ToruńCamerimage 2026: Seven Films to Compete for the Best Polish Film Award
Organisers of the Toruń-based film festival have announced the titles competing this year for the Golden Frog in the Polish Films Competition.
It is the festival’s second most important showcase, after the Main Competition. Last year, the top prize went to Piotr Sobociński for his cinematography on Ministranci (The Acolytes), directed by Piotr Domalewski. This year, seven new Polish productions will compete for the Golden Frog, with last year’s winner also among the contenders.
The 34th edition of the ToruńCamerimage International Film Festival will take place from 7 to 14 November. This annual celebration of the art of cinematography attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world to Toruń and the surrounding region. The festival’s long-standing main partner and co-host is the Self-Government of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.
Here are the films selected for this year’s Polish Films Competition:
The Time That Never Came (Czas, który nie nadszedł)
Director: Julia Rogowska
Cinematography: Mikołaj Syguda
Production: Shipsboy
Polish distributor: Next Film
Country and year: Poland, Belgium, 2026
In a world where old age has become the ultimate taboo, Sara and her partner Oskar once planned to grow old together. Ultimately, however, they make different choices. Sara remains faithful to the natural course of life, while Oskar undergoes anti-ageing treatment that promises eternal youth and a place in a new society. Years later, they unexpectedly meet again. Their appearances set them apart, but they share a lack of answers to questions they have pushed into the background for years. Can feelings survive the passage of time and irreversible change? Can anyone be free in a world that denies people the right to grow old and pass away?
Wild, Wild East (Dziki, dziki wschód)
Director: Jan Holoubek
Cinematography: Bartłomiej Kaczmarek
Production: TPB POL
Polish distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment
Country and year: Poland, 2026
It is February 1943. During a snowstorm, a lone horseman arrives in the village of Małe Zalesie: Wolff, a German official sent from Berlin. His stated purpose is to recover important documents once held by Levi, a wealthy local Jewish man. In reality, however, Wolff is hunting for gold that Levi is believed to have left with his lawyer just before fleeing Poland.
Wolff suspects that the “Jewish treasure” has been found and hidden by Józef Kaim, the German-appointed administrator of Levi’s abandoned estate. Another treasure hunter soon appears in town, discovering that Wolff’s real name is Israel Levi and that his true mission is to recover his father’s gold to support Jewish resistance fighters preparing an uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.
A Free Woman (Kobieta stanu wolnego)
Directors: Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński
Cinematography: Alan Ruczyński
Production: ISTV Media
Polish distributor: ISTV Media
Country and year: Poland, 2026
Fifty-year-old Roma is going through the most difficult period of her life. Her greatest dream is to find a place she can call home. When she once again finds herself up against the machinery of bureaucracy and loses hope of improving her circumstances, all she can do is try to forget her troubles for a moment. Then Marta, a thirty-year-old woman, crosses her path…
Lachtara. Longing (Lachtara. Tęsknota)
Director: Sebastian Chondrokostas
Cinematography: Piotr Wojtowicz
Production: MWM MEDIA
Polish distributor: TVP Dystrybucja
Country and year: Poland, Greece, 2026
It is 2015, and Europe is in the grip of financial and migration crises. Piotr, a Polish stockbroker, reunites after many years with his father, Jorgos, an eccentric Greek musician. Together, they set off in an old car from Greece to Poland to settle an inheritance matter.
They have little in common: money, temperament, memories and unspoken resentment all divide them. As they travel, the ghosts of the Greek Civil War, emigration and a separation years earlier return to haunt them. When a Syrian refugee crosses their path, the journey takes an unexpected turn, forcing father and son to confront a family secret whose origins date back to Poland in 1987.
Our Revolution (Nasza rewolucja)
Director: Piotr Domalewski
Cinematography: Michał Sobociński
Production: Next Film
Polish distributor: Next Film
Country and year: Poland, 2026
Our Revolution is a story of a love that seemed too extraordinary to dream of, yet was real. He is passionate, loud and charismatic. She is courageous, gentle and warm-hearted. Madly in love, Jacek and Grażyna Kuron believe they can change the world together.
They give up their privacy and commit themselves to the struggle for freedom, turning their flat into the opposition’s “headquarters” and a meeting place for people willing to risk everything for a better future. Yet a life devoted to a shared cause puts their relationship to the test. Brief moments of intense intimacy alternate with long periods of separation behind prison bars. The imposition of martial law confronts them with further dramatic choices. Can their love survive a reality that relentlessly seeks to tear them apart?
Gorky Resort (Pojedynek)
Director: Łukasz Palkowski
Cinematography: Piotr Sobociński Jr.
Production: Bowandaxe
Polish distributor: Monolith Films
Country and year: Poland, 2026
It is 1939, and the world is descending into chaos. Thousands of distinguished Poles are taken prisoner by the Russians and subjected to indoctrination as part of a grand scheme. An ambitious enemy agent makes it his personal mission to break the resistance of one particular prisoner: a world-renowned young pianist who commands the respect of his fellow captives.
His capitulation could persuade many others to join the enemy’s side. Can a young officer, a loving husband and father, win this duel against an agent backed by the full power and ruthless cunning of the Russian system?
Picasso’s Mermaid (Syrenka Picassa)
Director: Janusz Zaorski
Cinematography: Łukasz Gutt
Production: Holly Pictures
Polish distributor: TVP Dystrybucja
Country and year: Poland, 2026
Inspired by a true story, the film follows Mary, who accidentally discovers a mermaid drawing on the wall of her small flat in Warsaw. It turns out that the artist was none other than Pablo Picasso, who visited Poland in 1948!
Mary is thrilled. After all, not everyone has an original Picasso on their own wall. She has yet to realise that the mermaid is about to turn her life upside down. Next door lives Radomski, a retired journalist who remembers the artist’s visit. He is far from pleased by the discovery of the drawing, as it brings back memories he thought he had long forgotten.
He finds himself revisiting those events and recalling the fates of his neighbours, who, in exchange for being given their flats, were required to show the mermaid drawing to anyone interested in seeing it.
Film descriptions based on materials provided by the festival organisers.
Dariusz Czołgowski
Department of Promotion
23 October 2026