Set in Polish Galicia on the eve of World War I, Austeria tells of a night in the lives of a group of Jews who barricade themselves within an “austeria,” or roadside inn, against an avenging army of cossacks. During the long night the inn comes alive with romance, religious ecstasy and personal grief for this microcosm of the Jewish community, while the innkeeper, Tag, is led to come to terms with himself as both a man and a Jew. Fine ensemble acting and a superb script (adapted by Kawalerowicz and the prominent writer Tadeusz Konwicki from the novel by Julian Stryjkowski) have made this one of the most celebrated Polish films of recent years; it is also one of the first to treat the delicate issue of Polish Jewry. Kawalerowicz has written: “The missing world of the Polish Jews...their quite original community, with its intellectual life, philosophy, customs, unique charm and poetics...has waited for a long time to be commemorated on the screen.... Austeria is first of all a portrait of a world in the not-too-distant past...which we today can only glimpse as reflected light.”