Man of Marble

Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), a film student, is preparing her thesis project about Birkut (J. Radziwiłowicz), an outstanding worker from the 1950s. She tries to gather testimonies from his former colleagues and archival materials to depict his journey from the enthusiasm of rebuilding to a conflict with ideology. During her work, she receives help from an editor who shows her unpublished recordings alongside the official newsreels. The project meets resistance from the television station — Agnieszka has her equipment and crew taken away. Discouraged, she briefly returns to her father’s home. However, she decides not to abandon the subject and searches for Birkut’s son to continue documenting the hero’s life from a personal, rather than systemic, perspective.