Kinoteka Polish Film Festival Line Up – Andrzej Wajda, Stephen Graham & Agnieszka Holland
Kinoteka, the UK’s biggest festival celebrating Polish cinema, has announced its 2026 line up. The 24th edition includes titles from Agnieszka Holland, Jan Komasa and a retrospective for legendary filmmaker Andrzej Wajda.
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is set to kick off on February 4thย and runs until March 29th, taking centre stage in London and major cities around the UK and delivering a line up which combines the best inย classic and contemporary Polish cinema.
Kinoteka 2026‘s opening gala will be Andrzej Wajda‘s revered Ashes and Diamonds (Popiรณล i diament, 1958). The film will be screened at BFI Southbank from aย 35mm print and is arguably both Wajdaโs greatest achievement, as well as a landmark of world cinema. A depiction of Poland poised between the horrors of WWII and an uncertain future, it is set on the final day of the War and stars Zbigniew Cybulski as a young Polish Resistance fighter ordered to assassinate a Communist official. His target is also a former comrade-in-arms, which triggers a moral dilemma and calls into question all that was fought for.
The film is part of the festival’s Andrzej Wajda: Portraits of History And Humanity retrospective, celebrating the centenary of the filmmakerโs birth and spanning the six decades of his work, from his early years under post-war communism to his films during the Solidarnoลฤ movement. Highlights include the directorโs celebrated first feature, A Generation (Pokolenie, 1955), his acclaimed drama which predicted the Polish Solidarity movement, Man of Marble (Czลowiek z marmuru, 1977), French revolution drama Danton (1983), and the Oscar-nominated Katyn (2007) about the execution of 22,000 Polish army officers by the Soviets during World War II in 1940.
Maciej Sobieszczaลski‘s powerful coming of age drama Brother (Brat, 2025) will close this year’s festival on March 29th. Starring Filip Wiลkomirski and Agnieszka Grochowska (In Darkness), it focusesย on a family where violence and manipulation is always simmering under the surface. Dawid loves his brother and judo training, but struggles to meet his own and his familyโs expectations at home, at school and in the gym.
Other Kinoteka 2026 highlights include the first English language feature from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi), The Good Boy (2025). Starring Anson Boon, Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, the film follows the experiences of rebellious bad boy Tommy who wakes up far away from home to find he’s the subject of a โrehabilitation projectโ. Dystopian thriller Anniversary (Rocznica, 2025) is Komasa’s second feature in the line-up. With a cast including Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler, Phoebe Dynevor and Dylan OโBrien, it shows a family caught in the turmoil of a controversial new political movement called ‘The Change’, against the background of their country teetering on the brink of collapse.
A Polish film festival wouldn’t be complete without a contribution from Agnieszka Holland ย and the bold, dynamic Franz (2025) will have its UK premiere in IMAX format at BFI Southbank. The film will be Polandโs o๏ฌcial submission for Best International Feature Film at this year’s the 98th Academy Awards and explores the essence of Kafka (portrayed by Idan Weiss) as a young man navigating institutions of family, business and state. Tadeusz ลliwa’s romantic drama Photosensitive (ลwiatลoczuลa, 2024) stars TV actor Matylda Giegลผno as a a dynamic, fulfilled social worker who is blind and whose life changes following a meeting with a more reserved photographer (Ignacy Liss). Simple and intimate, this romantic drama shows how moving outside our comfort zones can be empowering.
Arjun Talwar‘s documentary Letters from Wolf Street (Listy z Wilczej, 2025) will be accompanied by a Q&A with the director and documents the Warsaw street where Indian filmmaker lives. Talking with neighbours and seeking to understand their experience, Talwar offers a unique, personal view on his adopted country. This yearโs family screening is the hotly anticipated sequel The Dog Who Travelled By Train 2 (O psie, ktรณry jeลบdziล kolejฤ 2, 2025), which picks up with Zuzia preparing to return to Poland after her surgery and her subsequent life at the station where Lampo, the white Swiss shepherd, dog lives.
Kinoteka 2026 takes place February 4th – March 29th. Head over to the film festival’s official website for information on the full line-up and to book tickets.
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