The Film Museum in Lodz: Best Polish Films (Top 65)
28 December 2015 marked the 120th anniversary of the first public film screening by the Lumière brothers. The Film Museum in Lodz and the Department of History and Theory of Film at the University of Lodz, together with the Polish Filmmakers Association and the Lodz Film School took this opportunity to organise a project entitled “12 Films for the 120th Anniversary of Cinema”.
Representatives of various professions related to film art chose the best works in the 120-year-long history of cinematography. We asked our respondents to indicate 12 titles in the category: “Best Films” and 12 titles in the category: “Best Polish Films”. Preferences cannot be measured according to mathematical measurements – therefore our invitation stated that: “We regard a personal point of view as the most important for the purposes of this project; we do not ask about the most important films in the history of cinema but rather about the best films in your opinion. It would be perfect if you could »erase from your memory« all previous »rankings of cinematic masterpieces« and academic classifications into masters and outsiders. We would like to know how the predetermined film canons function today and how they are modified”.
Each list could cover a maximum of 12 titles. We asked our respondents to choose from their lists one film they held in particularly high regard; other titles could be listed in any order (e.g. in alphabetical order or according to their premiere date). We applied the following rule during the preparation of our compiled lists: the film indicated as number 1 got 3 provisional “points” while the other indicated films got 1 point each.
These are the top 65 films ranked by number of points received.
http://old.kinomuzeum.pl/language/en/survey-results-12-films-for-the-120th-anniversary-of-cinema/
https://web.archive.org/web/20171008163431/http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14515
Representatives of various professions related to film art chose the best works in the 120-year-long history of cinematography. We asked our respondents to indicate 12 titles in the category: “Best Films” and 12 titles in the category: “Best Polish Films”. Preferences cannot be measured according to mathematical measurements – therefore our invitation stated that: “We regard a personal point of view as the most important for the purposes of this project; we do not ask about the most important films in the history of cinema but rather about the best films in your opinion. It would be perfect if you could »erase from your memory« all previous »rankings of cinematic masterpieces« and academic classifications into masters and outsiders. We would like to know how the predetermined film canons function today and how they are modified”.
Each list could cover a maximum of 12 titles. We asked our respondents to choose from their lists one film they held in particularly high regard; other titles could be listed in any order (e.g. in alphabetical order or according to their premiere date). We applied the following rule during the preparation of our compiled lists: the film indicated as number 1 got 3 provisional “points” while the other indicated films got 1 point each.
These are the top 65 films ranked by number of points received.
http://old.kinomuzeum.pl/language/en/survey-results-12-films-for-the-120th-anniversary-of-cinema/
https://web.archive.org/web/20171008163431/http://kinomuzeum.pl/?p=14515
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65 titles
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsDaniel OlbrychskiWojciech PszoniakAndrzej SewerynThree friends hope to build a factory but their plans are quickly jeopardized by local politics and one of the partner's dangerous love affair.1
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsZbigniew CybulskiIga CembrzynskaElzbieta CzyzewskaUpon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.2
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsZbigniew CybulskiEwa KrzyzewskaWaclaw ZastrzezynskiAs World War II and the German occupation ends, the Polish resistance and the Soviet forces turn on each other in an attempt to take over leadership in Communist Poland.3
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsLeon NiemczykJolanta UmeckaZygmunt MalanowiczA couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.4
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsJan NowickiTadeusz KondratIrena OrskaJózef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution, where time itself doesn't seem to exist, and the line between dreams and memories becomes indistinguishable.5
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaLeon NiemczykTeresa SzmigielównaJerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.6
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaTadeusz LomnickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczWitek runs after a train. Three variations follow on how such a seemingly banal incident could influence the rest of Witek's life.7
- DirectorMarek KoterskiStarsMarek KondratJanina TraczykównaAndrzej Grabowski24 hours in the bitter life of a frustrated divorced teacher who stays in the vicious circle of his numerous obsessions.8
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaMieczyslaw VoitAnna CiepielewskaA priest is sent to a small parish in the Polish countryside which is believed to be under demonic possession and there he finds his own temptations awaiting.9
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.10
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsBogumil KobielaMaria CiesielskaHelena DabrowskaThe story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of any kind but is always on the verge of turning into a more coherent human being, only to be slapped down. It begins with the hero's childhood. Then comes the first love marred by his unwilling involvement in fascict politics, him being taken for a Jew because of his nose. Later he decides to join the army to charm the girl, but arrives too late for any fighting. He is arrested by entering German troops while he dresses in officer's uniform and mistakenly sent to POW camp as an officer.11
- DirectorMarek PiwowskiStarsStanislaw TymJolanta LotheWanda Stanislawska-LotheA stowaway on a cruise ship is mistaken for an entertainment director.12
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsEdward DziewonskiBarbara PolomskaIgnacy MachowskiTwo sketches covering episodes from the World War II. In the first novel, "Scherzo alla polacca", a shrewd son, trying to preserve his skin, ultimately becomes a hero and finds a reason for fighting. He initially tries to avoid underground training to avoid the Warsaw uprising. His drunkenness, disregard for safety and cowardice when sober stated with humorous effect come out as something sane in the world gone mad. His will to survive is more acceptable than any desire for heroic death. The second novel, "Ostinato lugubre", details a hopeless attempt at escape from a prison camp by a man who can no longer stand the confinement and idiocy of the professional soldiers trying to keep up the military preneses in prison. Nevertheless, his escape boosts the morale of his fellow prisoners, while the "escapee" lies hidden from Germans and comrades alike."13
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsKrystyna JandaJerzy RadziwilowiczTadeusz LomnickiA young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.14
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJerzy StuhrMalgorzata ZabkowskaEwa PokasAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.15
- DirectorRyszard BugajskiStarsKrystyna JandaAdam FerencyJanusz GajosTonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.16
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsWieslaw MichnikowskiJerzy StuhrOlgierd LukaszewiczTwo scientists are placed into a 3-year hibernation, but when they wake up, it turns out to have been 50 years, and they are the only two males in a new underground society composed exclusively of women.17
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsPiotr GarlickiZbigniew ZapasiewiczChristine PaulA group of students are spending the summer vacation at a university camp studying the science of linguistics. One of the camp directors, Jaroslaw, is a young professor who prefers the straightforward, intimate approach to students. He is opposed in his liberal views by Jakub, who likes to manipulate people. There is a confrontation from the beginning when Jaroslaw allows to attend the seminar a student who presents the views not according to the official line. In the end, a jury prize is given to mediocre paper, while the suspected school of thought still draws a recommendation. Finally the deputy rector arrives for the closing ceremonies, and since he disfavors the line of thought awarded by the recommendation the tensions rise. They climax when student in question bites the rector in the ear while receiving recommendation. The confrontation results in a scandal and the police is called in.18
- DirectorKrzysztof KrauzeStarsRobert GoneraJacek BorcuchAndrzej ChyraTwo entrepreneurs become tangled in the web of a Russian thug.19
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsJerzy ZelnikWieslawa MazurkiewiczBarbara BrylskaYoung Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.=20
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTeresa IzewskaTadeusz JanczarWienczyslaw GlinskiIn 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.=20
- DirectorJerzy HoffmanStarsDaniel OlbrychskiMalgorzata BraunekTadeusz LomnickiDuring the 1655 war between Protestant Sweden and Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth some Polish-Lithuanian nobles side with Swedish king Charles X Gustav while others side with the Polish king Jan Kazimierz.=21
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsArkadiusz JakubikMarian DziedzielKinga PreisA zootechnician visits a remote farm, developing relationships with tragic consequences, and 1982 during Martial Law, as investigators reconstruct the 1978 crime scene to solve a multiple murder case involving the zootechnician.=21
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.=21
- DirectorJerzy AntczakStarsJadwiga BaranskaJerzy BinczyckiEmir BuczackiAn epic saga of the Niechcic family, told from a woman's perspective. In 1914 in the war-torn Kaliniec, Barbara Niechcic remembers her youthful love, marriage hardships, family life in the countryside and finally her husband's death.=22
- DirectorKrzysztof ZanussiStarsStanislaw LatalloMonika Dzienisiewicz-OlbrychskaMalgorzata PritulakTabloid life of a physicist; his work, his love life and his quest for the meaning beyond.=23
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsBarbara KrafftównaZbigniew CybulskiArtur MlodnickiAn actress traveling to Paris reflects on her life during the Nazi occupation of Poland.=23
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsMarcin DorocinskiAgata KuleszaMalwina BussRose, a German widow, hides from Russian soldiers who like to rape women and fights off Polish refugees who will steal everything she has. She gets help when Tadeusz, a former Polish officer, arrives looking to hide from his past.=23
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsMarian DziedzielTamara ArciuchIwona BielskaA wealthy small-town wiseguy organizes the wedding party for his daughter. As the party begins, unexpected events start to occur and disturb the party for the hosts and guests alike.=23
- DirectorStanislaw BarejaStarsStanislaw TymBarbara BurskaChristine PaulThe main character is the manager of a sport club, nicknamed "Teddy Bear" by his friends and acquaintances. One day he is detained at the border just as his sport team is off to a tournament - somebody has torn out a few pages from his passport. It occurs to him that perhaps his ex-wife has done so to get her hands on their joint account in a London bank. Therefore, he has to get to London as soon as possible in order to transfer the money to a different bank. The solution is a movie, made by his friend. The script requires a double role, thus the search for a character is announced. The double has to apply for the passport, and that is solved through a girlfriend who agrees to play dope's new fiancée. At the engagement party he is slipped a drug, and Teddy Bear runs off to the airport with the false passport. On the plane, however, he meets his ex-wife...24
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsMiroslaw BakaKrzysztof GlobiszJan TesarzA soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.=25
- DirectorWladyslaw PasikowskiStarsBoguslaw LindaMarek KondratCezary PazuraIn the good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from the secret police used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to a new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz will soon find out that some of his friends are on the other side.=25
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsMarek WalczewskiIzabella OlszewskaEwa ZietekSet at the turn of the century, the story concerns a Polish poet living in Cracow who has decided to marry a peasant girl. The wedding is attended by a heterogenous group of people from all strata of Polish society, who dance, get drunk and lament Poland's 100-year-long division of Poland under Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The bridegroom, a painter friend, and a journalist each in turn is confronted with spectres of Polish past. In the end a call to arms is called but turns out to be a hoax.26
- DirectorGrzegorz KrólikiewiczStarsFranciszek TrzeciakAnna NieborowskaIrena LadosiównaBased on a pre-war murder case of the Malisz couple. They end up committing a petty robbery and a sordid murder. He is an illustrator who is not used by a climbing architect. His folks don't like his wife and keeping both of them around as they float from one petty job to another. They finally try to rob a mailman of a bogus money order they have cooked up and end up killing an old, invalid couple with whom they have roomed.27
- DirectorWojciech MarczewskiStarsJanusz GajosZbigniew ZamachowskiTeresa MarczewskaDuring the screening of the film "Daybreak" at the Liberty Cinema, movie characters suddenly come alive and begin to talk to the viewers. The situation surprises communist authorities who send a censor to the theatre.28
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsZbigniew CybulskiJerzy BlockMarta LipinskaA man hops off a train by the small town where he claims he was before. His presence allows to bring out the inner feelings and beliefs of the inhabitants. A man who has hidden through all of the war because he looked Jewish, even if he is not, took on a fame of a dead Jewish actor he resembles. The visitor's wife shows up to claim his and indicate that he is always running off. He escapes in the end for another town.=29
- DirectorWitold LeszczynskiStarsFranciszek PieczkaAnna MilewskaWirgiliusz GrynMateusz is a weird man living a peaceful life in a remote country house by the lake. When a stranger is attracted to his beloved sister, his life starts falling apart.=29
- DirectorLukasz PalkowskiStarsTomasz KotPiotr GlowackiSzymon Piotr WarszawskiThe early career of cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Despite the harsh reality of 1980s Poland, he successfully leads a team of doctors to the country's first human heart transplantation.=30
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsJan MachulskiLeonard PietraszakWitold PyrkoszThe famous safecracker Kwinto, after leaving prison, decided to quit. But the news of the death of a friend abruptly changes his plans. He decides to "take" Kramer's bank. And, of course, he takes. Elegant, fun and twisted.=30
- DirectorJanusz MajewskiStarsMarek KondratRoman WilhelmiRoman SkameneA teenage country boy starts working in a restaurant of the famous Pacific Hotel in the 1930s. He soon discovers that to get promoted one needs to conform and sacrifice his dignity.=30
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsMaria WachowiakTadeusz JanczarGustaw HoloubekPawel and Lidka are from different worlds but they somehow meet each other in a night club. He's a young lad from a wealthy family, she's an attractive dancer. They fall in love and go out of town but their happiness doesn't last long.=31
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsElzbieta CzyzewskaJerzy SkolimowskiTadeusz MincAfter being drafted into military service, a Polish student spends his last day coming to terms with his estranged wife, visiting old friends, and savoring some last moments of freedom.=31
- DirectorJanusz MorgensternStarsZbigniew CybulskiTeresa TuszynskaGrazyna MuszynskaJacek is a handsome young Pole who belongs to a drama company. One day, in the streets of Gdansk, he meets Marguerite, a beautiful daughter of the French consul, and immediately falls for her.=32
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsGustaw HoloubekAleksandra SlaskaTeresa SzmigielównaOne day in the life of an alcohol addict. With the help of his girlfriend Krysia, Kuba attempts to regain control of his life. But when she's at work, Kuba is home alone, and it becomes hard not to resist the temptation.=32
- DirectorSylwester ChecinskiStarsWaclaw KowalskiWladyslaw HanczaZdzislaw KarczewskiTwo quarreling peasant families, who were forced to leave their lands after the war, are settled by accident on two neighbouring farms.=32
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsOlgierd LukaszewiczJan EnglertJerzy BinczyckiDuring the 1920 Silesian uprising, seven brothers take part in the struggle with the Germans to keep the region in the Polish hands.=32
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsDaniel OlbrychskiAnna SeniukMaja KomorowskaSet in the late '20s. A thirtyish young man, who heads a small factory, faints at the funeral of a close friend. He decides to go home to his aunt and uncle for a while, but gets involved with a family of five women who had been in love with him at one time though he had apparently loved only one, who, unknown to him, has died since his departure. The women are mainly disillusioned with life or estranged from husbands while the youngest has a crush on him.33
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsAndrzej LapickiGustaw HoloubekMaja KomorowskaMiddle-aged Andrzej takes a dreamlike journey to his troubled past, trying to understand his friend's suicide.=34
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsMaria ChwalibógBoguslaw LindaPawel WitczakA story of a middle-aged woman, Irena, living alone on the outskirts of Wroclaw with her 8-year old son. They live in a drab apartment. She is a mail carrier and her son is her only pride and joy. She hardly communicates with anybody else in a humanly open and natural way. She also cares for a sick relative. One day when delivering a monthly pension to a crippled young miner Jacek, she faints at his doorsteps. Even though she is determined to live alone after divorcing her drunken first husband, she also knows that her boy needs a male figure to correct his bad habits. She also needs a man badly. The love affair between Jacek and Irena begins however their first physical encounter shatters them both. Irena has a lot of problems: her son makes a lot of trouble at school, and at work her supervisor wants to take her route and give it to somebody else. Finally, the sick relative dies, and she is hit with the funeral bill instead with the expected inheritance. She steals pensioners' money she should be delivering. Tells Jacek that she indeed has received inheritance, places her son in a boaring institution and buys a used car for a trip to West Berlin, opting to immigrate. Now the accident happens...=34
- DirectorJoanna Kos-KrauzeKrzysztof KrauzeStarsJowita BudnikArkadiusz JaniczekEwa WencelA story of a married couple with two children, whose housing problems, the man's infidelity and the woman's fragility lead the family to destruction.=34
- DirectorAndrzej MunkWitold LesiewiczStarsAleksandra SlaskaAnna CiepielewskaJan KreczmarWhile aboard a transatlantic passenger ship, a German woman, Liza, notices someone who looks like Marta, a former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be a guard.35
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJuliette BinocheZbigniew ZamachowskiJulie DelpyA woman struggles to find a way to live her life after the death of her husband and child.=36
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsBeata TyszkiewiczElzbieta CzyzewskaAndrzej LapickiThe disappearance of the leading actor from the film's set worries its director Andrzej. He embarks on a journey to look out for the actor with a young actor and missing actor's wife and mistress.=36
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsIrena LaskowskaJan MachulskiA young man meets a middle-aged woman at a deserted beach. Will they overcome their personal and wartime traumas and find a way to stay together?=37
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsIrène JacobWladyslaw KowalskiHalina GryglaszewskaTwo parallel stories about two identical women; one living in Poland, the other in France. They don't know each other, but their lives are nevertheless profoundly connected.=37
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTadeusz LomnickiKrystyna StypulkowskaWanda KoczeskaA young doctor and jazz drummer, is also a womanizer who meets one night another yet finally interesting girl, who all but forces herself into his apartment where they play the game of appearances, both unable to confess their love to each other.=38
- DirectorKazimierz KutzStarsZofia MarcinkowskaHenryk BoukolowskiBarbara KrafftównaThe story of Poles moving to the west of the country after the war - to the lands originally inhabited by Germans - and starting a new life there. Lonely boy Bozek meets a girl called Lucyna and wants to run away from his wartime past.=38
- DirectorWojciech MarczewskiStarsTomasz HudziecTeresa MarczewskaMarek KondratA boy comes of age under an oppressive, cruel socialist government and watches as it slowly but surely distorts his family, his school and even his own thoughts.=39
- DirectorZbigniew RybczynskiSubsequent characters appear in a poorly-decorated room, intertwining but never colliding, all possessed by never-ending rituals.=39
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsFranciszek PieczkaWojciech PszoniakJan SzurmiejDuring a pogrom in Poland on the eve of World War I, a group of Jews seek refuge from the Cossacks. The fugitives hide out in a rural inn, terrified that they may be given away at any moment.=40
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsKazimierz OpalinskiZygmunt MaciejewskiZygmunt ZintelIn 1950, at night, a passenger train kills a man on the tracks. He is Orzechowski, an engineer since 1914. An inquiry immediately follows. Testimony takes the form of flashbacks. Tuszka, the station master, believes Orzechowski was a saboteur; at least one on the inquiry panel agrees. Zapora, the young engineer on the train that hit Orzechowski, gives more complicated testimony about the dead man - stiff-necked, proud, imperious, critical of Zapora and other younger workers. The signalman at the crossing where Orzechowski died also testifies. Can the panel arrive at the truth in a world where workers unite, inferior coal is a badge of honor, and the old order is suspect?=40
- DirectorJanusz ZaorskiStarsMagda Teresa WójcikZbigniew ZapasiewiczFranciszek PieczkaStory opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.=41
- DirectorFeliks FalkStarsJerzy StuhrSlawa KwasniewskaWiktor SadeckiAn ironic look at a climber who decides to do anything, including throwing mud at his best friend, to get a job he thinks will launch him into a better career.=41
- DirectorJerzy SkolimowskiStarsJerzy SkolimowskiJoanna SzczerbicTadeusz LomnickiFive young men reunite on a freight train ten years after completing their medical studies. They reminisce about their shared past, when Poland was ruled by implacable Stalinism.=42
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsIrène JacobJean-Louis TrintignantFrédérique FederA model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.=42