New Film by Marshal’s Award Winner Honoured in Montreal

Hot Spot by Agnieszka Smoczyńska has received a Special Jury Mention at the 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. The director is a recipient of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region’s Film Award.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s latest work had its world premiere in Canada at one of the most prestigious genre film festivals in the world. Hot Spot is a futuristic science-fiction thriller set in the near future, where social order is governed by a conscious artificial intelligence. The protagonist is a private detective investigating a brutal murder. His investigation leads him to a group of rebels who may pose a threat to the digital system controlling society. “Combining elements of science fiction, film noir, and psychological thriller, the film explores the relationship between humans and technology, freedom, and the nature of contemporary fears,” reads the official description.

The film impressed the jury of the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, which awarded it one of two Special Jury Mentions. The honour was given to the entire cast for their “exceptionally subtle ensemble performance.”

Hot Spot is a Polish-Greek co-production. The international cast features acclaimed actors including Swedish star Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus), Japanese actress Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood), and Andrzej Konopka (LARP. Love, Trolls and Other Quests, Good House), who is also the director’s husband. The screenplay was written by Robert Bolesta, author of the script for The Lure, among others.

Polish audiences will have their first opportunity to see Hot Spot at the closing event of the ongoing 26th New Horizons International Film Festival in Wrocław.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska is one of the most original filmmakers in contemporary European cinema. She studied, among other subjects, film 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 film debut in 2015 with the now cult film The Lure, which combined 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” and won several Polish Film Awards – Eagles. Her subsequent works confirmed her international standing as a director. Fugue (2018) was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Her acclaimed film The Silent Twins (2022) is an English-language production that received awards at festivals in Gdynia and Chicago. Based on the true story of twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, the film was Poland’s candidate for the 2023 Academy Awards.

Smoczyńska is a recipient of the Pola Negri Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region “for inspiring harmony of image and sound in film,” presented at the Fonomo Music & Film Festival in Bydgoszcz in 2022.

Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion

27 July 2026