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NEW HORIZONS 2026 New Horizons Industry

New Horizons’ Polish Days champions a new wave of Polish auteurs

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- The industry platform is showcasing 21 Polish features, encompassing completed films, works in progress and projects in development

New Horizons’ Polish Days champions a new wave of Polish auteurs
Black Water by Aga Woszczyńska (© David Lundberg)

The 16th edition of Polish Days will take place in Wrocław from 23-28 July during the 26th New Horizons International Film Festival (23 July-2 August). Organised as the festival's flagship industry event, the showcase presents 21 Polish feature films at different stages of production: three completed titles, eight works in progress and ten projects in development. Bringing together acclaimed directors, promising debutants and internationally active production companies, the programme once again offers an overview of the diversity and ambition of contemporary Polish cinema.

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Among the completed films, A Free Woman by directorial duo Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński explores the themes of dignity, shame and the housing crisis through the story of a 50-year-old Roma woman desperately searching for a place she can finally call home. Marta Giec makes her feature debut with ÒPI, a psychological horror rooted in Kashubian folklore, in which an 18-year-old girl must confront inherited family trauma and supernatural forces after long-buried secrets resurface. Meanwhile, Agata Trzebuchowska returns with Sick, a horror-infused coming-of-age drama following two siblings whose increasingly disturbing relationship unfolds while caring for their dying grandmother in the countryside.

The works-in-progress selection includes Aga Woszczyńska's (Silent Land) Black Water, in which two strangers stranded on a remote island after an environmental disaster embark on a psychological journey through grief and healing. In Krzysztof Komander's mystery coming-of-age drama Encounter, a teenage girl forms an unlikely bond with the ghost of her grandmother, uncovering painful family secrets in the process. Maria Wider's Liquid States follows two siblings reconnecting with their estranged father during a transformative summer marked by questions of identity and loss.

Elsewhere, actress-turned-director Marta Ojrzyńska presents Mother Daughter, an intimate drama exploring grief and intergenerational bonds as a young academic cares for her terminally ill mother. Tomasz Habowski's (Songs About Love) Radioamateur centres on a lonely widower whose late-life romance becomes an emotional awakening and an opportunity for reconciliation with his daughter. Agnieszka Zwiefka (Silent Trees, The Queen of Silence) blends social realism and magical undertones in She, which follows an invisible middle-aged factory worker whose solitary protest against urban development gradually transforms into an act of radical resistance.

The line-up is rounded off by Adrian Panek's (Werewolf) WANDA, a biographical drama recounting pioneering mountaineer Wanda Rutkiewicz's struggle to lead the first all-female expedition to conquer Gasherbrum III, and Grzegorz Dębowski's (Next to Nothing) What Belongs to Others, a social detective drama about a burglar who assumes the identity of a dead man's partner, only to become increasingly entangled in his life and fractured family.

Here is the complete selection of the projects participating in New Horizons Polish Days 2026:

Completed films

ÒPIMarta Giec
Producers: Karol Żbikowski, Adam Korpak (Platige Films)

A Free WomanEliza Godlewska, Alan Ruczyński
Producers: Kamil Janik, Patrycja Strzyżewska (ISTV Media)

SickAgata Trzebuchowska
Producers: Patryk Sielecki, Adrianna Rędzia (Lumisenta Film Foundation)

Works in progress

What Belongs to OthersGrzegorz Dębowski
Producer: Agnieszka Skalska (Blue Onion)

RadioamateurTomasz Habowski
Producer: Marta Szarzyńska (Watchout Studio)

EncounterKrzysztof Komander
Producer: Dagmara Piasecka (Green Rat Production)

Mother DaughterMarta Ojrzyńska
Producers: Julia Jendrysik, Anna Majek (Rizz Films)

WANDAAdrian Panek
Producer: Agnieszka Będkowska (WFDiF)

Liquid StatesMaria Wider
Producers: Jerzy Kapuściński, Magdalena Tomanek, Katarzyna Malinowska (Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association)

Black WaterAga Woszczyńska
Producer: Agnieszka Wasiak (Lava Films)

SheAgnieszka Zwiefka
Producer: Izabela Igel (Harine Films)

Pitching of projects in development

POLKAKalina Alabrudzińska
Producers: Agata Gerc, Michał Kiedrowicz (wir)

The Story of the House of FiedlerEmi Buchwald
Producers: Anna Kępińska, Piotr Śmiechowski (Telemark)

The TribeOlga Chajdas
Producer: Małgorzata Małysa (Furia Film)

The NeighborhoodMichał Chmielewski
Producer: Patryk Sielecki (Lumisenta Film Foundation)

ExcursionKei Ishikawa
Producers: Mariusz Włodarski, Eiko Mizuno-Grey (Lava Films)

TOXICDawid Nickel
Producers: Maria Gołoś, Monika Matuszewska (Rozbrat Films)

Lady PreachersNatasza Parzymies
Producer: Agnieszka Dziedzic (Koi Studio)

SoloistMarta Prus
Producer: Maciej Kubicki (Telemark)

The End of the WorldTomasz Śliwiński
Producers: Alicja Gancarz, Anna Wereda (Autograf Film)

The CallingFilip Syczyński
Producers: Małgorzata Jurczak, Anna Limbach-Uryn, Krzysztof Grędziński (M72 Studio)

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