“One of the best entries in the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, Nightmares scores as a period piece and a contemporary parable. It also catapults Wojciech Marczewski into the role of the new Polish director to watch! Nightmares is the story of Mikolajh, who grows up to be a rebellious, poetic-minded teenager, thanks to the tyranny of his school director, the religious fanaticism of a teacher, and the sadistic streak of a professor. All the boys at this school suffer in different ways, but in Mikolajh's life experiences and nightmares blend until reality is wiped out.” -Chicago International Film Festival, 1979

“Actually, what seemed important to me was to ask the following question: what chance does one have to preserve one's personality, what choice does an individual have concerning his own life, confronted with the pressures and social stereotypes, confronted with sacred institutions, confronted with the nightmares of daily life.
“I wanted to raise the problem of the right to determine one's proper destiny, and to defend human dignity. And I hope that no one will be fooled by the ‘historic' aspect of my film.” -Wojciech Marczewski