Country Focus: Poland
by Cineuropa
23/05/2010 - Articles, interviews, news, analysis on the Polish audiovisual sector.
Country profile: Poland
International Film Guide 2012: Poland
A survey of the film culture and output in Poland published by the International Film Guide.
Poland - International Film Guide Survey 2010
A survey of the film culture and output in Poland published by the International Film Guide.
2009 good year for audience figures and production support
Following on from positive comments about the state of the Polish film industry, which were echoed after the latest Gdynia festival in September, the Polish Film Institute (PISF) has just published a report that confirms this enthusiasm. In it, the year 2009 is described as "exceptional”, owing to the various international successes enjoyed by Polish film, record audience figures in theatres and the level of financing for local productions. Last year, over 170 Polish films were presented in...
Record year with good results for domestic film
Over 38m admissions were garnered in Polish theatres in 2009, which marks a new record and an impressive increase compared to the previous year’s 34m viewers. It is also a symbolic result, representing one cinema admission per year, per inhabitant. Last year’s best-performing features include a trio of US productions: animated films Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (over 2m admissions) and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2m), followed by disaster movie 2012 (over 1.5m). Polish productions also...
Multikino crosses Polish border
The signing of a contract between Multikino (ITI Group) and ECE Projektmanagement, the leader on the European shopping centre market, will lead to the opening of a multiplex in the largest shopping centre in Lithuania: Ozas shopping arcade in Vilnius. The Multikino in Vilnius will be the network’s first multiplex to open outside Polish territory. It is expected to open in the first half of 2010. This seven-screen multiplex will be equipped with 2D and 3D digital projection systems and have a...
National digitisation programme still on hold
Twice a year, Polish film industry professionals get together to take part in the film forum, an event whose main aim is to give distributors the opportunity to present their line-up for the next six months. At the latest edition (28th session) in Krakow, participants attended the conference by the arthouse and experimental cinemas network, a debate on the Polish market, and presentations of hardware and software for the film sector. The most hotly debated topic during the Forum was the...
Rise in admissions and takings in first semester
Polish theatres have achieved record results, attracting 19.8m viewers during the first six months of 2009, according to figures published by the website boxoffice.pl. The numbers show that theatres are doing more than merely surviving the global economic crisis and hint at the possibility of reaching 38m admissions in 2009, which would be a new peak after the 2008 record (33.7m admissions - see news). During last year’s first semester, theatres drew 17.1m viewers (2.7m fewer than the same...
Tensions ahead for public film funding
While Polish cinemagoers seem to be blissfully unaware of the economic crisis and continue to frequent theatres (see news), the financial turmoil could, however, impact domestic film production resources and the distribution sector. Up to 2008, production funding from the Polish Film Institute (PISF) had been regularly increasing, but 2009 could see a trend reversal. However, it should be noted that although PISF support for debut films has always been on a rising curve (€2.3m in 2006, €2.7m...
Audience figures defy recession
Despite the global economic crisis, Polish theatres have nothing to complain about. The first quarter of 2009 closed with a highly encouraging 12m admissions, representing a 12% increase compared to the same period in 2008. Almost every weekend in the first quarter of 2009, audience figures exceeded 400,000. At times, these results were greatly surpassed and even doubled, as during the first weekend of the year (843,523 admissions with the releases of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Juliusz...
Poland - Film Production Guide 2008
The Polish Film Institute has published the 2008 Film Production Guide. This Guide was designed to help you to make the right use of the opportunities Poland has to offer in the area of filmmaking. It presents a complete and comprehensive overview of the country and its audiovisual sector providing every film professional – be it a producer, investor, director, art director or casting director – with quick and easy access to all the necessary practical information on locations, the legal...
2008: Record year for Polish film (2)
The 2008 season was marked not only by excellent audience figures (34.1m admissions - see news), but also by a dynamic domestic production. With almost 60 features films, 2008 seems very far from the low periods of 2004 and 2005 (19 and 20 domestic productions respectively) and represents a significant increase over 2007 (39). This upturn owes much to Poland’s new film law and the creation of the Polish Film Institute. Added to this is the new funding system aimed at Polish productions and...
2008: Record year at box office (1)
The 2008 season saw the highest audience figures in Poland for the past 20 years with 34.1m admissions. Moreover, Polish productions are the source of these excellent results, as in 2007. In 2004, there was an increase from 23.8 million to 33.4 million admissions, which encouraged an industry boosted by the multiplex boom. Despite the rapid development of several movie theatre networks, the results for 2005 were the lowest of the previous five years (23.6m admissions). The 2006 and 2007...
Poland - International Film Guide Survey
The last two years have been very important for Polish cinema. The Polish Film Institute has now been operating for some thirty months, while the impact of the 2005 Cinematography Act began to be felt in early 2006, when a new system for financing filmmaking was introduced. Read the survey published by the International Film Guide: Survey - Poland
Poland 2006 - New law, new era? (1)
The new Film Law, voted on 6/30/2005 and enforced since 8/19, is a turning point for film financing in Poland. As all Polish film professionals hope, it is the beginning of a new era for the industry and the market. Indeed, from the end of WW2 until the very end of the 1980s, it was impossible to even talk about the Western concepts of industry and market in relation to the Polish cinema. During the communist era, all films were produced in big state-financed studios: WFFiD (Studio for...
Polish Film Institute Operational Programs for 2008
Polish Film Institute Operational Programs for 2008 Under the Cinema Act of 30 June 2005 and the Regulation of the Minister of Culture of 27 October 2005, regulating the Polish Film Institute subsidy undertakings in the field of cinema, the Director of the Polish Film Institute announced the ‘Project Development” Operational Programme (OP) with an allocation of 4,7 million PLN. The objective of the programme is to improve the quality of scripts and film projects of all film genres, in...
