Award-Winning Filmmaker from Our Region Directs a Thriller About an AI-Dominated World

The world premiere of Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s new film, “Hot Spot,” will take place in a month at a festival in Canada. The director is one of the first recipients of the Marshal’s Film Award. “Hot Spot” is described as:

“A futuristic science-fiction thriller set in the near future, where social order is determined by a conscious artificial intelligence. A private detective investigates a murder and encounters a group of rebels capable of challenging the power of the digital system. The deeper he goes into the case, the more he becomes convinced that in a world governed by algorithms, nothing is what it seems.”

The film is a Polish-Greek co-production, featuring an international cast including stars such as Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) and Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood), as well as Andrzej Konopka (LARP. Love, Trolls and Other Quests, Good Home) – the director’s husband. The screenplay was written by Robert Bolesto, known for The Lure (Córki dancingu).

The world premiere of “Hot Spot” will take place at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, one of the most prestigious genre film festivals in the world. Filmmakers such as Bong Joon-ho, Guillermo del Toro, and Park Chan-wook have previously presented their works there. The 30th edition of the festival, dedicated to horror, science fiction, fantasy, and cult cinema, will run from 16 July to 2 August.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary European cinema. She studied directing at the Faculty of Radio and Television of the University of Silesia in Katowice (2005) and at the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing in Warsaw (2006). She made her feature debut in 2015 with the now cult film “The Lure”, combining musical, horror, and fairy-tale elements. The film received a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival for “its unique artistic vision and design,” as well as several Polish Film Awards (Eagles). Her subsequent works further strengthened her international reputation.

“Fuga” (2018) was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. The widely discussed film “Silent Twins” (2022) is an English-language production awarded at festivals in Gdynia and Chicago. Based on the true story of twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, it was Poland’s official submission for the 2023 Academy Awards and premiered in Cannes, earning nominations for BAFTA and European Film Awards.

Smoczyńska is a laureate of the Marshal’s Pola Negri Film Award of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, awarded “for an inspiring harmony of image and sound in film” during the Fonomo Music & Film Festival in Bydgoszcz in 2022.

Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion

17 June 2026