The Russian cinema was avant garde in 1920s (cf. Eisentsein or Vertov) when Hollywodd was a pile of dung (not that it is not now in a figurative sense) - but then of course much of it was destroyed by Stalin and his butchers. Nonetheless, a few good things were made in 1960s and 1970s cf. I'm Cuba, Shadows of the forgotten ancestors or Solaris - total anti-hollywood aesthetic and narrative.
Poland had a better luck - they had a good film school in Lodz. I'm not particularly in love with Wajda - I prefer Has (cf. Saragossa Manuscript, Sanatorium under the Hourglass) or Kieslowski. But I think Polish cinematography, like Polish football, went down the drain after 1989.
Wojtek --- Soviet war movies are great, not art films by any means but damn good. I'm not up on my contemporary cinema, but famous avant-garde director what's-his-name recently did a film called Russian Ark which is a single take an hour and a half long!!!!