Poster for the 50th anniversary edition of the PFF
The poster for the 50th edition of the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, designed by Ola Jasionowska, is about the passage of time. We can find dynamics, a symbolic hourglass, and – perhaps – infinity. There is also a plot in it: a film heroine at a crossroads. She runs away but just as easily reaches her destination or decides on her next move. This openness to interpretation conceals the overarching goal of introducing viewers to the atmosphere created by a film festival.
As graphic designer and illustrator Ola Jasionowska says: I wanted to present the most cinematic and dynamic situation that I could imagine and recognise in a static form, such as a poster. Each of us can recall a film heroine running or escaping, and it is this shared memory that I tried to capture here. In last year’s poster, both the location (the Orłowo cliff) and the colours of the design (the sea and the sun) were supposed to clearly take the viewer to Gdynia, although I knew and we talked about it with the festival creators that such an obvious solution was not their first choice. It’s understandable that we don’t want another festival poster with a film reel washed ashore.
This year’s poster avoids clichéd associations, typical images and festival props. However, it is not devoid of references to the festival’s Gdynia identity. Ola Jasionowska adds: The staircase with a rounded balustrade, the soaring window – all this is a great tribute to Gdynia modernism. The sparse palette and minimalism of the characters are simply not meant to interfere with this image, so that we can give this story the character of a drama, a comedy or see in it a scene from a film that moved or even frightened us. I really hope that through these ambiguities we managed to create a poster that resonates at least a little with something as multi-layered and dynamic as the film.
And the subdued, elegant colours perfectly match this year’s anniversary. This year we are particularly recalling the past decades of the festival. But also, like our heroine, we look into the future, at the world outside the window – the wide space that we can only guess at.
The 50th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia will take place on 22nd–27th September 2025.
