List of Polish Academy Award winners and nominees
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This is a list of Polish Academy Award winners and nominees. This list details the performances of Polish actors, actresses, and films that have either been submitted or nominated for, or have won, an Academy Award. This list is current as of the 90th Academy Awards ceremony held on March 4, 2018. There were 15 Academy Awards given to Polish filmmakers or their work, including two Honorary Academy Awards and five Technical Achievement Awards. The category of Cinematography has the strongest presence of Polish filmmakers, with two wins (both by Janusz Kamiński) and fourteen other nominations (including four noms for Kamiński). As of that, the cinematographer Janusz Kamiński is the most Oscar-awarded Polish filmmaker. The second most-awarded Pole was designer Anton Grot, who won one Academy Award and was nominated to the Oscars five times more. The director Roman Polanski won an Oscar and was nominated four more times (additionally, Knife in the Water, film directed and written by him was also nominated). The composer Bronislau Kaper was awarded an Oscar and was nominated three times more. There were eleven Polish pictures nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Most recently, the film Cold War received three nominations (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film).
Academy Honorary Award[]
This list focuses on Polish-born people of the cinema.
Academy Honorary Award | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1942 | Leopold Stokowski and his associates | Fantasia | Won | "For their unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music in Walt Disney's production Fantasia, thereby widening the scope of the motion picture as entertainment and as an art form." They were not awarded the Oscar statuettes, but only the Certificate of Merit.
Stokowski is widely considered as Polish, besides his British-born and American-naturalised nationality. |
1999 | Andrzej Wajda | Won | "In recognition of five decades of extraordinary film direction." |
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award[]
This list focuses on Polish-born people of the cinema.
Academy Honorary Award | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1946 | Samuel Goldwyn | Won |
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award[]
This list focuses on Polish-born people of the cinema.
Academy Honorary Award | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1958 | Samuel Goldwyn | Won |
Scientific and Technical Award[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Scientific and Technical Award | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1941 | Anton Grot | Won | (Warner Bros. Studio Art Dept.). "For the design and perfection of the Warner Bros. water ripple and wave illusion machine." | |
1965 | Stefan Kudelski | Won | "For the design and perfection of the Nagra machine." | |
1977 | Won | |||
1978 | Won | |||
1988 | Tad Krzanowski | Won | "For the development of a Wire Rig Model Support Mechanism used to control the movements of miniatures in special effects." |
Best Actress – Leading Role[]
This list focuses on Polish-born actresses.
Academy Award for Best Actress | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1961 | Piper Laurie | The Hustler | Nominated | |
1967 | Ida Kamińska | The Shop on Main Street | Nominated |
Best Actress – Supporting Role[]
This list focuses on Polish-born actresses.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1938 | Miliza Korjus | The Great Waltz | Nominated | |
1951 | Joan Blondell | The Blue Veil | Nominated | |
Lee Grant | Detective Story | Nominated | ||
1969 | Catherine Burns | Last Summer | Nominated | |
1970 | Lee Grant | The Landlord | Nominated | |
1971 | Cloris Leachman | The Last Picture Show | Won | |
1975 | Lee Grant | Shampoo | Won | |
1976 | Voyage of the Damned | Nominated | ||
Piper Laurie | Carrie | Nominated | ||
1986 | Children of a Lesser God | Nominated | ||
1999 | Chloe Sevigny | Boys Don't Cry | Nominated |
Best Art Direction[]
This list focuses on Polish-born scenic designers.
Art Direction | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | Anton Grot | Svengali | Nominated | |
1937 | Anthony Adverse | Nominated | ||
1938 | The Life of Emile Zola | Nominated | ||
1940 | The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex | Nominated | ||
1941 | The Sea Hawk | Nominated | Best Art Direction, Black-and-White | |
1994 | Ewa Braun Allan Starski |
Schindler's List | Won |
Best Costume Design[]
This list focuses on Polish-born costume designers.
Academy Award for Best Costume Design | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Anna B. Sheppard | Schindler's List | Nominated | |
2003 | The Pianist | Nominated | ||
2014 | Maleficent | Nominated |
Best Cinematography[]
This list focuses on Polish-born cinematographers.
Cinematography | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1940 | Rudolph Maté | Foreign Correspondent | Nominated | |
1941 | That Hamilton Woman | Nominated | ||
1942 | The Pride of the Yankees | Nominated | ||
1943 | Sahara | Nominated | ||
1944 | Cover Girl | Nominated | Shared with Allen M. Davey | |
1993 | Janusz Kamiński | Schindler's List | Won | |
1994 | Piotr Sobociński | Three Colors: Red | Nominated | (French title: Trois couleurs: Rouge; Polish title: Trzy kolory: Czerwony) |
1997 | Janusz Kamiński | Amistad | Nominated | |
1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Won | ||
2001 | Slawomir Idziak | Black Hawk Down | Nominated | |
2002 | Paweł Edelman | The Pianist | Nominated | |
2007 | Janusz Kamiński | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Nominated | |
2011 | War Horse | Nominated | ||
2012 | Lincoln | Nominated | ||
2014 | Łukasz Żal Ryszard Lenczewski |
Ida | Nominated | |
2018 | Łukasz Żal | Cold War | Nominated | |
2021 | Dariusz Wolski | News of the World | Nominated |
Best Director[]
This list focuses on Polish-born directors.
Director | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1974 | Roman Polański | Chinatown | Nominated | Polanski is a Polish-French director |
1980 | Tess | Nominated | ||
1994 | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Three Colors: Red | Nominated | |
2002 | Roman Polanski | The Pianist | Won | First Polish director to win Best Director |
2018 | Paweł Pawlikowski | Cold War | Nominated | First Polish director nominated for a Polish language film |
Best Picture[]
This list focuses on Polish-born producers and/or Polish films in a different meaning.
Academy Award for Best Picture | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Roman Polański | The Pianist | Nominated | Polanski is a French-born Polish producer Shared with Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde |
Best International Feature Film[]
This list focuses on essentially Polish films and directors and producers of other non-English language films.
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1963 | Roman Polanski | Knife in the Water | Nominated | |
1966 | Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Pharaoh | Nominated | |
1974 | Jerzy Hoffman | The Deluge | Nominated | |
1975 | Andrzej Wajda | Land of Promise | Nominated | |
1976 | Jerzy Antczak | Nights and Days | Nominated | |
1979 | Andrzej Wajda | The Maids of Wilko | Nominated | |
1981 | Man of Iron | Nominated | ||
1985 | Agnieszka Holland | Angry Harvest | Nominated | A West German film directed by a Polish director |
2007 | Andrzej Wajda | Katyń | Nominated | |
2011 | Agnieszka Holland | In Darkness | Nominated | |
2014 | Paweł Pawlikowski | Ida | Won | |
2018 | Cold War | Nominated | ||
2019 | Jan Komasa | Corpus Christi | Nominated |
Best Original Music Score[]
This list focuses on Polish-born composers.
Original Score | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1942 | Bronisław Kaper | The Chocolate Soldier | Nominated | Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture |
1943 | Fred Rich | Stage Door Canteen | Nominated | |
1944 | Jack London | Nominated | ||
1945 | Alexandre Tansman | Paris Underground | Nominated | |
1953 | Bronisław Kaper | Lili | Won | Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture |
1962 | Mutiny on the Bounty | Nominated | Best Music, Score – Substantially Original | |
2004 | Jan A. P. Kaczmarek | Finding Neverland | Won | Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score |
Best Original Song[]
This list focuses on Polish-born composers and writers.
Academy Award for Best Original Song | |||||
Year | Name | Film | Song | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Bronisław Kaper | Mutiny on the Bounty | "Follow" | Nominated | Shared with Paul Francis Webster |
2013 | Karen Orzolek | Her | "The Moon Song" | Nominated | Shared with Spike Jonze Orzolek is Polish-American with Korean descent |
Best Documentary Feature[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1943 | Eugeniusz Cękalski | The White Eagle | Nominated | A Polish-British co-production. The nomination was credited to Cocanen Films and not to the director, Eugeniusz Cękalski. |
1965 | Sidney Glazier | The Eleanor Roosevelt Story | Won | |
1986 | Lee Grant | Down and Out in America | Won | |
2008 | Ellen Kuras | The Betrayal | Nominated | |
2013 | Amy Ziering | The Invisible War | Nominated |
Best Live Action Short Film[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Sławomir Fabicki Bogumił Godfrejow |
A Man Thing | Nominated |
Best Documentary (Short Subject)[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | Tadeusz Jaworski | Selling Out | Nominated | |
1995 | Marcel Łoziński | 89mm from Europe | Nominated | |
2005 | Hanna Polak Andrzej Celiński |
The Children of Leningradsky | Nominated | |
2010 | Bartek Konopka | Rabbit à la Berlin | Nominated | |
2014 | Aneta Kopacz | Joanna | Nominated | |
2014 | Tomasz Śliwiński Maciej Ślesicki |
Our Curse | Nominated |
Best Animated Short Film[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Award for Animated Short Film | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Zbigniew Rybczyński | Tango | Won | |
2002 | Tomasz Bagiński | The Cathedral | Nominated | |
2008 | Maciek Szczerbowski | Madame Tutli-Putli | Nominated | A Canadian film co-directed (with Chris Lavis) and co-written (with another Pole, Maciek Tomaszewski, and Chris Lavis) by Maciek Szczerbowski Shared with Chris Lavis |
Best Animated Feature[]
This list focuses on Polish-born filmmakers.
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Dorota Kobiela | Loving Vincent | Nominated | A Polish-UK film co-directed with Hugh Welchman |
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay[]
This list focuses on Polish-born screenplay writers.
Academy Award for Writing (Adapted Screenplay) | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | Roman Polański | Rosemary's Baby | Nominated | Polanski is a French-born Polish writer |
1991 | Agnieszka Holland | Europa Europa | Nominated |
Best Writing – Original Screenplay[]
This list focuses on Polish-born screenplay writers.
Academy Award for Writing (Original Screenplay) | ||||
Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Piesiewicz |
Three Colors: Red | Nominated |
Nominations and Winners[]
No. of wins | No. of nominations |
---|---|
8 | 67 |
See also[]
- Cinema of Poland
- Academy Awards
- Academy Awards lists
- Academy Award winners and nominees by nationality or region
- Cinema of Poland
- Polish film-related lists
- Lists of Polish people