Filmowe Kujawy Pomorze: Wajda’s Actresses at BellaTOFIFEST in Toruń
Screenings of films by the master director and meetings with actresses who appeared in Andrzej Wajda’s productions will be among the ways BellaTOFIFEST celebrates the 100th anniversary of the filmmaker’s birth.
The Polish Senate has designated 2026 as the Year of Andrzej Wajda. One of the most distinguished directors in the history of world cinema, Wajda received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Man of Iron. He was born 100 years ago in Suwałki and passed away ten years ago in Warsaw.
The organizers of the 24th International Film Festival BellaTOFIFEST in Toruń are commemorating the master with a special section entitled “The Actresses of Andrzej Wajda,” dedicated to the women in his films.
“We have the Year of Andrzej Wajda, and I happen to share the same birthday as he did, so I have a special fondness for one of the most important filmmakers in cinema history,” says Kafka Jaworska, Director of BellaTOFIFEST. “I spent a long time wondering whether to honor Wajda, concerned that there might be an oversaturation of events in Poland marking the centenary of our master’s birth, as many film festivals will undoubtedly commemorate the occasion.”
“But then a film critic friend of mine wrote an excellent article about how Wajda’s actresses have never truly received the recognition they deserve. I called him and asked what he would think if I built a festival section around that idea. His response was: ‘Only you could come up with something like that—it’s brilliant.’”
As section curator Łukasz Maciejewski points out, “Although Wajda was often described as a creator of socially engaged, historical, or political cinema, in nearly every one of his films he created distinctive, multidimensional female characters. These roles became an enduring part of Polish cinema history and of the careers of many outstanding actresses.”
At BellaTOFIFEST 2026, audiences will have the opportunity to rediscover Wajda’s films through a female perspective. The festival program includes screenings of The Maids of Wilko, Sweet Rush, The Birch Wood, Pan Tadeusz, Wałęsa: Man of Hope, Hunting Flies, and Man of Marble.
The celebrations will also feature meetings with renowned actresses who appeared in these films, including Anna Seniuk, Emilia Krakowska, Ewa Ziętek, and Grażyna Szapołowska, recipient of the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship’s Pola Negri Film Award. The stars will share memories of working with the master director in Toruń. The discussion will also feature Joanna Łapińska, Artistic Director of the Gdynia Polish Film Festival.
The 24th edition of BellaTOFIFEST will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July 2026. The Kuyavian-Pomeranian regional government is the festival’s main partner. Screenings will be held at the Jordanki Cultural and Congress Centre, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, and an open-air cinema.
This year’s festival theme is Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. The opening screening will be No Good Men by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat.
Dariusz Czołgowski
Promotion Department
3 June 2026