12 Films to Compete for the BellaTOFIFEST 2026 Grand Prix in Toruń
Among them is one Polish production – and a highly acclaimed one at that. The Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Self-Government is the festival’s main partner.
The ON AIR International Competition for first and second feature films is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the Toruń festival each year. It showcases Polish and European premieres selected from hundreds of submissions.
“For years, the ON AIR section has been discovering voices that are only beginning to be heard at full strength and presenting them before the world hails them as major discoveries,” says BellaTOFIFEST Director Kafka Jaworska. “This year’s programme is a journey across nearly every continent and through the full spectrum of human experience, while also offering twelve different answers to the same question: what does it mean to say something that has never been said before?”
This year, 12 films have qualified for the international competition. The winner of the Grand Prix will be chosen by a jury consisting of directors Magdalena Łazarkiewicz and Xawery Żuławski, actors Andrzej Chyra and Karolina Gruszka, and producer Wojciech Gostomczyk.
Films in the 2026 ON AIR Competition*
“Forastera” (Spain / Italy / Sweden, 2025)
Lucía Aleñar Iglesias takes viewers to Mallorca, where grief after a grandmother’s death transforms into a haunting meditation on memory and spiritual heritage.
“Hijra” (Saudi Arabia / Iraq / Egypt / United Kingdom, 2025)
Shahad Ameen leads audiences along the ancient pilgrimage routes of Saudi Arabia, where twelve-year-old Janna searches for her missing sister and uncovers family secrets hidden for generations.
“Vanilla” (Mexico, 2025)
Set in 1980s Mexico, Mayra Hermosillo’s intimate story follows eight-year-old Roberta as she watches seven women fight to save their home and preserve their dignity.
“Blue Heron” (Canada / Hungary, 2025)
Sophy Romvari blurs the boundary between fiction and documentary in the story of a Hungarian-Canadian family on Vancouver Island, where an idyllic life conceals increasingly dark fractures.
“17” (North Macedonia / Serbia / Slovenia, 2025)
Kosara Mitić explores what happens to girls when adults look away. “17” is a film about violence, silence and solidarity, drawing its power equally from the precision of its screenplay and the courage of its director.
“Silent Rebellion” (Switzerland / France / Belgium, 2025)
Marie-Elsa Sgualdo returns to a pre-war Swiss village, where fifteen-year-old Emma, after the trauma of rape, unexpectedly becomes an advocate of emancipation.
“I Understand Your Displeasure” (Germany, 2026)
Kilian Armando Friedrich portrays a woman who mediates daily between market demands and loyalty to her cleaning staff, doing so with documentary-like precision and unsparing attentiveness.
“A Light That Never Goes Out” (Finland / Norway, 2025)
Finnish director and musician Lauri-Matti Parppei tells the story of a flautist who, after a nervous breakdown, discovers that chaos can be a form of healing.
“A Sad and Beautiful World” (Lebanon / USA / Germany / Saudi Arabia / Qatar, 2025)
In “A Sad and Beautiful World,” winner of the Audience Award at Venice’s Giornate degli Autori, Cyril Aris unfolds a Lebanese love story spanning three decades of impossible choices, with the country itself becoming an antagonist.
“Nina Roza” (Canada / Belgium / Bulgaria / Italy, 2026)
Geneviève Dulude-De Celles sends a contemporary art expert to a Bulgarian village, where an eight-year-old girl creates paintings that have gone viral and where the protagonist’s past proves stronger than his present.
“Yugo Florida” (Serbia, 2025)
Vladimir Tagić’s Serbian comedy follows a man who avoids facing the truth that his father is dying until the two set off together in a Yugo Florida car on a journey to a monastery, finally meeting as two equally lost individuals.
“There Are No Ghosts in the Apartment on Dobra Street” (Poland, 2025)
The only Polish film in the competition is Emi Buchwald’s feature debut, in which four siblings attempt to enter adulthood without losing one another in the process. The film has received ten nominations for the Polish Film Awards (Orły).
The 24th edition of BellaTOFIFEST will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July. The Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Self-Government is the festival’s main partner. Screenings will be held at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre and an open-air cinema.
This year’s theme is the film “12 Monkeys”, directed by Terry Gilliam. The festival will open with “No Good Men” by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat.
*Film descriptions based on the festival’s official website.
Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion
11 June 2026