The Promised Land

Festival of Polish Feature Films in Gdańsk 1975: best film; best leading male role (Wojciech Pszoniak); best music (Wojciech Kilar); best scenography (Tadeusz Kosarewicz) Oscars 1976: nomination for best foreign language film Lubuskie Film Summer 1976: Mermaid of Warsaw - best Polish film; Złote Grono - best film Valladolid International Film Festival 1976: Golden Ear - best film Golden Ducks 2007: best film Bravely executed adaptation of the almost forgotten novel by Władysław Reymont, depicting against the background of rapidly developing Łódź at the end of the 19th century, the fate of three friends: the German Max, the Jew Moryce and the Pole Charles.

The heroes decide to start their own textile factory in the city, which is not to the taste of Jewish, German and Russian competition. Along the way, Karol Borowiecki seduces Lucy Zuckerowa, the alluring wife of an old factory worker, using the romance to raise capital, and Moryc Welt conducts risky financial and commercial speculation in the Jewish community, balancing on the verge of bankruptcy and fraud. At the same time, Maks Baum negotiates with German industrialists in an attempt to save a failing family business, while the great financiers Bucholz, Grünspan and Müller try to win over the young and ambitious for their business. In the end, Borowiecki decides to sell his family property, move his fiancée Anka to Łódź and surrender his lofty values to the wolf rules of capitalism.