The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as the history of cinematography, and it has universally recognized achievements, even though Polish films tend to be less commercially available than films from several other European nations.
Andrzej Witold Wajda was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "Polish Film School". He was known especially for his trilogy of war films consisting of A Generation (1955), Kanał (1957) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958).
Ashes and Diamonds is a 1958 Polish drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda, based on the 1948 novel by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski. Starring Zbigniew Cybulski and Ewa Krzyżewska, it completed Wajda's war films trilogy, following A Generation (1954) and Kanal (1956). The action of Ashes and Diamonds takes place in 1945, shortly after World War II. The main protagonist of the film, former Home Army soldier Maciek Chełmicki, is acting in the anti-Communist underground. Maciek receives an order to kill Szczuka, the local secretary of the Polish Workers' Party. Over time, Chełmicki increasingly doubts if his task is worth doing.
Man of Iron is a 1981 film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It depicts the Solidarity labour movement and its first success in persuading the Polish government to recognize workers' right to an independent union.
Man of Marble is a 1977 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It chronicles the fall from grace of a fictional heroic Polish bricklayer, Mateusz Birkut, who became the Stakhanovite symbol of an over-achieving worker, in Nowa Huta, a new socialist city near Kraków. Agnieszka, played by Krystyna Janda in her first role, is a young filmmaker who is making her diploma film on Birkut, whose whereabouts seem to have been lost two decades later. The title refers to the propagandist marble statues made in Birkut's image.
Korczak is a 1990 black-and-white biographical war film directed by Andrzej Wajda and written by Agnieszka Holland, about Polish-Jewish humanitarian Janusz Korczak. An international co-production between Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom, it stars Wojciech Pszoniak as Korczak, with Ewa Dałkowska, Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska, Marzena Trybala, Piotr Kozlowski, Zbigniew Zamachowski and Jan Peszek.
A Short Film About Killing is a 1988 drama film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Mirosław Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, and Jan Tesarz. Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film was expanded from Dekalog: Five of the Polish television series Dekalog. Set in Warsaw, Poland, the film compares the senseless, violent murder of an individual to the cold, calculated execution by the state. A Short Film About Killing won both the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the European Film Award for Best Film.
Without Anesthesia is the English-language title for the Polish film Bez znieczulenia, released in 1978, directed by Andrzej Wajda. It was entered in the 1979 Cannes Film Festival.
The 2003 Polish Film Awards ran on March 15, 2003. It was the 5th edition of Polish Film Awards: Eagles.
The 2006 Polish Film Awards took place on 27 February 2006. It was the 8th edition of Polish Film Awards: Eagles.
Katyń is a 2007 Polish historical drama film about the 1940 Katyn massacre, directed by Academy Honorary Award winner Andrzej Wajda. It is based on the book Post Mortem: The Story of Katyn by Andrzej Mularczyk. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for the 80th Academy Awards.
On the Silver Globe is a 1988 Polish epic science fiction film directed and written by Andrzej Żuławski, adapted from The Lunar Trilogy by his grand-uncle, Jerzy Żuławski. Starring Andrzej Seweryn, Jerzy Trela, Iwona Bielska, Jan Frycz, Henryk Bista, Grażyna Deląg and Krystyna Janda, the plot follows a team of astronauts who land on an uninhabited planet and form a society. Many years later, a single astronaut is sent to the planet and becomes a messiah.
Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease is a 2000 Polish drama film directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. It was Poland's submission to the 73rd Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden St. George at the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival.
Krystyna Jolanta Janda is a Polish film and theatre actress, director, and singer. She is best known internationally for playing leading roles in several films by Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, including Man of Marble and Man of Iron. She is widely considered one of the most popular and successful Polish actresses of her generation and an icon of Polish cinema.
Waldemar Krzystek is a Polish film director and screenwriter. His film Ostatni prom was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.
The Orchestra Conductor is a 1980 Polish drama film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival, where Andrzej Seweryn won the Silver Bear for Best Actor. It was also shown at the 1980 New York Film Festival.
The Polish Film Academy is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures.
KADR is a major Polish film production and distribution company, founded in 1955 and still producing films as of 2016. Between its founding and 2003, KADR released 150 films in total, including many classics of Polish cinema.
The Zbigniew Cybulski Award is a Polish annual film award given to best young Polish actors. It was established in 1969 on the initiative of Wiesława Czapińska and named to commemorate Zbigniew Cybulski who is widely considered one of the greatest Polish actors of the second half of the 20th century. It is among the most prominent awards in Polish cinema and the past winners include some of the most popular and critically acclaimed Polish actors. It was continuously awarded by the film magazine Ekran from 1969 to 1995 and after a ten-year hiatus it was reactivated in 2005 by the Kino Foundation. In 2008, the foundation published a book Być jak Cybulski?, which is devoted to all the past recipients of the award.
The cinema of moral anxiety, Polish: Kino moralnego niepokoju, was a short-lived (1976–1981) but influential movement in the history of the cinema of Poland. The term was also translated as "cinema of moral unrest", "cinema of moral concern", "cinema of moral dissent". Films of this movement portrayed the crisis of the regime in Communist Poland, usually in the setting of a provincial town. The development of the movement was abruptly stopped by the introduction of the martial law in Poland in 1981, and when it was lifted, the country was overwhelmed with powerful political and social processes which had eventually led to the fall of Communism in the country and disappearance of the addressed social issues.
