A team of sixteen film industry professionals, led by festival director Krzysztof Gierat, will sift through thousands of submitted titles to handpick the most intriguing entries. These carefully selected films will grace the screens of Krakow’s arthouse cinemas during the 65th Krakow Film Festival, with a substantial portion also available on KFF VOD.
“Curating films is a Herculean task with immense responsibility, but it’s also a tremendous joy for those who are passionate about cinema and relish the challenge of navigating through miles of moving pictures. This stellar team of professionals is enamoured with film and will scrutinise each title with the utmost care. You’ll have the opportunity to judge our selections in just a few months,” comments Festival Director Krzysztof Gierat.
Feature-length Documentaries
Six selectors will be tasked with viewing medium- and feature-length documentaries, determining which titles are going to be invited to the International Documentary Competition, DocFilmMusic, the National Competition, or the non-competitive sections. Alongside Festival Director Krzysztof Gierat, curator Anita Piotrowska will wield the most significant vote. This film critic, associated with Tygodnik Powszechny and a member of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), will be joined by director Grzegorz Zariczny, radio journalist Tadeusz Marek, director Aniela Astrid Gabryel, film critic Marcin Stachowicz, and director Grzegorz Pacek.
Short Documentaries
The title of best short documentary, with a runtime of up to 30 minutes, will be awarded to one of the films selected by a duo of film scholars. The two-person panel comprises our long-standing selector Maciej Gil, joined by newcomer Jędrzej Kościński.
Animated Shorts
The formal freedom of short animations is tempered by a 30-minute runtime limit. The most captivating entries will be chosen by a team led by the acclaimed and award-winning animator Zbigniew Czapla, accompanied by film scholar and animation expert Olga Bobrowska.
Short Fiction Films
Short fiction films dominate the festival submissions, making a six-person selection committee an utter necessity. This year, Diana Dąbrowska has been appointed curator. The film scholar and critic will be assisted in making crucial decisions about the best 30-minute productions by director Elżbieta Benkowska, film scholar Bartosz Tesarz, film scholar Anna Waszczuk, director and journalist Kamil Czudej, and film scholar and Polish film historian Jarosław Grzechowiak.
The Selection Process
The selection committee, together with Festival Director Krzysztof Gierat, will finalise their programming decisions by mid-April 2025. It is then that we’ll find out which titles will be showcased in the four parallel competitions – the International Documentary Competition, the Short Film Competition, DocFilmMusic, as well as the National Competition. Some of the submitted films will be featured in special non-competitive sections.
The Krakow Film Festival holds a spot on the exclusive list of film events qualifying for the Oscars® in short film categories (fiction, animation, documentary) and feature-length documentary, for the European Film Awards in the same categories, and also qualifies for the BAFTA Awards.
The 65th Krakow Film Festival will be held in cinemas from 25th May to 1st June 2025, with the online edition running from 30th May to 15th June 2025 on KFF VOD.