Polish Movies & Films Resources

The turn of the decade which consisted of the switch over from 1989 to 1990 was a stormy one in Polish cinema. This was the time when communism in Poland had collapsed. Suddenly with the turn of this decade, filmmakers no longer had to face restrictions on the freedom of creation. But of course as expected other new problems emerged in the area of Polish filmmaking appeared. The free market brought about these problems: fighting for viewers, and competition. This entire process had actually begun even earlier, during the 1980's.
During the final ten years of the communist rule, Polish Movie Theatres were allowed to screen American Movies without any limitations. Prior to this, very few American Moves were allowed for screening in Poland. At the beginning of the 1990's Polish Movies were hardly present. Films were being made and released no doubt, but in most cases they disappeared from the theatre screen the next day so as to make space for the American films.

The sudden explosion of freedom at the beginning of this decade in the Polish Movies has taken a surprising form. Polish Movies have been dominated by a nihilistic, dark vision of man. And owing to this fact a large number of unsuccessful Polish Movies were made. This long period of downfall in the Polish Movies was ended by a movie that was directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski.

The critics were shocked by the brazenness shown in the movie. This was the movie that led the way for the new way of thinking about Polish Movies. This way of thinking had been unfamiliar to Polish filmmakers before. This was the movie way that paved the way for commercial movies, which were supposed to make profits. In fact during the years that followed, commercial Polish movies strengthened its position but a fair share of artistic Polish movies being produced maintained the balance.

Certainly the most important artistic phenomenon of the cinema in the mid-nineties were the films directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. ‘Blue’ is the most tragic of all films directed by Kieslowski. The Polish movies made by of Andrzej Kondratiuk were the most original and the most successful in the artistic sense. The world of crime had been one of the most popular topics during the last few years. Polish filmmakers found the way to have some fun with this topic. The Young Polish directors of ambitious films who are dealing with contemporary issues are closer to the European rather than to the American filmmakers in their search for characters and topics. And regardless of the fact that the Polish movies are becoming of a secondary nature by trying to copy the American movies, the films made by young directors seem hopeful of the fact that this tendency will change future productions.
 

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