CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY - a film journey through Warsaw and the history of cinema

“Gentlemen, this man is first in cinematography, I am second” – Louis Lumière is said to have declared about Kazimierz Prószyński during a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences.

DSH presents a series of meetings “CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY – a film journey through Warsaw and the history of cinema”, conceived and led by Ula Urzędowska.

In the second meeting of the series, titled “Cinema. First shots. Pioneers, visionaries and inventors”, Andrzej Bukowiecki will present the figures of the pioneers and inventors of cinematography. The hero and true star of the meeting will be Kazimierz Prószyński, born in Warsaw – a tireless inventor who fought for the quality and accessibility of his works. Creator of the pleograph and the aeroscope – the first camera enabling stable handheld filming. Prószyński’s inventions and imagination were decidedly ahead of their time. He initiated the first stage-film trick in theatre history (“Valkyrie”, Grand Theatre in Warsaw, 1903) and the city’s illuminated advertisements (e.g. on Teatralny Square and at the Vienna Station), which amazed residents.

“If Prószyński had been born under a lucky star, his pleograph would have replaced the name cinematograph and today along with millions of people we would speak of world pleography, not cinematography,” wrote the poet and film critic Anatol Stern.

In 2026 we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the first cinematographic screenings on Polish lands. It is an excellent occasion to tell the history of cinema and to cast Warsaw in a leading role. The capital will be a stage for pioneers and inventors, owners of cinematographs, visionaries and entrepreneurs building the first film empires, as well as film stars and Warsaw audiences. It is a film journey in which the movie projector becomes a time machine.

On 18 July 1896 an itinerant entrepreneur, unknown today by name, showed moving photographs in Warsaw for the first time. Posters and announcements heralded the miracle of the 19th century and an astonishing novelty: EDISON’S CINEMATOGRAPH – THE THEATRE OF LIVING PHOTOGRAPHS. The screening took place in the Hall of the Citizens’ Resource at Krakowskie Przedmieście 64. The next screening of moving photographs took place in Kraków on 14 November, and less than 10 days later the invention was seen for the first time by the residents of Poznań.

About the speaker:
Andrzej Bukowiecki – a graduate of film studies at the University of Łódź and the Postgraduate Film Knowledge Program at the Łódź Film School. From 1984 to 2020 he worked, and from 2011 to 2020 served as director of the House of Art in Warsaw’s Ursynów. For 36 years he promoted film culture at that institution. Member of the Polish Filmmakers Association and the Polish Film Academy. Former PISF expert for screenplays. Since 1985 active in Film Discussion Clubs. A speaker at Warsaw arthouse cinemas: Dom Sztuki, Iluzjon and Kultura. Former longtime lecturer in film history at UMFC in Warsaw; film history teacher at VII Secondary School named after Juliusz Słowacki in Warsaw. He also lectures at the Polish Film Academy. He publishes film-themed texts, among others, in “Magazyn Filmowy SFP”. Author of the monograph on Kazimierz Prószyński in the publication “One Hundred Years of Polish Film. Part one: Beginnings” (Polish Film Institute, Warsaw 2008), co-author (with Dr. Rafał Marszałek) of the album “100 Years of Polish Film. 1908–2008” (PISF, Warsaw 2008). In 2020 he received the ZAIKS Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz Award for achievements in film journalism.

About the host:
Ula Urzędowska – journalist, reporter, radio presenter, scriptwriter. For over a decade on RMF Classic she has hosted programs such as “Life with Class”, “Voice of Nature”, “Foto story” and many others. She talks with creators of music, science and cinema in radio shows and during meetings with audiences. She has hosted concerts at the Film Music Festival (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and the Krakow Jazz Requiem (2023, 2025). She cooperates with the Toruń Symphony Orchestra (series “ROMANTIC(T)OS”, “Autumn Maestria”). With Sinfonietta Cracovia she co-created the series “Dancing Sinfonietta”, which received the Parents’ Award in the Słoneczniki plebiscite in the music category (2025). At the Organ Cinema Festival in Lubin she spoke about the silent film era (2024, 2025); this year will be another opportunity to hear her.

CITY IN CINEMA. CINEMA IN THE CITY – save the dates!

• 19.02.2026, 18:00 — Cinema. Let’s rewind to the beginning. Socio-cultural contexts of the birth of film | Małgorzata Hendrykowska
• 26.03.2026, 18:00 — Cinema. First shots. Pioneers, visionaries and inventors | Andrzej Bukowiecki
• 23.04.2026, 18:00 — “Rozkosz”, “Czary” and “Colosseum”. Panorama of Warsaw illusion shows | Katarzyna Czajka-Kominiarczuk
• 21.05.2026, 18:00 — Sphinx without riddles. The film empire of Aleksander Hertz | Faustyna Toeplitz-Cieślak, Izabela Żukowska
• 18.06.2026, 18:00 — Pola Negri. The birth of a star | Katarzyna Wajda
• 17.09.2026, 18:00 — Between silence and filmstrip. Accompaniment for silent cinema | Filip Presseisen
• November 2026 — The Great Niemowa and his first words – the sound revolution | Barbara Giza
• November 2026 — Stars and stars. Whom the capital’s audience loved and what illusion-house savoir-vivre looked like? | Michał Pieńkowski
• December 2026 — Cinema from large slabs. Gramofonowa | Jarosław Wojciechowski

Media patrons: Legalna Kultura, Radio RMF Classic.