Film unfolds in five sequences, each depicting a facet of Barbórka celebrations—from the miners’ orchestra wake-up call and the medal-awarding academy through evening feasting and dancing. Folk traditions mingle with party-state rituals as speeches for the PZPR Congress intercut candlelit toasts. In the opening mining-orchestra segment, dynamic editing syncs shot length to the music’s tempo, while grotesque staging casts engineers as conductors and workers’ movements as instrumental solos.

Director: Zbigniew Rybczyński