Film in Kujawy and Pomorze: 6th Old Film Festival Opens, Honouring Allan Starski and Andrzej Grabowski
The sixth edition of the Old Film Festival will take place in Bydgoszcz from 3 to 8 November. This year’s award recipients will be Oscar-winning production designer Allan Starski and one of Poland’s most popular actors, Andrzej Grabowski.
At the beginning of November, Bydgoszcz will once again become a place for cinematic reminiscences, thanks to the Old Film Festival – an event dedicated to classics of Polish and world cinema, as well as the artists who have made their mark on film history.
The programme of the 6th Old Film Festival includes screenings of masterpieces of classic cinema, concerts and meetings with actors and filmmakers. As every year, leading figures in Polish cinema will be honoured. The organisers present two main awards: the Golden Frame – the Bydgoszcz Film Award – and the Pola Negri statuette, the Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.
At the opening gala on 3 November (Tuesday), at the new Academy of Music campus, Allan Starski will receive the Golden Frame for lifetime achievement. In 1994, he won an Oscar for his production design for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. He has also won the prestigious Polish Film Award, the Eagle, three times, for his work on Aftermath, directed by Władysław Pasikowski, Pan Tadeusz, directed by Andrzej Wajda, and The Pianist, directed by Roman Polański. The conversation with the award recipient will be hosted by journalist and film critic Jerzy Armata. The evening will conclude with a recital entitled Starscy Panowie Dwaj (Two Starski Gentlemen), performed by Anna Federowicz and Łukasz Lenart. The audience will hear, among other works, songs written by Ludwik Starski, Allan’s father.
On 4 November (Wednesday), Allan Starski will take part in a meeting entitled “The Art of Production Design” at Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology. He will talk about the behind-the-scenes aspects of his work and the creation of cinematic worlds. The event is aimed primarily at pupils and students of art-related disciplines, but, as the organisers emphasise, anyone “who loves cinema, wants to learn about it and talk about it” is welcome to attend.
On 6 November (Friday), festival-goers will have the opportunity to meet Andrzej Grabowski. One of Poland’s most popular actors will receive the Pola Negri statuette for lifetime achievement in the arts, joining the ranks of recipients of the Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.
Andrzej Grabowski to Receive the Marshal of the Region’s Film Award
At the new Academy of Music campus, Grabowski will present his latest stand-up show. The event will also feature a screening of The Beast (1917), the oldest surviving film starring Pola Negri, accompanied by live music. All copies of the film in Poland were lost during the Second World War. However, one print was discovered in the 1960s at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and transferred to the National Film Archive.
It is also worth visiting the Chamber Theatre in Bydgoszcz for a meeting with Wojciech Smarzowski. On 7 November (Saturday), one of Poland’s best-known filmmakers, who received the Marshal’s Film Award last year, will talk, among other things, about the beginnings of his career. The occasion will be a screening of Kuracja (The Treatment), a 2001 Television Theatre production directed by Smarzowski, which won the Grand Prix at the “Two Theatres” Festival. It is an adaptation of Jacek Głębski’s novel about a young psychiatrist who voluntarily becomes a patient in a psychiatric hospital. The cast includes Bartłomiej Topa, Jerzy Łapiński, Lech Dyblik and Arkadiusz Jakubik.
This year’s festival programme also features the concert Urbaniak in Memoriam, dedicated to the work of Michał Urbaniak. On 5 November (Thursday), the Nos na Kwintet ensemble will perform music by the world-renowned jazz musician, who died in December 2025. Special guest for the evening will be Bisz, a rapper from Bydgoszcz. The concert, hosted by music journalist Piotr Metz, will also feature archival film footage and excerpts from concerts with Urbaniak.
The Old Film Festival’s motto is: “Classic cinema never grows old.”
“Our mission is to restore the splendour of forgotten masterpieces and artists whose influence on cinema today remains very much alive. We believe that the past of cinema can inspire its future, and that every screening is an opportunity to rediscover the classics of the silver screen,” says festival director Józef Herold.
The full programme is available on the Bydgoszcz festival website.
Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion
2 November 2026