He wrote his first film score in 1982 for Antoni Krauze's Weather Forecast. After that many directors asked Preisner for his music, including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, Peter Kassovitz and Louis Mandoka. Preisner has received many awards, including two French Césars (1995, 1996), a German Silver Bear (1997) and three times the distinction of Best Film Score Composer (1991, 1992, 1993) from the Los Angeles Critics Association.