with reading and conversation. Eryk works at a university, but is more interested in helping those in need rather than in literature, which - just like his quick temper - causes him a lot of problems. They both have difficult personalities and feel that they don’t get as much from life as they deserve. There could be more points of contact - a shared past or future?
A railway officer tries to learn about the lifestyle and language of a tribe that lives on the brink of a civilisation. Unfortunately, he creates problems for them.
