Polish cinema as a means of cultural communication in different contexts

The article presents the role of Polish cinema as a means of cultural communication, briefly analyses the origin, development and current state as a carrier of cultural values of the Polish people. After a short period of development, Polish cinema faced the challenges of the Second World War, and then the censorship and control imposed by the communist regime. The ideological aspects of the dialogue with Western values were reflected in the films of the early period of the Polish People's Republic. Later, in the post- war period in the 70s and 80s, at the turn of the change of generations, the works of the directors of the so-called The Cinema of Moral Anxiety reflected social conflict, a sense of moral decline, double standards, corruption and lack of democracy, i.e. topics that had not been previously represented in Polish cinema. Famous Polish directors such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland and others embodied the aesthetic principles of the era in their works, engaged in a dialogue with Western art, and criticised the communist and Nazi regimes. Contemporary Polish cinema has faced the challenges of globalisation and the free market, where it has to compete with Western films for the attention of consumers, and on the other hand, to be a carrier of Polish identity and culture.