Director, screenwriter, producer.

Director, screenwriter, producer. Winner of the main prize of the Venice Film Festival "Golden Lion" (the film "The Year of the Calm Sun", 1984), winner of many international and national awards.

Critics appreciated Zanussi's work already in the 1950s and 1960s, when he worked in amateur cinema. During this period, nine of his eleven films received awards (including A Tram to the Sky, filmed with Vincent Ronis and which won the Grand Prix at the Festival of Student Amateur Etudes in 1958).

He entered the directing department of the Lodz Film School, from which he graduated in 1966. Zanussi's graduation film, Death of a Provincial!, 1966, won a prize at the Venice International Film Festival and the main prize at the Mannheim International Film Festival, 1967).

Author of a number of documentaries and television films, including “Face to Face” (1967) and “Test” (1968). The first full-length film, “The Structure of the Crystal” (Polish - “Struktura kryształu”, 1969), immediately determined the director’s place in Polish cinema, assigning him the role of a cold rationalist, a dispassionate researcher of the morals of the modern Polish intelligentsia, prone to posing the most complex existential problems.

Since the early 1970s, Zanussi has been one of the most prolific directors in Polish cinema, producing one or two films annually, alternating between feature films and television.

Zanussi's most significant film of the eighties was The Year of the Quiet Sun, shot in 1984 in Poland.

Author of several collections of television and film scripts (partly together with E. Zhebrovsky), the books “Conversations about Amateur Cinema” (1978) and “Time to Die” (1997).

Laureate of “Premio David Europeo” (Italy) for creativity in general. Artistic director of the creative association "Tor" since 1980, vice-chairman of the Union of Polish Cinematographers (1974-1983).

Filmography

Full-length feature films

1969 - The structure of the crystal / Struktura kryształu (“Reflection” in Soviet distribution)
1970 - Family life / Życie rodzinne
1973 - Illumination / Iluminacja
1974 - Quarterly report / Bilans kwartalny
1975 - Murder in Catamount / Zabójstwo w Catamount, USA - Germany
1977 - Protective colors / Barwy ochronne[6][7]
1978 - Spiral
1980 - Constant
1981 - From a Distant Country: Pope John Paul II / Da un paeso lontano: Papa Giovanni Paolo II, Italy - UK
1982 - Imperative, Germany-France
1984 - Year of the Quiet Sun / Rok spokojnego słońca, Poland - West Berlin - USA
1985 - Paradigm / Paradygmat, Germany
1988 - Wherever you are... / Gdzieśkolwiek jest..., Poland - Germany
1989 - Possession / Stan posiadania
1991 - Life for Life / Życie za życie, Poland - West Berlin
1992 - Touch of the hand / Dotknięcie ręki, Poland - UK
1996 - Gallop / Cwał
1997 - Brother of our God / Brat naszego Boga
2000 - Life as a deadly sexually transmitted disease / Życie, jako śmiertelna choroba przenoszona drogą płciową
2002 - Supplement
2005 - Persona non grata
2007 - Black Sun / Il Sole Nero
2008 - Heart in the palm of your hand / Serce na dłoni
2009 - Revisit / Rewizyta
2014 - Foreign body / Obce ciało
2018 - Ether
Short films

1958 - Lame Devil / Diabel kulawy
1958 - Tram to the sky / Tramwaj do nieba
1959 - Cement and words / Cement i slowa
1961 - Plane from Budapest / Samolot z Budapesztu
1962 - Students / Studenci
1967 - Computers / Komputery (doc.)
1968 - Death of a Provincial / Śmierć prowincjała
TV films

1966 - Maria Dąbrowska
1966 - Industry / Przemysł
1967 - Face to face / Twarza w twarz (film)
1968 - Krzysztof Penderecki (doc.). Silver Laikonik Prize of the National Short Film Festival in Krakow '68, Silver Dove Prize of the Leipzig International Film Festival '69
1968 - Test / Zaliczenie (film)
1970 - Mountains at dusk / Góry o zmierzchu (film). Trophy of Nations Prize Trento International Film Festival '73
1971 - Behind the Wall / Za ścianą. Prize of the Sanremo International Film Festival '71, Prize of the Radio and Television Committee '72
1971 - Role / Rola / Die Rolle (film), Germany
1972 - Hypothesis / Hipoteza (film)
1975 - Night duty / Nachtdienst, joint. with E. Zhebrovsky, Germany
1977 - Lecture on anatomy / Lekcja anatomii / Anatomische Stunde, Germany
1977 - House of Women / Haus der Frauen, Germany
1977 - Lutosławski, Penderecki, Baird
1979 - Roads in the night / Drogi pośród nocy / Wege in der Nacht, Germany
1980 - Contract / Kontrakt. Venice IFF Diploma '80
1980 - My Krakow / Mój Kraków / Mein Krakau (doc.), Germany
1981 - Temptation / Versuchung, Germany - France - Switzerland
1982 - Vatican - Capital of Culture (doc.), Italy
1982 - Unavailable, Germany
1983 - Bluebeard / Sinobrody / Blaubart, Germany - Switzerland
1990 - Napoleon, Maria Walewska / Napoleon, Maria Walewska, television series
1991 - Today's Russia / Rosja dzisiejsza (doc.), Germany - France - Russia - Poland
1992 - Long conversation with a bird / Długa rozmowa z ptakiem
1998 - Last lap / Ostatni Krąg
1998 - Line of identification / Line opóźniająca
1998 - Unwritten Law / Niepisane prawa
2000 - Hidden treasures / Skarby ukryte
Prizes and awards:

Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival (1971)
Main Prize, FIPRESCI and Ecumenical Jury prizes at the Locarno International Film Festival (1973)
Berlin Film Festival, International Catholic Film Organization Prize (1975)
Special prize at the Chicago International Film Festival (1978)
Cannes Film Festival, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1978)
Winner of the Cannes Film Festival in the Director category and winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize (1980)
Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize and Pasinetti Cup for Best Film (1982)
Venice Film Festival Grand Prize and Pasinetti Cup for Best Film (1984)
Best Film Award - Gold "St. George" (2000)
FIPRESCI Prize - Special Look (2002)
At the Yerevan Film Festival “Golden Apricot” was awarded the prize named after. Sergei Parajanov “for his contribution to world cinema” (2005)

International Baltic Star Award (2009)

Prize “For Contribution to Cinema” (2017, Golden Arch Film Festival)

“Let There Be Light” Award of the Armenian Church, presented at the XI International Film Festival “Golden Apricot” (2014).

Prize "For contribution to the development of world cinema" (2022) at the XIV Tashkent International Film Festival "Pearl of the Silk Road" (Tashkent, 2022).