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The first day of the 51st Gdynia Polish Feature Film Festival is underway! Take a look at what we’ve got in store for you today

We’re keen to ensure a full attendene and to make as many seats as possible available to our accredited guests! With your needs and our capacity in mind, we’re releasing an additional block of last-minute tickets for the screening of Wild, Wild East, directed by Jan Holoubek, which will take place in the Large Stage of the Musical Theatre.

The allocation of places in the booking system for accredited guests will open 15 minutes after the start of the Opening Gala of the 51^st Polish Film Festival.

Pokażcie nam swoją Gdynię! Zainspirujcie się jednym z trzech plakatów 51. Festiwalu Polskich Filmów Fabularnych, znajdźcie miejsce, widniejące w kadrze, i odtwórzcie je w swoim stylu.

We are making the screening schedule for the 51^st PFF available as a PDF, with the full programme of screenings for competition and-out-of competition films, as well as meetings with their filmmakers.

Specjalny autobus dla festiwalowiczów i festiwalowiczek tradycyjnie będzie kursować między Teatrem Muzycznym a Centrum Riviera.

The Polish Film Festival in Gdynia is to be a celebration for all the city’s residents. Let’s celebrate this special event together!

During the 51^st PFF, competition films will be judged by four panels of jurors.

As part of the 100-year anniversary of the City of Gdynia, the section Films from Gdynia will be considerably expanded. The screenings will be used as a pretext for a wider discussion about the city’s identity, involving experts, artists, activists, and representatives of cultural institutions operating in Gdynia. The patron of the Films from Gdynia section and Talks about the City is “Zawsze Pomorze”.

Portraits is one of the largest and most distinctive sections of the 51^st PFF, in which we turn to the classics in search of values that still resonate with the present day. Our guides on this journey are outstanding figures from Polish cinema: Krzysztof Kieślowski, Tadeusz Konwicki, Barbara Sass and Andrzej Wajda. At the FPFF, these filmmakers will be presented not only as creators of canonical works, but also as ideologues, metaphysicians, philosophers and social activists. Narrators and commentators on reality.

Powerful films, an extraordinary opera and discussions on fundamental issues – identity, its preservation and the threats it faces, as well as the fears and anxieties that define the present day. Added to this are self-reflective reflections about how cinema engages with other media. We have a compelling instalment of the PFF Special Screenings ahead of us.

On 21^st September (Monday) at 7.00 p.m., the Opening Ceremony of the 51^st Polish Film Festival will take place at the Musical Theatre in Gdynia, followed by a screening of the competition film Wild, Wild East, directed by Jan Holoubek. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.

In September, we’ll gather at a record-breaking number of screenings (nearly 30), which will be a perfect occasion to meet filmmakers. We’ll be visiting Kielce, Kalisz, Pleszew, Warsaw, Darłowo, Pińczów, Kraśniczyn and Rawicz.

This year’s edition of the section showcases collaborations between Polish filmmakers and the French, Ukrainian and Latvian film industries. These are films that have already gained recognition and acclaim, having been screened at Cannes and Locarno.

From the pre-premiere screening of The Shrew of Destiny to Andrzej Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz, this year’s Gdynia for Kids takes young audiences on a journey through films that entertain, move and inspire conversation. Prepared by the Polish Filmmakers Association as part of the nationwide Polish Cinema for Young Audiences initiative, the programme shows that the first encounter with great cinema can stay with a viewer for a lifetime. 

Thanks to the support of the City of Gdynia, the 51^st PFF attendees who hold accreditation, a pass or a valid ticket will be able to use public transport free of charge within Gdynia’s fare zone.

The Big Five – five filmmakers will reveal which Polish films are especially close to their hearts, films that have shaped who they are today and never cease to amaze them. The screenings will offer a unique opportunity to revisit evergreen classics — the beating heart of our cinema. Katarzyna Herman has chosen My Nikifor by Krzysztof Krauze, Anna Jadowska Night Train by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Henryk Kuźniak At the Height of Summer by Feliks Falk, Paweł Maślona The Illumination by Krzysztof Zanussi, and Wojciech Smarzowski Teddy Bear by Stanisław Bareja.

As part of the 51^st PFF, we have planned no fewer than seven screenings in the Documentaries in Gdynia section – including three in collaboration with the Krakow Film Festival, and one with Millenium Docs Against Gravity film festival. This year’s films in the Documentaries in Gdynia section reveal a broad spectrum of family relationships, paint vivid portraits, engage in self-reflective contemplation and bear witness to solidarity in the face of the trauma of war. 

Five titles for children and youth have been nominated for the Janusz Korczak Golden Lion Cubs Award. The winner will be chosen by public vote. The titles in the running for the award are: The Shrew of Destiny by Marcin Wasilewski, Too Old for Fairy Tales 3 by Kristoffer Rus, The Boy at the Edge of the World by Grzegorz Wacławek and Marta Szymańska, Smartie and Me by Kacper Lisowski, and The Amazing Adventures of Lost Socks 3: Socks in Space! by Elżbieta Wąsik and Paweł Wendorff.

Eight films have been selected for the Perspectives Competition – seven of them are feature-length debuts, whilst one is the director’s second film. The films were selected by Joanna Łapińska, the Artistic Director of the Festival, based on the recommendations of the Organising Committee.