Main Objectives of Film Education in Poland: Institutional Context and Developmental Tendencies

This paper is focused on problems concerning film education in Poland. It concentrates on the changes in and different ways of defining the goals of film education, the aims or recipients of this type of education. By presenting several definitions provided by Polish experts, it shows the direction of the changes; for example the inclusion of film knowledge into a wider context of essential competencies of each participant of contemporary audiovisual culture. The paper shows that in the 80’s and the 90’s of the 20th century academics identified the relationship and mutual interdependence between literature and the cinema as the most important part. Now, however, they mostly focus on the role of film in preserving national and European heritage. Moreover, contemporary concepts of film education mainly deal with workshops rather than with theoretical studies. What are the effects of the changes and new tendencies? Film education is present in the curriculums of primary and secondary schools (but constituting only limited elements and playing a marginal role). In Poland there are ministerial programmes, institutional projects, public offerings and also competitive commercial offers. Although we can see positive tendencies in this area, the system of film education in Poland still needs a coherent policy and institutional care.