23rd edition of the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival opened with a screening of 'Under the Volcano’ by Damian Kocur at BFI Southbank on 6 March, and was followed by a discussion with the director. Damian Kocur’s observational second feature follows his award-winning 'Bread and Salt’, which opened Kinoteka in 2023.
In addition, this year’s festival Opening Night Gala also served as the official inauguration of the UK/Poland Season 2025, organised by the British Council, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute in London. Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Hanna Wróblewska attended the event.
For the first time, the Kinoteka festival will be venturing around the UK to so many cities at one time, working in collaboration with Klassiki and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, as it expands into eight cities for a tour that will highlight key titles from across the programme. The festival will present both the latest films by Polish filmmakers (including 'White Courage’ by Marcin Koszałka, 'It’s Not My Film’ by Maria Zbąska, 'Simona Kossak’ by Adrian Panek and 'A For Antkowiak’ by Anna Więckowska and Tomasz Ossoliński) and Polish cinema classics in the next few weeks. The retrospective of Wojciech Jerzy Has’s work will include all of his films. The screening of the latest film by the Quay Brothers, 'The Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass’ (made in 2024 in co-production with IKH Pictures Production), will correspond with the W.J.Has’ classic 'The Hourglass Sanatorium’ (1973).
IKH Pictures Production is a co-organizer of the festival. The event was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
