Workers '80

A unique record of the events of August 1980 on the Polish coast, when the firing of crane operator Anna Walentynowicz from the Gdansk Shipyard triggered a strike. Negotiations between the Interfactory Strike Committee and representatives of the Government Commission led to the signing of an agreement on the last day of August, which less than three weeks later resulted in the creation of the Solidarity trade union. Put together in a flash, the film captures history as it was playing out. In Workers '80, you can see some of the legends of era: Walentynowicz, Lech Wałęsa, Andrzej Gwiazda, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Bronisław Geremek, Bogdan Lis, and Father Henryk Jankowski. One of the most popular Polish documentaries in history is filled with a raw intensity. The images are not always of the highest quality, and the picture sometimes disappears altogether, but the filmmakers decided to include these fragments in the film in any case, as they explain it, to remain faithful to the truth. (New Horizons International Film Festival)