New Film by the Recipient of Our Film Award to Premiere in Toronto

Wild, Wild East, the latest film by Jan Holoubek, will have its world premiere this September at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Holoubek is the recipient of the Pola Negri Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.

The film has been selected for the prestigious Platform competition at this year’s Toronto festival. The section showcases works by filmmakers with a distinctive artistic vision and an original cinematic language. The winning film automatically qualifies for consideration in the Academy Award category for Best International Feature Film.

Wild, Wild East is a dark wartime thriller set during the Second World War. It tells the story of people confronted with dramatic moral choices, where lives are at stake and every decision carries far-reaching consequences.

“The bitter winter of 1943. Wolff, a mysterious official from Berlin, arrives in the sleepy town of Małe Zalesie in eastern Poland. He carefully conceals the purpose of his visit, but his very presence soon shatters the town’s fragile peace. Suspicion and danger begin to grow. Everyone has secrets, and rumours of missing gold blur the line between truth and deception,” reads the film’s official synopsis.

The film features an outstanding international and Polish cast, including Itay Tiran, Robert Więckiewicz, Joanna Kulig, Piotr Trojan, Janusz Chabior, Jan Bülow, Jacek Beler, Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, Jacek Koman, and Magdalena Różczka.

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival opens on 10 September. In Poland, Wild, Wild East will receive its national premiere in the Main Competition of the 51st Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, taking place from 21 to 26 September. Its nationwide theatrical release is scheduled for autumn 2026.

Jan Holoubek received the Pola Negri Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region in 2023. He is a film director, screenwriter and cinematographer, and also lectures at the Łódź Film School. His acclaimed feature debut, 25 Years of Innocence. The Case of Tomek Komenda (2020), based on the true story of a man wrongfully convicted, achieved both critical and commercial success. The film received numerous awards, including the Polish Film Award (Eagle) for Discovery of the Year, while Holoubek was honoured with the award for Best Directorial Debut. He has also received multiple awards for his television series The Mire (Rojst), High Water (Wielka Woda), and Heweliusz.

Jan Holoubek is the son of the renowned acting couple Gustaw Holoubek and Magdalena Zawadzka.

Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion

24 July 2026