Poster for the 51st Polish Film Festival in Gdynia
The poster for the 51st Polish Film Festival is, in fact, a series of three posters. This year’s PFF visual identity is based on a series of illustrations inspired by Gdynia – a city of encounters, journeys, the sea and cinematic thrills.
We are launching the festival’s next half-century not with one, but with three posters. The stories depicted on them intertwine and complement one another, creating a multi-layered reality that each of us will develop further on our own. It will be a journey through cinema, cinematic worlds and the spaces of Gdynia – says Joanna Łapińska, Artistic Director of the PFF.
As the poster’s creator, illustrator Paweł Smardzewski, adds: My starting point was to capture seemingly everyday moments, those “in-between” moments: farewells, returns, anticipation and closeness. The narrative frames create the impression of observing fragments of a larger story, leaving the viewer room for their own interpretation and a sense of mystery.
The distinctive linework and illustrations tell stories that might well have happened. Simplified forms, strong chiaroscuro and colours based on contrasts between warm oranges, reds and cool blues are an attempt to recreate the palette of early autumn, in September, in the Bay around golden hour – a time of day beloved by filmmakers, lending the shots a sense of magic. All this combines to create a nostalgic, cinematic atmosphere of sunset in Gdynia and the surrounding area.
Smardzewski adds: The composition of the frames is intended to evoke the language of film – characters suspended between realism and emotional rapture. The entire visual identity has been conceived as a story about cinema understood as a communal experience, the art of storytelling, an intergenerational bridge to a better understanding of oneself and others, a romantic gesture, a way of suspending time – because the PFF has for years attracted people from different generations and united them through a shared passion, memories and love of cinema.
About the poster’s creator: Paweł Smardzewski – a press illustrator, creator of book covers, posters and exhibitions, and a journalism graduate. Drawing inspiration from music and street photography, he creates comic-style social and psychological illustrations with a slightly abstract twist. In his works, he sets his characters against backdrops of brutalist and modernist architecture, as well as outer space. He combines pastel-hued nostalgia with the poetics of magical realism.
The 51st Polish Film Festival will take place from 21st to 26th September 2026
