Warsaw, 1968. University students Janek and Hania are deeply in love and preparing for the future together. They spend joyful days and nights naively unaware of the precipice on which Poland is situated. When the Communist regime suppresses the work of a renowned playwright, theater student Hania is emboldened to take to the streets in protest with Janek by her side, despite his status as the son of a colonel in the Interior Ministry. Although Hania's father Jerzy has already lost his job as a prominent neurosurgeon after voicing support for Israel against Soviet allies Egypt and Syria, he expresses to his wife Elzbieta that he is hopeful that the circumstances will improve. But when Elzbieta loses her job that supports the family, and Hania is detained on suspicions that she is working as an Israeli or American spy, they make the difficult decision to leave their beloved Poland behind. Now Hania and Janek must choose between love, family and freedom. Based on the seldom told story of Poland's exodus of nearly 15,000 Jews due to a hostile anti-Semitic campaign, writer/director Krzysztof Lang intersperses archival news and on-the-street footage with the fictional story, mining his personal experience of loss to dedicate this film to his old friends who were unjustly persecuted.
Sponsored by Eileen Ruby