Poczta Polska released on December 8, 2025, a new postage stamp that turns a milestone of national cinema into a small square of paper. The commemorative issue “Polish Film Institute—we support our cinematography” marks the 20th anniversary of the Polish Film Institute and is already available in post offices across the country.
The stamp has a face value—or stamp value—of 4.90 złotys and appears as a single design in the series. It is printed in offset on fluorescent paper, in blue, yellow, red, black, and silver, and sold in small sheets of five stamps with an additional label. The total print run is 70,000 copies, which makes it a typical modern commemorative rather than a rare limited edition, but still a clearly defined issue for anyone who follows contemporary philately.
The project was created by graphic artist Justyna Chodkowska, who based the design on official visuals prepared for the Institute’s anniversary. On the stamp we see a stylized camera set against a bold red field, a color strongly associated with the Polish Film Institute. According to the description on the Polish Post online shop, the image deliberately echoes the classic Polish film posters of the 1950s–1970s but is drawn in a sharp, digital style. The camera here symbolizes cinema as a meeting point of technology and emotion, image and imagination.
The public presentation of the new postage stamp took place during a symphonic concert of Polish film music in Warsaw, the grand finale of the Institute’s jubilee celebrations. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Polish Film Institute, and Poczta Polska unveiled the design on stage; on the same day, the stamp went into circulation nationwide.
For many people who do not think about stamp collecting on a daily basis, this issue offers an easy entry point. It connects a familiar world—movies, soundtracks, cinema evenings—with the quieter world of albums and cancellations. The worth of the stamp at the counter is modest, just its 4.90 zł face value, but for collectors the real value lies in the story it tells: how one institution supported national cinema for two decades and then appeared, in miniature, on a postage stamp of its own.
