WARSAW: The Polish Directors' Guild has appealed to public and private television broadcasters to broadcast Polish films and original TV programmes to support creators currently deprived of any source of income. Their appeal is supported by the Director of the Polish Film Institute Radosław Śmigulski.

WARSAW: Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the greatest contemporary Polish composers and conductors, died on 29 March 2020. He was the composer of many film scores, including Andrzej Wajda's Oscar-nominated film Katyń and The Saragossa Manuscript by Wojciech Has.

WARSAW: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Polish film distributors and producers to move their cinema premieres to online streaming platforms.

WARSAW: The 16-person crisis team formed by the Polish Film Institute (PISF) issued its first decisions after the first meeting on 20 March 2020. Their aim is to support the film industry and its members through measures ranging from changes to the grants procedure, to a special fund providing assistance for those in need.

WARSAW: ATM Grupa, which produces a large number of Polish TV series and programmes, has announced that due to the Coronavirus pandemic it has suspended all shootings until further notice. Over the past month, the company's share price decreased by 28.1 percent at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

WARSAW: The Polish Film Institute supported the production of three new feature films for younger audiences with 813,784 EUR / 3.7 m PLN in the 1st batch of funding for 2020.

WARSAW: Cinema operators, including national chains Multikino, Helios and Cinema City, call in an open letter to the Polish Minister of Development for support in connection with the closure of cinemas due to the Coronavirus.

WARSAW: The Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is working on a package of support for cultural institutions as well as filmmakers and artists who have suffered losses due to the cancellation of artistic and entertainment events, resulting from the epidemic threat.

WARSAW: Polish cinema noted a very good year 2019 with record-breaking box office results, international success for feature films and an Academy Award nomination for Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa in the International Feature Films category, as well as a growing number of international productions taking advantage of the 30% tax scheme and bringing more productions to Poland.

WARSAW: Polish government has decided to suspend the functioning of cinemas from 12 till 25 March 2020. To date, 47 cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed across the country.