An analytical approach to several variants of the defi nition of the essay facilitated the identifi cation of its essential features. Essay writers interpret topics in an individual way, relying more on erudition, imagination, and associations. Th anks to the thematic freedom and the ways of expression, the essay evolves between the two forms of knowledge: scientifi c and artistic. All these particularities are also common to the cinematographic essay, asserting themselves with the appearance of the author’s fi lm. Th e constitution of the fi lm-essay also requires a special attitude towards the ways of cinematic expression, as well as its formal elements. In domestic cinema, essayistic tendencies can be identifi ed in the fi lms of several directors. However, the fi lmmaker Vlad Druc asserted himself completely in the fi eld of this type of non-fi ction fi lms,. Most of his fi lms contain some of the essential particularities of the essay, and a good part of them, integrating these qualities, can be called essay fi lms in the notional sense: Ion Creangă, Ploi de dor, Firul viu, Goblen, Meșterul anonim, Moara, Cheamă-i, Doamne, înapoi, Ștefan cel Mare, Obsesie, Vai, sărmana turturică, etc.