Thank You for Playing: Iconic Video Game Magazines

Mundial: The Highest Stakes

May 2014 •Polish

A documentary tale about sport and politics under martial law. All of Poland saw the great goals of Boniek and Smolarek during the Espana '82 championships. For a moment, it was forgotten that the background of the sporting performance was martial law, censorship, an army on the streets, prisons filled with oppositionists. The performance of the players was so successful that it was called "the most beautiful series of martial law". The game is watched by interned activists of "Solidarity", sports journalists and censors, cutting out all manifestations of the opposition from television broadcasts. We also get to know the performance in Spain from the perspective of the players, trying to meet not only their ambitions but also to bear the burden of fans' expectations and regime propaganda.

Les juifs de Pologne, des cendres à l'espoir

September 2013 •French

Les Juifs de Pologne, des pogroms à la Shoah

April 2014 •French

People in Elancia

December 2020 •Korean

The 1999 game "Elancia" marks its 21st anniversary this year. Due to lack of management, various macros programs and cheats are rampant, but few users are still left in the game. Why can't they leave Elancia? "My Sister Jeon Ji-hyun," a user of Elancia for 16 years, stepped out of a stuffy room with a camera to answer questions about why others are still playing the game.

Deliverance: The Making of Kingdom Come

November 2018 •Czech

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a unique single-player RPG set in the realistic world of medieval Europe. The path to its release was a long and complicated one: the game was rejected by publishers as too risky and its development was only possible thanks to the support of thousands of backers on Kickstarter. Even then, the developers still faced a whole range of obstacles due to the game's unconventional ideas and mechanisms. This documentary charts the more than six-year long, tortuous journey from the foundation of Warhorse Studios to the final release of the game.

The Hitler–Stalin Pact

January 2019 •French

How could Hitler and Stalin, sworn ideological enemies, come to a secret pact in 1939? The captivating and detailed story of the diplomatic fiasco that led to the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact and its devastating consequences.

Et si on levait les yeux ? Une classe face aux écrans

February 2024 •French

Ukraine-Poland: The Border of Solidarity

May 2022 •French

Since 24 February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, several million refugees have already been taken in by Poles. In the Lublin region, near the Bug River, which marks the border with Ukraine and Belarus, farmers, shopkeepers, a photographer, and a teacher tell how their daily lives have been transformed by the outbreak of this war.

Icon

May 2016 •Polish

“Where is the human soul? Is it in the heart? In the brain? Or maybe elsewhere?”, wonders an old doctor who has spent his life working at a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian countryside. The place, which was inaccessible for film crews, can be shown thanks to its residents, some of whom spent several decades at the hospital. This discreet and, at the same time, insightful observation of the patients’ daily lives transforms into meditation on the human nature, which is not entirely penetrable.

Class Acts

January 2023 •English

Class Acts is a feature-length documentary tracing the genesis of Singapore's creative scene in the '90s through intimate conversations with its pioneering personalities. These are the stories of individuals who started creating with nothing, who push Singapore’s creative standards even today. The ones who went on to inspire a new generation of musicians, designers, and street artists.

Ancestral Code

November 2020 •Ukrainian

The documentary film ANCESTRAL CODE is a research into the origins of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples, the search for their identity through the study of the melodism of Slavic ethnographic heritage. Nowadays many people talk about brotherhood, spiritual intimacy, affinity. The authors analyze the connection between the neighboring peoples of Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus and Poland through music and folklore.

They Survived Together

December 2021 •English

The Neiger family was living a peaceful life in the Jewish community in Krakow when the arrival of World War II changed their lives forever. When Nazi soldiers forced the family from their home into the harsh life of the Ghetto, they made a vow to escape as a family. But when circumstances forced the family to separate from older brother Ben, their will to survive was put to the test. They Survived Together" is the incredible, true story of one family as they desperately tried to stay alive... and together as a family with four small children, attempted to escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis. They are believed to be one of the only families to escape and survive as a family.

Once My Mother

July 2014 •English

Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz investigates why her Polish mother abandoned her and uncovers the truth behind her mother's wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, leaving Sophia to confront her own capacity for forgiveness.

Tell No One

May 2019 •Polish

Polish documentary directed by Tomasz Sekielski about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Poland.

Człowiek ze studni

January 1991 •Polish

44 Pages

April 2018 •English

A portrait of Highlights Magazine following the creation of the cultural phenomenon's 70th Anniversary issue, from the first editorial meeting to its arrival in homes, and introducing the quirky people who passionately produce the monthly publication for "the world's most important people,"...children. Along the way, a rich and tragic history is revealed, the state of childhood, technology, and education is explored, and the future of print media is questioned.

Dokument NES

June 2014 •English

Dokument NES is a documenteray about Nintendo & Nintendo Entertainment System. The documentary follows Nintendo from the start of their success with Famicom/NES and the tale of how Famicom became the personification of the 8-bit era.

In the back of history - The lost villages of Masuria

September 2018 •German

In September of 2017 German writer and director Daniel Raboldt accompanied a group of German and Polish scientists and students into the woods of Masuria, Poland. The expedition aimed to find traces of the so-called "lost villages", left by the Masurians around 1945 by the end of the Second World War. Today only some of the old graveyards can be found deep in the woods of the beautiful Masurian landscape. The documentary "In the back of history - The lost villages of Masuria" shows the students at their work in the historic archives and in the woods. How conclusive can this kind of historic research be? How much can we really learn by looking through old files or other sources? And what can we learn from the vanishing of the Masurians? Do we face similar problems today? The film dives deep into themes like the rise of nationalism and identity and uncovers the tragic end of a population that was asked one simple question in the early 20th century: Stay or Leave?

Auf der Oder

April 1970 •German

ProGamer

October 2016 •Swedish

Two professional European gamers navigate the exploding world of electronic sports. Packed with youthful ambition and impeded by reality, the ProGamers struggle to thrive in the fledgling industry of eSports.