12/01/2015 - Annual attendance levels smashed through the 40-million-admissions mark, while Polish films took centre stage in the wake of Gods

Even though the final figures for the 2014 Polish box office have not yet been made available, it is already widely accepted that annual attendance levels will exceed 40 million admissions, a considerable increase over 2013’s 36.3 million admissions, and a figure that represents the highest total in 20 years.

On the whole, 2014 was an exceptional year for national film production, with Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] hogging most of the limelight. Released in Poland in October 2013 and sold to over 50 countries, the feature enjoyed tremendous success abroad last year, winning more than 100 awards all over the world, taking home five trophies from the European Film Awards (read the news) and now standing a very good chance of winning the race for the upcoming Oscar for Best Foreign-language Film.

Local productions also came out on top at the Polish box office, and surprisingly, they weren’t romantic comedies, as had been the case in previous years when Polish films managed to trounce the US blockbusters. This time around, it was ambitious feature films (but nevertheless with perfectly reasonable budgets) that drew in the crowds. Gods [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Lukasz Palkowski firmly established itself as the king of the 2014 top ten. Produced by Watchout Productions, the movie, which paints a portrait of a doctor who has carried out the first successful heart transplant in Poland, bagged five awards (including the Grand Prix) at the Gdynia Film Festival before going on to entice 2.1 million viewers, a performance the likes of which have not been seen in Poland since 2011.

Rocking up in second place is Warsaw 44 [+see also:
trailer
interview: Zofia Wichlacz
film profile] by Jan Komasa (1.7 million admissions), followed by Jack Strong [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Wladyslaw Pasikowski (1.2 million). The top ten includes three other Polish titles that all exceeded 800,000 admissions: The Mighty Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Wojciech Smarzowski, High Life by Piotr Weresniak and Stones for the Rampart [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Robert Glinski.

Other Polish features that also made a splash abroad last year include Papusza [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joanna Kos Krauze
film profile] by Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze (which won at Thessaloniki and Valladolid, and snagged a Special Mention at Karlovy Vary). Regrettably, the duo’s new opus, Ptaki spiewaja w Kigali (The Birds Sing in Kigali), which examines the Rwandan genocide, was brought to a halt by the death of Krzysztof Krauze on 24 December, thus bringing Polish cinema’s 2014 to a very sad conclusion.

(Translated from French)