This is a list of Academy Award winners and nominees whose career and identification are associated predominantly with Poland. The list is current as of the 94th Academy Awards nominations. There were fifteen Academy Awards given to Polish filmmakers for their work, including one Honorary Academy Award, one Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, and one Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The cinematographer Janusz Kamiński is the most awarded Polish filmmaker. The director Roman Polański won an Oscar and was nominated four more times (additionally, Knife in the Water, a film directed and written by him, was also nominated). There were thirteen Polish pictures nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
Best Actress – Leading Role
edit| Academy Award for Best Actress | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Ida Kamińska | The Shop on Main Street | Nominated | |
Best Art Direction
edit| Art Direction | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Ewa Braun Allan Starski |
Schindler's List | Won | |
Best Costume Design
edit| 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
edit| Cinematography | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Janusz Kamiński | Schindler's List | Won | |
| 1994 | Piotr Sobociński | Three Colours: Red | Nominated | (French title: Trois couleurs: Rouge; Polish title: Trzy kolory: Czerwony) |
| 1997 | Janusz Kamiński | Amistad | Nominated | |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Won | ||
| 2001 | Sławomir 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 | |
| 2020 | Dariusz Wolski | News of the World | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Janusz Kamiński | West Side Story | Nominated | |
Best Director
edit| 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 Colours: Red | Nominated | |
| 2002 | Roman Polański | The Pianist | Won | First Polish director to win the award. |
| 2018 | Paweł Pawlikowski | Cold War | Nominated | First Polish director nominated for a Polish language film. |
Best Picture
edit| Academy Award for Best Picture | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Roman Polański | The Pianist | Nominated | The film was a French-British-Polish co-production. |
Best International Feature Film
edit| 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 | ||
| 2007 | Katyń | Nominated | ||
| 2011 | Agnieszka Holland | In Darkness | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Paweł Pawlikowski | Ida | Won | |
| 2018 | Cold War | Nominated | ||
| 2019 | Jan Komasa | Corpus Christi | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Jerzy Skolimowski | EO | Nominated | |
Best Original Music Score
edit| Original Score | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Bronisław Kaper | The Chocolate Soldier | Nominated | Shared with Herbert Stothart; Best Achievement in Scoring of a Musical Picture |
| 1953 | Bronisław Kaper | Lili | Won | Best Achievement in Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture |
| 1962 | Bronisław Kaper | Mutiny on the Bounty | Nominated | Best Achievement in 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
edit| Original Song | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Bronisław Kaper | Mutiny on the Bounty | Nominated | For the song ″Follow Me″; shared with Paul Francis Webster. |
Best Live Action Short Film
edit| Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Sławomir Fabicki Bogumił Godfrejow |
A Man Thing | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Tadeusz Łysiak Maciej Ślesicki |
The Dress | Nominated | |
Best Documentary (Short Subject)
edit| Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Marcel Łoziński | 89mm from Europe | Nominated | |
| 2005 | Hanna Polak Andrzej Celiński |
The Children of Leningradsky | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Bartosz Konopka | Rabbit à la Berlin | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Aneta Kopacz | Joanna | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Tomasz Śliwiński Maciej Ślesicki |
Our Curse | Nominated | |
Best Animated Short Film
edit| Academy Award for Animated Short Film | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Zbigniew Rybczyński | Tango | Won | |
| 2002 | Tomasz Bagiński | The Cathedral | Nominated | |
Best Animated Feature
editThis 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–British film co-directed with Hugh Welchman. |
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
edit| 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
edit| Academy Award for Writing (Original Screenplay) | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Piesiewicz |
Three Colours: Red | Nominated | |
Academy Honorary Award
edit| Academy Honorary Award | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Andrzej Wajda | ... | Won | "In recognition of five decades of extraordinary film direction." |
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
edit| Academy Honorary Award | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Samuel Goldwyn | ... | Won | Samuel Goldwyn was a Polish-born American film producer. |
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
edit| Academy Honorary Award | ||||
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Samuel Goldwyn | ... | Won | Samuel Goldwyn was a Polish-born American film producer. |
Technical & Scientific Awards
edit| Technical/Scientific Awards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Name | Film | Status | Milestone / Notes | |
| 1940 | Anton Grot | ... | Won |
For the design and perfection of the Warner Bros. water ripple and wave illusion machine. | |
| 1965 | Stefan Kudelski | ... | Won |
For the design and development of the Nagra portable 1/4" tape recording system for motion picture sound recording. | |
| 1977 | Stefan Kudelski | ... | Won |
For the engineering of the improvements incorporated in the Nagra 4.2L sound recorder for motion picture production. | |
| 1978 | Stefan Kudelski | ... | Won |
For the continuing research, design and development of the Nagra Production Sound Recorder for Motion Pictures. | |
| 1987 | Tadeusz Krzanowski | ... | Won |
For the development of a Wire Rig Model Support Mechanism used to control the movements of miniatures in special effects. | |
Nominations and Winners
edit| No. of wins | No. of nominations |
|---|---|
| 16 | 64 |
