please can you help? I'm desperate, frustrated and disappointed by jellyfin

[dafaq]

thank you.

[quote="dafaq" pid='35324' dateline='1725439918']
- how can I search by colour/BW, director, length, resolution, country or OTHER perfectly banal features?

This entirely depends on the metadata sources providing this information. If any of the sources you have enabled do not provide this, it's impossible to search for these.
the info IS THERE. OF COURSE metadata contains director, country etc., and the file itself contains resolution data. how do I FIND it?

- set WHAT to display on main gallery: film names and posters in original language; director; colour/BW. also, can I see actual posters and not just film stills?
- how can I search for at least: film names; director; black and white; country - and get shown ALL matches?

Once again, this depends on the metadata sources providing that info. You can filter on a library to show specific tags/genres only, but if it's not there automatically, it's up to you to add the genre/tags to each item.
there ARE film posters out there. what I must do to make it clear to JF to get THOSE (and in the language of the FILM) rather than STILLS or polish posters?
and again, everything else is already there! I have about a dozen Godard films, but when I search for "Godard" in JF, it shows 2!

- see POSTERS rather than film stills? should I really have to edit EVERY FILM INDIVIDUALLY?

I get the feeling that you used the mixed library type.
I DO use the movie library.

- set which languages not to subtitle?

You need to explain further how you expect this to work.
If I have a film in one of these pre-set languages, they will NOT be subtitled (yes, unless hardcoded.) - JF will neither look for subtitles nor display existing subtitle files. however, if a film is in any other language, JF WILL subtitle.