CEN2-08. Trains

Poland/Lithuania, Feature Documentary, 2024, 80 min

A train journey is something beautiful, magical — a moment suspended between departure and arrival — where strangers share a confined space and fleeting glimpses of each other’s lives. In Trains, a striking found-footage documentary drawn entirely from archival materials, there is no dialogue — only the raw movement, gestures and expressions of people across 20th-century Europe. Within compartments, ordinary passengers experience moments of connection, tension and quiet drama, while history repeats itself: soldiers leaving for war, some returning broken or never at all; civilians fleeing conflict; prisoners and Holocaust survivors returning from camps; victors and the defeated crossing paths. Yet amid these cycles, life quietly persists and human resilience continues to shine across generations.

Directed by Maciej J. Drygas

Colorado Premiere