BellaTOFIFEST 2026. A Celebration of Cinema with Our Patronage Coming Soon
The film 12 Monkeys by Terry Gilliam will serve as the main theme of this year’s BellaTOFIFEST festival in Toruń. The Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Self-Government is the festival’s main partner.
The 24th edition of the Toruń festival will take place from 27 June to 3 July 2026. Screenings will be held at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, as well as at an open-air cinema venue.
This year’s leading motif will be “12 Monkeys,” directed by Terry Gilliam, a filmmaker associated with the legendary comedy troupe Monty Python. The cult science-fiction thriller, infused with dark humour, begins in the year 2035, when humanity has been nearly wiped out by a mysterious virus released in 1996. The survivors live underground. Prisoner James Cole is sent back in time by a group of scientists to obtain a sample of the virus. The role is widely regarded as one of Bruce Willis’s finest performances.
“Gilliam created a timeless work: the more time passes since its premiere, the more relevant its questions seem. This is exactly the kind of cinema we want to celebrate at BellaTOFIFEST,” says festival director Kafka Jaworska.
The festival will also screen La Jetée, the 1962 short film by Chris Marker that inspired “12 Monkeys.”
The programme will also feature films that premiered at prestigious international festivals. The opening film will be No Good Men by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat. Set in Kabul shortly before the Taliban’s return to power, the story follows a television camera operator trapped in a marriage to an unfaithful husband and convinced that there are no good men left in Afghanistan. The film had its world premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
From the 2026 Sundance Film Festival comes Hot Water by Ramzi Bashour, starring Lubna Azabal and Daniel Zolghadri. The film tells the story of a teenager and his Lebanese mother travelling across the United States.
“From the Tribeca Festival in New York, we will present Dragonfly, a disturbing thriller featuring two outstanding acting performances,” announces Kafka Jaworska.
The film stars British actresses Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn, both Oscar nominees, as women whose seemingly ordinary neighbourhood turns out to be far darker than expected.
The Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes by Gabriel Azorín had its world premiere at the latest Venice Film Festival. The film is an intimate story about emotional closeness between men, set in Roman baths across two eras – contemporary times and antiquity.
Department of Promotion
Dariusz Czołgowski
19 May 2026