This October, the Polish Film Festival in Perth launches the 12th edition of its program, putting together contemporary films, Australian premieres and landmark Polish classics.
The Polish Film Festival in Perth will run from Sunday, October 25, to Thursday, December 10, screening across Luna Leederville and The Backlot Perth. The program was put together to showcase the diversity of Polish filmmaking, from the highly anticipated epic romances, award-winning coming-of-age stories, comedy dramas, and documentaries.
Festival opener The Doll is a new adaptation of Bolesław Prus’ beloved novel – a sweeping story of love, ambition and social class following the wealthy merchant Wokulski as he enters the world of aristocracy to pursue the woman he loves. The period romance stars Marcin Dorociński (The Queen’s Gambit, Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning) and Kamila Urzędowska (The Peasants) among a wider ensemble of Poland’s leading actors.
Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow is set to be a festival highlight, starring Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread). The film is a gripping political thriller set on the eve of martial law in Poland, inspired by Nobel Prize-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk.
From the producers of Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi comes the coming-of-age story The Altar Boys. The film, which won eight awards at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, follows four teenage altar boys who decide to take matters into their own hands after being frustrated by the surrounding adults’ indifference to social justice.
As part of Poland’s 2026 Year of Andrzej Wajda, marking the centenary of the celebrated filmmaker and Honorary Academy Award recipient’s birth, the festival will screen his 1958 film Ashes and Diamonds. Considered to be his magnum opus, the film remains one of the defining works of Polish cinema, admired by masters such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.
Making its first festival appearance in Perth is Lachtara. Longing. This road movie follows a Greek father and his Polish-Greek son as they reunite after decades apart, embarking on an unexpected journey across Europe.
Further highlights include Brother, the winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Warsaw Film Festival, darkly funny No Ghosts On Good Street, romantic comedy The Love Buzz, and documentary exploring the life of Polish-born Art Deco legend, The True Story of Tamara De Lempicka & The Art of Survival.
Concluding the festival will be the Australian premiere of Picasso’s Mermaid, a comedy drama inspired by the true story of Pablo Picasso’s 1948 visit to Warsaw.
The Polish Film Festival in Perth runs from Sunday, October 25 to Thursday, December 10. Tickets are on sale now at polishfilmfestival.org
