The List of Polish Film Heritage, prepared by the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, is a unique initiative, the first in Poland and one of the few in the world. Her point of reference is the American National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
The idea behind the list, created on the 70th anniversary of FINA, is to highlight films that contributed in a special way to Polish culture, imagination and memory. It contains pioneering and technologically unique films, experiments, and images documenting the evolution of the filmmaking industry. The selection of titles includes both canonical and lesser-known films, classic fiction, documentaries, animations, experimental, student, amateur and propaganda works.
“I’m not sure whether these are films that everyone should know, because we didn’t necessarily aim for the most famous or even the best works in the history of Polish cinema. Rather, we chose productions that best represent Polish film heritage,” Stelmach said. “We thought about films that are important for various reasons. (…) (Those that were) particularly popular in their time or have a particular artistic level, but also those that were in some sense the first. We wanted the list to include the first Polish animation, the first Polish film shot in color, the first Polish independent film to be released in cinemas. (…) Films that had historical significance.”
Stelmach noted that 70 is certainly not enough seats to accommodate all the most important Polish films. “We knew that some titles would be missing and others would be controversial, but we are confident that we managed to create a list that is somehow representative.”
The creators of the list decided to include only films produced until 2005. Stelmach explained that in most cases the certainty that a selected work is part of the national cinematography heritage can only be established after some time. “(Films) must stand the test of time. From the perspective of a certain period, we must be sure that they have gone down in the history of Polish cinema. We decided that two decades, a period of one generation, is a time when we can have this certainty. Of course, there are later films which I have no doubt that are part of our heritage, for example ‘Ida’ Paweł Pawlikowski. (…) As for some of the newer films, it is difficult to have such a belief.
The list included many recognized works, including “Cross-eyed Happiness” by Andrzej Munk, “The Canal” and “The Promised Land” by Andrzej Wajda, “Knife in the Water” by Roman Polański and “Sanatorium pod klepsydrą” by Wojciech Jerzy Has. It also does not include productions popular with the audience, including “Kiler” by Juliusz Machulski and “Boys don’t cry” by Olaf Lubaszenko. “These omissions and omissions were difficult for us. (…) Firstly, the list is limited. 70 titles for 120 years of Polish cinema is not that many. Secondly, we tried not to let it be dominated by a few big names. Most creators, sometimes extremely important, distinguished and important for Polish cinema, are represented only once, some – and we agreed that this would be the maximum – twice.”
Stelmach also referred to one of the most important titles not on the list. “Many people asked why there wasn’t one ‘The Promised Land’. It was a very difficult choice. Andrzej Wajda is the director of an extremely large number of films that are particularly important for Polish cinema. We decided that the list (from the 1950s) would include “Ashes and Diamonds”, not “Kanał” (…) and from this second golden period of Wajda’s work, it would not be “The Promised Land” but “Man of Marble” – because it started the entire trend of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety,” he explained.
The list of Polish Film Heritage is not closed. Every year, 10 more titles will be added, including new ones. In 2026, it will also include those that had their premiere in 2006, including “Plac Zbawiciela” by Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze. One title will be chosen by the audience. “If it turns out that the majority of Poles believe that there should be a film on this list that a film expert from the National Film Archive would not notice, then in my opinion it should definitely be on it. The point is for it to be our common list, created not only by experts, but also by viewers,” Stelmach pointed out.
The list was announced on October 27, on World Audiovisual Heritage Day.
In 2025, the anniversary year of the Filmoteka celebrating its 70th anniversary, 70 films from the years 1908-2005 were included in the list. It opens with “Prussian Culture” (1908) by unknown author, based on real events and being the oldest surviving film produced in Poland. The youngest work on the list is Wojciech Smarzowski’s original cinema, “Wesele” (2004). Among them were other treasures of old cinema, such as “The Beast” (1917) by Aleksander Hertz, the only preserved film from the Polish period of Pola Negri’s career, and “Janko the musician” (1930) by Ryszard Ordyński, a work of a breakthrough in sound, the digital reconstruction of which was one of the most difficult and at the same time most interesting digitization projects of FINA.
The list also included the films “One Floor Up” (1937) by Leon Trystan, “Girls from Nowolipki” (1937) by Józef Lejtes, “The Adventure of an Honest Man” (1937) by Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, the pre-war animation “Mistrz Chochelka w opałach” by Jan Jarosz (1935), “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958) Andrzej Wajda, “The Last Day of Summer” (1958) by Tadeusz Konwicki, “Eroika” (1958) by Andrzej Munk, “Mother Joanna of the Angels” (1960) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, “Protective Colors” (1976) by Krzysztof Zanussi, “Amator” (1979) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, “Rejs” (1970) by Marek Piwowski, “Miś” (1981) by Stanisław Bareja, “Vabank” (1981) by Juliusz Machulski, “Psy” (1992) by Władysław Pasikowski, “The Manuscript Found in Saragossa” (1964) by Wojciech Jerzy Has, “The Deluge” (1974) by Jerzy Hoffman, “The Cathedral” (2002) by Tomasz Bagiński, audiovisual works such as “Consumer Art” (1975) by Natalia LL, “From my window” (1978-1999) by Józef Robakowski, “That life has meaning” (2000) by Grzegorz Lipiec and “Concorde” (2003) by Wilhelm Sasnal.
Miłosz Stelmach is the chief curator at the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute and a film expert associated with the Institute of Audiovisual Arts of the Jagiellonian University. Author of the book “Premonition of the End. Modernism, lateness and Polish cinema” and numerous publications on film. In the years 2018-2025, he was the editor-in-chief of the quarterly “Ekrany” devoted to audiovisual art and related phenomena.