Movie

Still from Jan Komasa's film Good Boy, press materials
Still from Jan Komasa's film Good Boy, press materials

Our Good Boy to Compete for the Golden Lions in Gdynia

Sixteen films have been selected for the Main Competition of the 51st Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Among them is Jan Komasa’s Good Boy, produced in cooperation with the Kujawy  Pomorze Film Fund.

This year’s Polish Film Festival will take place from 21 to 26 September. The organizers have announced the full line-up for both the Main Competition and the Short Film Competition.

Sixteen films will compete for the prestigious Golden Lions. “An exciting and diverse year lies ahead. Renowned filmmakers are returning with new titles, and we have been eagerly awaiting these films. It is also encouraging to see young cinema represented in the Main Competition,” said the festival’s Artistic Director, Joanna Łapińska. “May this be a festival of discoveries. I hope there will be many of them. Let this year’s sixteen competition films become an excellent starting point for a conversation about the contemporary world, the role of Polish cinema, and its future.”

Among the contenders for the top prize at the 51st Polish Film Festival is Jan Komasa’s Good Boy, made in cooperation with the Kujawy Pomorze Film Fund. The thriller follows Tommy, a young man immersed in a world of drugs and violence. One day, the 19-year-old is kidnapped by a mysterious man determined to rehabilitate him and turn him into a “good boy.” The lead role is played by Anson Boon, whose previous credits include 1917 and the miniseries Pistol, based on the history of the Sex Pistols. Stephen Graham, known for the series Adolescence as well as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Irishman, plays Chris, the man who abducts Tommy. Andrea Riseborough stars as Chris’s wife. She received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in To Leslie.

Dobry chłopiec (Good Boy) was released in Polish cinemas in early March. It premiered in the United States on the same day under the title Heel. The film received enthusiastic reviews from American critics. Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times described it as “a gripping thriller” and praised the performances of the cast. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times also gave Komasa’s film a positive review, awarding it the publication’s prestigious “Critic’s Pick” distinction. She highlighted Anson Boon’s “electrifying” performance, praised the nuanced acting of Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, and commended Michał Dymek’s stark cinematography, describing the film as “thought-provoking” and portraying “social decay wrapped in the conventions of a psychological thriller.”

Festival audiences in Gdynia will also have the opportunity to see Hot Spot, the latest feature by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, one of the first recipients of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region Film Award.

Other Recipients of the Marshal’s Film Award

“Set in the near future, Hot Spot is a futuristic science-fiction thriller in which social order is governed by a sentient artificial intelligence. A private detective investigating a murder uncovers a group of rebels capable of challenging the rule of the digital system. As he delves deeper into the case, he comes to realize that in a world controlled by algorithms, nothing is what it seems,” reads the film’s official synopsis.

The film is a Polish-Greek co-production featuring an international cast that includes Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus), Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood), and Andrzej Konopka (LARP. Love, Trolls and Other Quests, A Good House), who is also the director’s husband. The screenplay was written by Robert Bolesto, best known for co-writing the acclaimed The Lure.

Twenty-eight titles submitted by film schools, studios, and production companies have been selected for the Short Film Competition at the 51st Polish Film Festival.

“The condition of the world around us, its anxieties, and possible visions of the future are also explored by the filmmakers in this year’s Short Film Competition. The selection is a distinctive and diverse chorus of voices, both thematically and stylistically, united by a fresh and courageous perspective,” Joanna Łapińska noted. “It is no surprise that short films have enjoyed a loyal audience in Gdynia for many years. How much poorer our understanding of new Polish cinema would be without them.”

Films in the Main Competition of the 51st Polish Film Festival

  • Czas, który nie nadszedł (Time That Never Came) – Director: Julia Rogowska; Screenplay: Małgorzata Piłacińska; Producer: Krystyna Kantor
  • Dobry chłopiec (Good Boy) – Director: Jan Komasa; Screenplay: Bartek Bartosik, Naqqash Khalid; Producers: Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski
  • Dziki, dziki wschód (The Wild, Wild East) – Director: Jan Holoubek; Screenplay: Aleksandra Takuska; Producers: Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień
  • Exotic – Written and directed by Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska; Producers: Magdalena Sztorc, Anna Zajączkowska
  • Fluidy – Director: Maria Wider; Screenplay: Maria Wider, Magdalena Kućka, Aleksandra Arent; Producers: Jerzy Kapuściński, Magdalena Tomanek, Katarzyna Malinowska
  • Hot Spot – Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska; Screenplay: Robert Bolesto; Producers: Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień, Gregory Jankilevitsch
  • Kobieta stanu wolnego (A Single Woman) – Written and directed by Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński; Producers: Kamil Janik, Patrycja Strzyżewska
  • Mniej obcy (Less of a Stranger) – Director: Kristoffer Rus; Screenplay: Wiktor Piątkowski, Joanna Kozłowska; Producers: Kristoffer Rus, Akos Erdos, Mikołaj Wit, Dariusz Goczał
  • Nasza rewolucja (Our Revolution) – Director: Piotr Domalewski; Producer: Robert Kijak
  • Ojczyzna (Homeland) – Director: Paweł Pawlikowski; Screenplay: Paweł Pawlikowski, Henk Handloegten; Producer: Ewa Puszczyńska
  • Pojedynek (The Duel) – Director: Łukasz Palkowski; Screenplay: Dżamila Ankiewicz, Agatha Dominik, Robert Gliński; Producer: Marek Nowowiejski
  • Powiedz mi, co czujesz (Tell Me What You Feel) – Director: Łukasz Ronduda; Screenplay: Łukasz Ronduda, Agata K. Koschmieder; Producer: Natalia Grzegorzek
  • Przez ścianę (Through the Wall) – Written and directed by Maciej Sobieszczański; Producers: Zbigniew Domagalski, Agnieszka Będkowska
  • Syrenka Picassa (Picasso’s Mermaid) – Director: Janusz Zaorski; Screenplay: Roman Jarosz; Producer: Dariusz Głowala
  • Violetta Villas – Director: Karolina Bielawska; Screenplay: Karolina Bielawska, Małgorzata Gospodarek; Producers: Mariusz Włodarski, Agnieszka Wasiak
  • Zima pod znakiem wrony (Winter Under the Sign of the Crow) – Director: Kasia Adamik; Screenplay: Sandra Buchta, Kasia Adamik, Lucinda Coxon; Producers: Olga Chajdas, Stanisław Dziedzic

Short Film Competition – 51st Polish Film Festival

  • Archiwum rodzinnego końca świata (The Family Archive of the End of the World) – Director: Jakub Jakubik; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Bebechy (Guts) – Director: Anja Zalewska; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Brat (Brother) – Director: Karol Janiuk; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Chôra – Director: Klaudia Szott; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Długa przerwa (The Long Break) – Director: Jan Saczek; Production: Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, University of Silesia in Katowice
  • Dziwnie być człowiekiem (Strange to Be Human) – Director: Jan Grabowski; Production: Anda Films
  • Honeymoon – Director: Jakub Wenda; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Kołtunica – Director: Izabela Zubrycka; Production: Telewizja Polska S.A.
  • Koma (Coma) – Director: Tomasz Gąsiorowski; Production: Warsaw Film School
  • Kontrewers – Director: Zuza Banasińska; Production: ALE ALE
  • Koty na szkle (Cats on Glass) – Director: Katarzyna Sikorska; Production: Telewizja Polska S.A.
  • Krótki film o wojnie (A Short Film About War) – Director: Nadim Suleiman; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Limo – Director: Mieszko Chomka; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Męki i fantazje garbatego czeladnika (The Torments and Fantasies of a Hunchbacked Apprentice) – Director: Maciej Tyburski; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Ministrancik (The Altar Boy) – Director: Dominik Hadziewicz; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Princeska (Princess) – Director: Franciszek Korolczuk; Production: Warsaw Film School
  • Sadzonka (The Sapling) – Director: Iga Bujarkiewicz; Production: Telewizja Polska S.A.
  • Serce z plastiku (Plastic Hearts) – Director: Michał Łukowicz; Production: Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, University of Silesia in Katowice
  • Spiritus Sanctus – Director: Michał Toczek; Production: Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association
  • Sprawa nr (Case No.) – Director: Patrycja Polkowska; Production: Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association
  • Styl dowolny (Freestyle) – Director: Kacper Nowak-Gocławski; Production: Gdynia Film School
  • Szum fal (The Sound of Waves) – Director: Tomasz Wróbel; Production: Rizz Films
  • Tytuł się jeszcze przyśni (The Title Will Return in a Dream) – Director: Klaudia Fortuniak; Production: Leon Schiller National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź
  • Waga idealna (Ideal Weight) – Director: Katarzyna Warzecha; Production: Wajda Studio
  • Wódka, zakąska i czyste piękno (Vodka, Appetizers and Pure Beauty) – Director: Katarzyna Kosajda; Production: Telewizja Polska S.A.
  • Wszystkie miały na imię Anżelika (They Were All Named Anzhelika) – Director: Alexandra Sasha Kutsen; Production: Warsaw Film School
  • Złe pomysły (Bad Ideas) – Director: Jan Bujnowski; Production: Ignis Films
  • Źle się patrzy na smutnych ludzi (It’s Hard to Look at Sad People) – Director: Paulina Michta; Production: Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, University of Silesia in Katowice

 

Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion

20 July 2026