Nights and Days

Jadwiga Baranska won the 1976 best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for her towering performance in the Polish historical epic Nights and Days. Originally offered in two parts, the film details the execution and aftermath of the unsuccessful 1863-64 Polish rebellion. This national disaster is seen through the eyes of a single family, whose members suffer mightily in the days following the aborted insurrection. The family gamely attempts to hold itself together and retain its dignity despite persecution, expulsion, and losing everything it holds dear. Nights and Days was nominated for the "Best Foreign Picture" Academy Award.