2010 marks five years since Polish cinema changed direction, with the formation of the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl). Despite the international economic crisis, the Polish film industry managed maintain the number of domestic films made annually. By November 2010 over 50 productions were completed in Poland, but this with more expecte by the end of the year. The main source of public funding, PFI granted 128.3 million PLN for projects in production and development.
The most significant Polish productions include internationally and critically recognized titles as well as box office hits, thanks to the growing interest of the audicence in national films. One of the most important films of the year is the international co-production Essential Killing directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, winner of the special jury prize at the 2010 IFF Venice (www.labiennale.org) and currently competing for an Oscar nomination. Jan Jakub Kolski's Venice (Akson Studio) was awarded for best artistic contribution at the 34th Montreal World Film Festival (www.fmm-montreal.org). The Polish Oscar candidate All That I Love, directed by Jacek Borcuch and produced by Prasa & Film (www.prasaifilm.pl), also gained both local and international recognition, finishing in 4th place in the Polish film box office for 2010.
The year also brought change among Polish film events. The Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (www.fpff.pl) was moved from fall to May, when a historic drama Little Rose directed by Jan Kidawa-Bloński and produced by WFDiF (www.wfdif.com.pl), was awarded as the best film with the Golden Lion prize. The winner of the Silver Lion prize was the critically acclaimed drama Christening directed by Marcin Wrona and produced by ODEON Film Studio (www.odeon.com.pl) and the best directing debut went to Marek Lechki for his drama titled Erratum, produced by his company Harmony Film Production in co-operation with Heliograf (www.heliograf.pl) and Voiceland (www.voiceland.pl). One of the most significant Polish film events, the Plus Camerimage (www.pluscamerimage.pl) festival was moved from Łódź, due to a controversial and unresolved conflict between the festival's organizers and the city council, where it successfully took place between the 27th of November and 4th of December 2010.
Attendance fell due to the mourning period following the death of the Polish President and several members of the Government during a plane crash in April. In the first half of the year 18.4 million viewers visited Polish cinemas, which makes it unlikely that the full results for 2010 will surpass the record number of 32.9 million viewers in 2009. Despite the decrease in overall attencance, 2010 was a very good year for local productions with a great result for Maiden Vows, a costume comedy directed by Filip Bajon and produced by Studio Filmowe Kalejdoskop (www.kalejdoskop.art.pl). with 957,000 viewers, surpassing the previous Polish leader for 2010, Ciacho by Patryk Vega (956,400 viewers). Polish box office hits also include the romantic comedies Blind Date and Breakfast in Bed, a dark comedy Trick and the Polish Oscar Candidate All That I Love. The leading distribution company of the year is Kino Świat (www.kinoswiat.pl), which released the year's biggest hits, including Maiden Vows.
2010 was also the year of big productions in Poland including the first Polish 3D production Battle Of Warsaw 1920, a historical drama directed by Jerzy Hoffman, produced by Zodiak Jerzy Hoffman Film Production. The 20 million PLN ( EUR 5 million) is the fifth most expensive Polish film ever produced.. A second major 3D project is Warsaw 1935, a reconstruction of pre-war capital of Poland and a trilogy produced by a Polish studio Newborn (www.newborn.pl). New technologies were used during the production of Jeż Jerzy (Jeż Jerzy: The Movie), an comic book-based animated film produced by Paisa Films (www.paisafilms.pl) with the use of cutout animation and 3D effects.
This year was especially good for coproductions, with over a dozen going into production. They include Skolimoski's Essential Killing, a co-production between Skopia Film of Poland (www.skopiafilm.com), Hungary's Mythberg Films (www.mythbergfilms.hu) and Ireland's Element Pictures and Norwegian Cylinger Productions. The Cent-East European project included Polish coproductions such as the Czech war drama Lidice directed by Petr Nikolaev and produced by Bioscop with Polish co-producer Dariusz Jablonski and Apple Film (www.applefilm.pl). Apple Film had also made a drama titled My Australia in co-production with an Israeli company TransFax Films (www.transfax.co.il) headed by Marek Rozenbaum and based in Tel-Aviv. Agnieszka Holland directed Hidden, a co-production between Polish Studio Filmowe ZEBRA, Canadian The Film Works Ltd. and German Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv. Tomorrow Will Be Better, the long awaited drama from Dorota Kędzierzawska, is a co-production between Poland and Japan. The producer of the picture is KID Film, a company created by Dorota Kędzierzawska and Arthur Reinhart, in co-production with Pioniwa Film Inc (www.pioniwa.com),The Chimney Pot (www.chimney.pl), Non Stop Film Services(www.nsfs.pl) and Film Ilumination (www.filmilumination.pl). A Polish-American project titled The Winner also went into production in 2010, produced by Polish company Saco Films Ltd founded by the director Wiesław Saniewski. The film is co-produced by The Society For Arts (USA) and Andrzej Niżnik (Switzerland). A Polish company San Graal (www.sangraal.pl), producer of box office hit comedies Testosterone and Ladies will bring more American business to the Polish market by signing a preliminary contract with Warner Bros. Pictures International (www.warnerbros.com) to produce at least two new Polish-language films in 2010 and 2011.
The productions lined up for 2011 prove the constant growth and direction for diversity that mark new Polish cinema. The Polish Film Institute has financed 35 titles that will be made in co-production with other countries with world class directors involved. They include challenging projects using new technologies, such as The Hour-glass Sanatorium, a new film from Brothers Quay, based on a novel by Bruno Schulz, produced by Opus Film. Ivan Wyrypajew also decided to shoot his newest project Salvation with the Polish company Baltmedia as the producer. Opus Film invited Ari Folman to direct the adaptation of a science-fiction novel The Futurogical Congress by Stanisław Lem. In 2011 Adrian Panek will finish his debut Daas produced by Lambros Ziotas and his company Agromedia Production, a costume drama anticipated as the next big office hit following Maiden Vows. Another title with a big audience potential is Secret Allay, a co-production between Poland and UK. The film will be based on the Joseph's Conrad novel, directed by Piotr Fudakowski and produced by Akson Studion.
