A compelling array of documentaries, innovative short animations, and poignant narrative shorts is going to contend for the prestigious Golden Hobby-Horses, with a total of 41 Polish films – ranging from promising debuts to works by seasoned auteurs. Each of these films will be presented between late May and early June at the 65th Krakow Film Festival.
Young filmmakers predominate among the invited creators, half of whom are women. This was not a calculated move. We simply chose the best films, though individual decisions often proved challenging. We are particularly satisfied with the thematic and stylistic diversity, the representation of key film schools, and even completely independent cinema, comments Krzysztof Gierat, Director of the Krakow Film Festival.
Ten Polish productions have been selected for two international competitions. Competing for the Golden Horn and a shortcut to the Oscars are Tomasz Wolski, Weronika Mliczewska, and two first-time filmmakers: Michał Pietrak and Natalia Koniarz. Previously recognised in Kraków and at numerous other international festivals, Tomasz Wolski returns with another story narrative crafted from archival footage. His The Big Chief is a gripping chronicle of an ex-spy’s painful entrapment within his hostile homeland, separated from family abroad. Awarded at the festival in Thessaloniki, Child of Dust is about a similar need which is to reunite with a family member. Weronika Mliczewska’s film tells the emotional story of Sangu’s quest to meet his American father after half a century. His journey is hindered by cultural and linguistic barriers as well as the traumatic legacy of the Vietnam War.
The 65th Krakow Film Festival will also see the world premieres of two striking debut full-length documentaries. Natalia Koniarz’s film immerses viewers into the harrowing depths of a Bolivian mine. Silver is a harrowing portrait of poverty and exploitation that affects all residents of Potosí. In turn, Do Painters Die Elsewhere, directed by Michał Pietrak, is a visually rich, impressionistic depiction of an outsider artist whose most difficult life experience was grappling with the terminal illness of his beloved wife.
A total of six short films will be competing for Golden Dragons and a potential Oscar qualification. Screened in-competition at IDFA, Bloodline by Wojciech Węglarz follows a lost European bison trapped by a barrier at the Poland-Belarus border and unable to return to its herd. Meanwhile, archival recordings form the foundation of As Long as They Don’t Find Us by Maja Górczak, exploring another wall, the one surrounding the Warsaw Ghetto and its impact on the life of a certain actress.
In addition to the Golden Hobby-Horse, Daria Kopiec will also be competing for two Golden Dragons having produced two short productions this year. The first is the provocative It’s All Because of Her. The film follows a possessive mother unable to move past her husband’s death who desperately tries to forge a connection with her teenage son. Artem Rachkelyuk’s moving Look Homeward will also be competing for the title of Best Short Film. It tells the story of a Ukrainian teenager residing in Poland with his sister. The boy learns that their father has been conscripted.
The Pool or Death of Gold Fish, is the second entry by Daria Kopiec. The production is a visually captivating animation rich in fairy-tale elements. The other Polish animation film invited to the international competition depicts a world with too many possibilities. The protagonist of Paulina Ziółkowska’s dynamic Tears is overwhelmed by endless possibilities, rendering decision-making a near-impossible task.
Journeys to the Middle East
Natalia Koniarz and Weronika Mliczewska aren’t the only filmmakers transporting festival-goers to distant corners of the world. In A Song of Humble Beauty Anna Konik guides audiences through the streets of Karachi and its surrounding villages, where artisans uphold traditional crafts and musicians chant their mantras. Meanwhile, directors Natalia Pietsch and Grzegorz Piekarski invite us to Turkey in The Town That Drove Away. They visit the historic Hasankeyf shortly before its thousand-year legacy is submerged beneath water to facilitate the construction of a dam. The short drama Motherland, directed by Gor Arushanyan, explores the topic of forced migration. It’s the story of a man who lives with his disabled mother and is faced with an agonising decision amid the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Next in line Quaher, directed by Nada Khalifa, follows a Palestinian returning from Canada to his homeland to celebrate his sister’s newborn child, honouring a cherished tradition.
Journey into Childhood
Agnieszka Popińska invites us to see a nativity play. In her animated documentary The Show, she captures preschoolers as they rehearse the titular performance.
The film’s style allows audiences to freely observe the delightful trials and tribulations of staging the production while exploring fundamental questions posed by a group of six-year-olds. Michał Grzegorz Cysewski’s documentary JUMP! follows slightly older protagonists. Magda adores horseback riding but can no longer pursue her passion. Her solution arrives in the increasingly popular Polish pastime of hobby horsing. The girl takes part in a competition though is faced with growing doubts.
The onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine coincides with the fifth birthday of Inga. Krzysztof Kopczyński sensitively portrays the young girl, who now lives in Poland with her visually impaired parents and their beloved pets. Despite seemingly adapting well to living in a new country, actively engaging with the local Ukrainian community, a yearning for their homeland lingers beneath the surface.
Journeys into Past… and Future
It’s an extremely painful film. Rafał Łysak in Two Cigarettes returns home to confront a past tragedy. He is not traveling alone; a certain rebellious boy accompanies him. In the animated short Dear Leo Sokolosky Weronika Szyma delves into a stack of letters left by her late great-grandfather. During the war, he was forcibly sent to a labour camp where he met the eponymous Leo. Following her ancestor’s footsteps, she visits the German town where the friends met and endured wartime hardships. Reenactment, directed by Marcin Strauchold, also transports us back to World War II. Male-dominated historical reenactments start to bore the film’s protagonist, prompting the girl to find a place for herself in new stories. In the Veins by Maciej Tyburski begins with the removal of a commemorative plaque honouring a certain historic figure and culminates in a touching Polish-French friendship between two young men. Zuzanna Heller’s animated short Hello, Headquarters deftly captures the absurdities of life in communist Poland, deeply resonating with anyone who has experienced contemporary bureaucratic chaos
Damian Kosowski, whose short film was screened at Sundance, reflects the post-war reality in Ukraine. People&Things follows a mother who travels with her daughter and new partner to identify the remains of her husband, a Ukrainian soldier. Did the things she saw really belong to the father of her child?
Staying at Home
What is a home, really? Directors Aleksandra and Julia Powalacz explore this question in their contemplative documentary Dom/Home, taking us on a trip into the mountains. For renowned polar explorers and alpine skiers, journeying the trails gives a sense of grounding, akin to the comfort others find at their homes. Two animators Kinga Kociarz and Alicja Liss, by contrast, confine us within four walls. In Kociarz’s film, Peace to This House, the titular house is consumed by illness, trapping its inhabitants in a repetitive cycle of trauma. Cold Home similarly entraps a mother and daughter. The women are bound together by a difficult relationship, silence and suppressed emotions, making genuine connection impossible. The couple from Jakub Prysak’s short film also faces severe communication issues. In Nothing Else their relationship is put to the test. The girl is seriously ill and her beloved cannot handle this situation. To make matters worse, items start to disappear from their large home in mysterious circumstances. The duo in Wojciech Staroń’s latest documentary are perfectly attuned to one another. Acclaimed filmmaker Bogdan Dziworski and his cherished editor Agnieszka Bojanowska have been longtime friends and collaborators. In The Passion of Agnieszka we are offered a rare chance to accompany them in her home and take a look at her final project.
How many lamps do you have at home? The protagonist of Mikołaj Janik’s short documentary owns quite a few and his collection continues to expand. In The Light of Immortality, we meet a man who is well aware of his unusual obsession. Paweł from Tadeusz Chudy’s documentary could easily collect medals and trophies. Given his success as a successful and celebrated boxer, he has quite a few to his name. Yet what he lacks is a place to call his own. His half-sister inherits their grandmother’s apartment and invites him to live outside the children’s home they’ve stayed at for years. Will Paweł decide it is time to live On My Own Terms or remain institutionalised? Agnieszka Kalińska’s documentary empathetically addresses Generation Z. In All the Colors of Youth, teenagers invite viewers into their homes to discuss their challenges and hardships they must endure. Showcased at Annecy, Jakub Krzyszpin’s animated film The Crooked Head portrays youths navigating addiction and everyday struggles. A young resident of an oppressive housing estate cloaked in mining smoke shaves his head and dons a tracksuit to confront the shadow of his older brother.
Journeying Outside
Aga and Bartek finally enjoy a rare evening off. The couple is meeting their friends for dinner, only to hear them announce their breakup. The couple from Olga Kałagate’s Just is visibly shaken but treats this event as a catalyst for reflection on their own long-term relationship. The depression of the director’s father in Dance with Me, Dad impacts everyone around him, particularly his daughter, who attempts to coax him into deeper conversation or even just leaving the house. Małgorzata Goździk tells a seemingly simple story that many families can relate to. For celebrated actor Krzysztof Globisz, stepping outside after a stroke symbolises his readiness to return to the stage. Despite suffering from aphasia, he resumes teaching at drama school and performing. Director Michał Hytroś accompanies him at a rehearsal for a stage play. The result of their collaboration is the unique documentary The Whale Song.
The National Competition is also going to feature two animated shorts about individuality and breaking norms. In Janina Księska’s Horde, a mesmerised crowd unwittingly marches to an isolated tower only to begin dancing in trance-like obedience at the behest of a mysterious figure at its top. Amidst this hypnotic chaos there’s only a single indifferent individual who resists the collective frenzy. Birds of Paradise, the latest animated film by Tomasz Ducki’s” places… bird droppings at its centre. A flock is building their habitat from this peculiar material but as time goes on, they get bored of this muddy landscape. A mysterious object penetrates their harmonious world.
The spirited Miecia, affectionately known as the Queen of Łeba, faces retirement after 40 years at her beloved smokehouse. She must finally slow down and give the reins to others – a challenge greater than expected. Opening the festival, The Queen and the Smokehouse by Iga Lis is a poignant tale of a strong woman in an iconic place, a symbol of a fading era of small, local businesses. A similar, family-run business is run by a father and son in the short fiction film Neverlandex directed by Agata Kapuścińska. Piotr, over thirty, is cut off from the world. His overprotective father, an ardent follower of conspiracy theories, won’t let him go outside or talk to strangers, including the customer of their laundry business. Piotr, however, would very much like to meet his mother. He decides to take a risk and escape from under his father’s custody. Will going outside actually put his life at risk?
People are fighting for their lives in the forest on the Poland-Belarus border. The protagonist of Robert Zawadzki’s Fear is the mother of a border guard. She avoids the topic of migrants, instead focusing on everyday life. Everything changes she is approached by a man needing help for his pregnant wife. The woman will have to reevaluate her approach to refugees as well as her son’s job. In his second competition entry, Rafał Łysak invites people to audition for his new documentary. Casting presents a mosaic portrait of individuals who felt the need to talk about their lives in a film. Most surprisingly, some of these stories begin to resemble each other.
Medium- and feature-length documentary films:
- The Queen and the Smokehouse, dir. Iga Lis, Poland, 65’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Do Painters Die Elsewhere, dir. Michał Pietrak, Poland, 70’, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Two cigarettes, dir. Rafał Łysak, Poland, 55’, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Child of Dust, dir. Weronika Mliczewska, Poland, 90’, 2025
- The Town That Drove Away, dir. Natalia Pietsch, Grzegorz Piekarski, Poland, 70’, 2025
- On My Own Terms, dir. Tadeusz Chudy, Poland, 67’, 2025
- The Passion of Agnieszka, dir. Wojciech Staroń, Polska, 50’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- A Song of Humble Beauty, dir. Anna Konik, Poland, 56’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- The Whale Song, dir. Michał Hytroś, Poland, 64’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Silver, dir. Natalia Koniarz, Poland, 79’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- The Big Chief, dir. Tomasz Wolski, Poland, 86’, 2025
Short films:
Animation:
- The Pool or Death of Goldfish, dir. Daria Kopiec, Poland, 14’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Dear Leo Sokolosky, dir. Weronika Szyma, Poland, 8’, 2024
- Hello, Headquarters, dir. Zuzanna Heller, Poland, 5’, 2025
- The Crooked Head, dir. Jakub Krzyszpin, Poland, 8’ 2025
- Peace to This House, dir. Kinga Kociarz, Poland, 6’, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE
- The Show, dir. Agnieszka Popińska, Poland, 12’, 2025
- Birds of Paradise, dir. Tomasz Ducki, Poland, 8’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Tears, dir. Paulina Ziółkowska, Germany, Poland, 9’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Horde, dir. Janina Księska, Poland, 7’, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Cold Home, dir. Alicja Liss, Poland, 8’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
Documentary:
- Bloodline, dir. Wojciech Węglarz, Poland, 12’, 2024
- Casting, dir. Rafał Łysak, Poland, 26’, 2024
- Dom/Home, dir. Aleksandra Powalacz, Julia Powalacz, Poland, Netherlands, 15’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Inga, dir. Krzysztof Kopczyński, Polska, 28’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- All the Colors of Youth, dir. Agnieszka Kalińska, Poland, 18’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- JUMP!, dir. Michał Grzegorz Cysewski, Poland, 15’, 2024 – WORLD PREMIERE
- The Light of Immortality, dir. Mikołaj Janik, Poland, 24’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- In the Veins, dir. Maciej Tyburski, Poland, 29’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Dance with Me, Dad, dir. Małgorzata Goździk, Poland, 28’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- As Long As They Don’t Find Us, dir. Maja Górczak, Poland, 13’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
Fiction films:
- Nothing Else, dir. Jakub Prysak, Poland, 29’, 2025
- People&Things, dir. Damian Kosowski, Poland, 20’, 2024
- Motherland, dir. Gor Arushanyan, Poland, 21’, 2025
- Neverlandex, dir. Agata Kapuścińska, Poland, 23’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Just, dir. Olga Kałagate, Poland, 17’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- Reenactment, dir. Marcin Strauchold, Poland, 24’, 2025
- Look Homeward, dir. Artem Rachkelyuk, Poland, 20’, 2025
- Fear, dir. Robert Zawadzki, Poland, 19’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
- It’s All Because of Her, dir. Daria Kopiec, Poland, 30’, 2025
- Qaher, dir. Nada Khalifa, Poland, Egypt, Palestine, 21’, 2025 – WORLD PREMIERE
Insider passes for the 65th Krakow Film Festival are now on sale!
The Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards® in short film categories (fiction, animation, documentary) and feature-length documentary, the European Film Awards in the same categories, and serves as a qualifying event for the BAFTA Awards.
The Krakow Film Festival is organised with financial support from the City of Krakow, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Polish Film Institute, and the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme. The Polish Filmmakers Association serves as co-organiser.
The KFF at the Barbican is co-organised by the National Cultural Centre as part of the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.
The 65th Krakow Film Festival will be held in cinemas from 25 May to 1 June 2025, and online on KFF VOD from 30 May to 15 June 2025.