Canons of Polish cinema and the place of Polish films in global film canons

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the canons of Polish cinema as created for local consumption and for the promotion of Polish cinema internationally, as well as the place of Polish cinema in supra-national canons. It also presents briefly the history of Polish cinema and its main authors as well as the criteria of canonisation used in this essay. It argues that Polish experts tend to single out films with distinct visual style, while ordinary Polish viewers favour comedies. It also discusses the cases of Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski, because the former is a director most canonised by the Polish viewers, the second is the most canonised director globally to originate from the Polish soil, although he is not always treated as a Polish director. It also looks at the case of Wojciech Has, whose film The Saragossa Manuscript tops many polls for the best Polish films, despite his career being largely neglected by Polish film historians.