On Friday, July 3, the official Closing Gala of the 24th BellaTOFIFEST IFF was held at CKK Jordanki. The winners of the International First and Second Feature Film Competition On Air and the Polish Film Competition From Poland were announced.

The distinctions, the Special Award, the Actress and Actor Awards, and the Grand Prix of the On Air Main Competition were awarded by the jury composed of Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, Karolina Gruszka, Andrzej Chyra, Wojciech Gostomczyk and Xawery Żuławski.

The festival Grand Prix went to A Light That Never Goes Out, directed by Lauri-Matti Parppei.

“The film shows how humour, intriguing, unconventional acting performances and dramaturgical choices draw the viewer into this intimate and moving story. It reveals that freeing ourselves from stereotypes and false beliefs allows us to see how beautiful life is, that loneliness is merely a form of fear, and that courage is liberation.” – said jury member Andrzej Chyra, explaining the decision

“It is incredible that this little film has made it to BellaTOFIFEST IFF in Poland. Lauri-Matti comes from the underground music scene, and the film is deeply rooted in his own experiences. I know he hopes that everyone who saw the film – and even those who did not – will start their own band. Thank you!” – Vincent Saunders

The jury presented the Special Award to Silent Rebellion, directed by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, the Actress Award to Eva Kostić for her role in 17, directed by Kosara Mitić, the Actor Award to Hasan Akil for his role in A Sad and Beautiful World, directed by Cyril Aris, as well as the Special Award for a Child Actor to Aurora Dávila for her role in Vainilla, directed by Mayra Hermosillo.

The award in the Polish Film Competition From Poland, whose winner is chosen by the festival audience, went to Dom dobry, directed by Wojciech Smarzowski. The film’s producer, Wojciech Gostomczyk, read out the director’s words:

“I do not make films for awards, but for audiences. That is why audience awards will always matter most to me. Thank you very much for this one. Since film is a collective effort, I would like to thank everyone with whom I had the pleasure of working on Dom dobry: the actors, the crew, the co-producers, the producers and the partners. Have a good evening. Thank you.” – Wojciech Smarzowski.

Nastassja Kinski received the Golden Angel for Artistic Insolence.

“I am half Polish, and I do not think it is a coincidence that I am here, at this wonderful BellaTOFIFEST, among extraordinary artists connected with the films of Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieślowski. I myself had the opportunity to work with Roman Polański, and with my dear, beloved Jerzy Skolimowski, who is also here today. It is fantastic. I am grateful, and I would very much like to come back here – and perhaps, in some way, work together. We need angels in our lives.” – Nastassja Kinski

Bogusław Linda was awarded the “Thorunium” Medal of the President of Toruń.

“I would like to thank you wholeheartedly for being here. For loving cinema. And for welcoming it with such love.” – Bogusław Linda

Łukasz Simlat received the Pola Negri Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region.

“Thank you very much for honouring me with this statuette. I am all the more pleased that I am being recognised by people whom I can probably already call close to me. Our paths have crossed many times, and yet it seems you have not grown tired of me and still see something new in me. Thank you for welcoming me into the Kujawsko-Pomorskie family – because for me, that is what this award comes down to. I am also thinking about its definition: versatility. It is versatility that makes us find within ourselves the will, energy, imagination and courage to step beyond the well-worn, safe path. To do something we cannot yet do today, something that seems impossible. Versatility also allows us to better understand the nature of other people’s work, and ultimately that teaches empathy – something, in my view, that is very much needed today.” – Łukasz Simlat

Michał Marczak received the Ryszard Bugajski Award for Best Direction for Bez końca.

“Thank you very much for this award. I remember watching Interrogation several times during my first year at film school and analysing it scene by scene, so this distinction is especially important to me. I also know that Mr Jacek Petrycki is here with us today – I analysed all his films frame by frame, so I would like to thank him as well. I invite you to see the film in cinemas. Thank you, BellaTOFIFEST. I am very moved.” – Michał Marczak

Andrzej Konopka received the Golden Angel for Original Acting Performance for his role in LARP, directed by Kordian Kądziela.

“This is a great honour for me, because this award is being presented for the first time, so in this way I will go down in the annals of this absolutely extraordinary festival. Two years ago, Kafka Jaworska invited me to the festival. I had no time: there was one funeral, two family weddings, sick children and an upset wife. After ten minutes of talking to Kafka, I wanted to cancel going to the funeral, move the weddings and leave my family behind, but fortunately I came to my senses and did not come. Kafka ended our conversation, however, with an ominous: ‘But next year you have to be here!’ Last year, I was on the festival jury. Today, I am receiving an award. I am afraid of what will happen next year. This is truly an amazing place, an amazing festival, an amazing city, but above all, amazing people who create this festival. This is my second time here, but I feel as if I am returning to friends. Thank you very much to all of you, the organisers of this festival!” – Andrzej Konopka

The Award for Child Actors in a Polish Film went to Tobiasz Wajda, Bruno Błach-Baar, Mikołaj Juszczyk and Filip Juszczyk for Ministranci, directed by Piotr Domalewski.

“We would like to sincerely thank you for this special award for young actors, presented to our entire acting ensemble. It is truly an incredible distinction for us, because on set we pushed one another forward. We had a rule: one for all and all for one. It was a wonderful gateway to the future for us.” – Tobiasz Wajda, Filip Juszczyk, Mikołaj Juszczyk and Bruno Błach-Baar

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST IFF concluded with a performance by Paulina Przybysz INNER FRAME.

The gathered guests were welcomed by the Festival Director, Kafka Jaworska, and Producer Dorota Płoska-Grzybowska.

We meet on a day that crowns our year-round work – not only ours, of course, but that of the entire team. There have been countless creative conversations, easier and more difficult moments, but we are very happy to have reached this point and to be able to welcome all of you here. The turnout is wonderful! – Kafka Jaworska

We are very happy that, once again, we were able to work hard so that you could be here with us at BellaTOFIFEST. All the more so because this year we are celebrating a small anniversary of our own: this is our tenth festival together. – Dorota Płoska-Grzybowska

The Pola Negri Honorary Film Award of Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship was presented to the outstanding Polish actress Magdalena Czerwińska. The award was presented by Zbigniew Ostrowski, Deputy Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Pola Negri and I definitely do not share a Hollywood career. But as I read more about her life, I noticed certain traits of character that we share. Apparently, she valued punctuality, demanded a great deal of herself, and could not stand lateness, mediocrity, sloppiness or a lack of professionalism on a film set. And now, on a more personal note: exactly here, 35 years ago, I used to come for PE lessons. I remember my teacher cheering me on and shouting: ‘Run, run!’ And I feel that, in a way, I am still running. Sometimes I stumble, sometimes I fall, but I get up and keep running. Today, I am very grateful that, thanks to this award, I have been seen by you. That I can stand here and say how important it is for every person to feel seen. – Magdalena Czerwińska

Agata Turkot was honoured with The Bella Woman Golden Angel for a European Actress. The statuette was presented by Katarzyna Czachowska, a representative of the Management Board of TZMO SA.

I would like to thank every person who accompanied me on what was probably the greatest journey of my life: “Home Sweet Home”. It is thanks to you that this experience was so wonderful, despite all the difficulty it involved. Magdalena Czerwińska spoke about seeing another person. I hope that, since today you see me and my face, our film can also be seen anew because of that. I hope that the subject we speak about – domestic violence – can once again come to the forefront. That we will see another person, that we will not turn away from them, that we will not pretend not to see their suffering. That we will simply feel for one another. – Agata Turkot

Dorota Stalińska received The Golden Angel for a Lady of Polish Cinema, greeted with long applause from the audience. The award was presented by Katarzyna Suwała, Vice-President of the Management Board of PGE Energia Ciepła.

I am deeply moved. This is an extraordinary moment also because this year marks the 50th anniversary of my artistic work. It has made me realise just how much has happened over all these years. This is the 24th edition of your festival, so in 26 years’ time you will be celebrating its 50th edition. I hope I will be invited, because in 26 years I will only just be turning 100! I think the driving force in my life has always been positive thinking and positive action. In every person’s life there are moments like this one – extraordinary and moving. But there are also difficult, painful moments. And perhaps life is all about throwing those bad moments, which happen to everyone – and which we, as filmmakers, often speak about in films – out of our hearts and minds as quickly as possible. So that what we keep within us, above all, are the good, important and beautiful moments. – Dorota Stalińska

Tomasz Schuchardt and Agata Kulesza received the Golden Angels for Artistic Insolence. The actor received his award from Kafka Jaworska and Dorota Płoska-Grzybowska, while the statuette for Agata Kulesza was presented by Paweł Gulewski, Mayor of Toruń.

The Golden Angel – it is quite a subversive distinction, because history, or perhaps mythology, does know of an angel who was rebellious. His name was ‘the devil’. To be honest, that seems a little more fitting for the rotten side of my character. So, I will allow myself to rechristen this angel as a devil – in that form, he will feel a little closer to me. And so that you do not worry that you gave me the Angel and I did not accept it as it is, let me just say that I have had my own angel for almost 19 years. She is my wife. I love her very much. Thank you all – for this award, for all the adventures so far, and I hope there will be more to come very soon. – Tomasz Schuchardt.

Thank you very much for this distinction. I have been thinking about it and came to the conclusion that perhaps it is an award for consistency. For knowing very well what I like and what I do not, and for trying to remain honest with myself. I believe acting requires great courage – looking into places that are comfortable and uncomfortable alike, because later you have to be able to use them in your work on a role. I am not afraid of myself, and I am very glad of that. I also remembered the words of Dorota Stalińska, who once, after “Rose” at the festival in Gdynia, said to me: ‘Agata, remember, you have to make sure it is not just five minutes.’ Dorota, I listened to you. I would also like to thank my professor, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, who is no longer with us, and who showed me how to practise this profession on one’s own terms – how to be an artist of insolence, while remaining deeply honest with oneself. – Agata Kulesza

The Opening Gala concluded with a performance by Emilio Piano and his band, creating a musical finale to the evening that was met with great appreciation from the audience.

For years, the ON AIR section has been bringing forward voices that are only just beginning to fully resonate, presenting them before the world has had a chance to call them discoveries. This year’s program is a journey across nearly all continents, through the full spectrum of human experience and at the same time twelve different answers to the same question: what does it mean to say something that has not yet been said?

Lucía Aleñar Iglesias takes us to Mallorca, where mourning the loss of a grandmother turns into a haunting meditation on memory and spiritual inheritance (Forastera). Shahad Ameen leads us along the old pilgrimage routes of Saudi Arabia, where twelve-year-old Janna searches for her missing sister and uncovers family secrets hidden for generations (Hijra). From 1980s Mexico comes an intimate story by Mayra Hermosillo about eight-year-old Roberta, who watches as seven women fight to save their home and their dignity (Vanilla). Sophy Romvari blurs the line between fiction and documentary in a story of a Hungarian-Canadian family on Vancouver Island, where an idyll conceals increasingly dark fractures (Blue Heron).

The ON AIR section is also a space where European cinema speaks about itself with exceptional honesty. Kosara Mitić from North Macedonia explores what happens to girls when adults look away – her 17 is a film about violence, silence and solidarity, whose power comes as much from the precision of its screenplay as from the courage of its director. In Silent Rebellion, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo returns to a pre-war Swiss village, where fifteen-year-old Emma, after experiencing trauma, becomes an emancipator against her own will. In Understand Your Displeasure, Kilian Armando Friedrich portrays a woman who mediates every day between the demands of the market and her loyalty to a team of cleaning workers, doing so with a documentary-like, unflinching attentiveness. Lauri-Matti Parppei, a Finnish director and musician in one, tells in A Light That Never Goes Out the story of a flutist who, after a nervous breakdown, discovers that chaos can be a form of healing.

The Middle Eastern accent of the section is shaped by two titles of very different tones. In A Sad and Beautiful World, Cyril Aris, awarded the Audience Award at Giornate degli Autori in Venice, traces a Lebanese love story across three decades of impossible choices, where the country itself becomes the antagonist. In Nina Roza, Geneviève Dulude-De Celles sends a contemporary art expert to a Bulgarian village, where an eight-year-old girl creates viral artworks and where the protagonist’s past proves stronger than the present.

Yugo Florida by Vladimir Tagić is a Serbian comedy about a man who avoids the truth that his father is dying, until the moment when they both set off in the eponymous car on a journey to a monastery and finally meet as two equally lost people. And finally, No Ghosts on Good Street – the only Polish production in the competition, the feature debut of Emi Buchwald, in which four siblings try to enter adulthood without losing each other along the way. The film, with ten nominations for the Polish Film Awards Eagles, arrives in Toruń as one of the most talked-about Polish titles of the season.

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July 2026. As every year, we invite audiences to the Festival Centre at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, as well as the festival’s open-air cinema venues. All information about the upcoming festival can be found on our website. Follow us at bellatofifest.pl and on our Facebook profile.

This year’s MUST SEE MUST BE program spans from Tokyo to Madrid, from Kabul to the suburbs of Paris. It is a curatorial condensation of the most important discoveries and gems of the past festival season – films distinguished by their thematic originality, visual boldness, and outstanding performances, presented in Poland for the first time or almost for the first time.

Chie Hayakawa, in Renoir, a film from the main competition in Cannes, returns to her own childhood in Tokyo in 1987, where an eleven-year-old girl confronts her father’s illness and loneliness through hypnosis and imagination. In Yakushima’s Illusion, Naomi Kawase weaves a story of love and disappearance with the ethical dimension of organ transplantation. Vicky Krieps plays a French woman in Kobe who is engaged in a daily race against time to save a child’s life.

Heysel 85 by Teodora Ana Mihai takes the viewer to the stadium in Brussels just before the disaster of May 1985, mercilessly reconstructing the mechanism of tragic decisions. No Good Man by Shahrbanoo Sadat, the opening film of this year’s Berlinale, is set in Kabul in the final weeks before the Taliban’s return. It tells the story of a camera operator at Afghan television who no longer believes in good men and of what happens when that conviction begins to falter. Broken Voices by Ondřej Provazník, the 2026 Czech Lions winner, is inspired by true events and follows a thirteen-year-old girl accepted into a prestigious choir and the price she has to pay for being singled out.

Dragonfly by Paul Andrew Williams, a BAFTA winner, is a moving story of two women – an elderly pensioner forgotten by her family and her younger neighbour – in which mounting tensions lead to shocking consequences, with Brenda Blethyn and Andrea Riseborough delivering performances of a lifetime. Sleepless City by Guillermo Galoe, a debut from the Cannes Semaine de la Critique, takes us to the largest illegal settlement in Europe on the outskirts of Madrid, where a Roma teenager, Toni, must decide what he is willing to give up to protect his grandfather. Ablaze by Thomas Kruithof asks whether love can survive political commitment. In the film, Virginie Efira plays an activist whose convictions gradually consume everything she once had.

Quentin Dupieux in The Piano Accident, with his usual uncompromising subversiveness, takes aim at contemporary internet celebrity culture. Adèle Exarchopoulos, as a controversial social media star who, after a piano accident, retreats to the mountains only to fall into the hands of a ruthless journalist, anchors one of the most delirious films of the season. The duo Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, the creators of Intouchables, return in Just an Illusion to the Paris suburbs of 1985 to tenderly and humorously tell the story of an almost thirteen-year-old boy suspended between childhood and adulthood.

A Brief Affair by Ludovica Rampoldi marks the directorial debut of the screenwriter of Gomorrah, in which a no-strings-attached romance turns into an unsettling obsession. Hot Water by Syrian-American director Ramzi Bashour is a lyrical road movie across the vast landscapes of America. A teenager and his Lebanese mother travel westward carrying a bundle of unresolved identities. A Dump of Untitled Pieces by Turkish director Melik Kuru is a bittersweet, comedic journey through Istanbul’s crisis-ridden art market, with a young photographer and her awkward roommate at its center.

Mile End Kicks by Chandler Levack is a comedy set in Montreal in 2011 about a music critic who arrives to write a book on Alanis Morissette but instead becomes the press manager of an indie rock band and gets entangled in two romantic affairs at the same time. Finally, Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebesby Gabriel Azorín, winner of the Grand Prix at the Belfort Entrevues festival, explores emotional intimacy between men across two distant eras, linking ancient baths in Galicia with the present in a single, continuous space. The Things Left Unspoken by Gabriele Muccino follows a summer trip of two Italian couples to Tangier that exposes everything none of them has been able to say out loud.

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July 2026. As every year, we invite audiences to the Festival Centre at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, as well as the festival’s open-air cinema venues. All information about the upcoming festival can be found on our website. Follow us at bellatofifest.pl and on our Facebook profile.

“Agata Kulesza is an artist who continually sets new standards and raises the bar of acting excellence. Her performances are unforgettable, leaving a profound and lasting impression on audiences. Creatively insolent, unconventional and impossible to define through easy labels. Consistent and fearless in every artistic choice. A true master of her craft. It is a great honour and a deeply moving moment for me that Agata Kulesza will receive this year’s Golden Angel Award for Artistic Insolence,” says BellaTOFIFEST IFF Director Kafka Jaworska.

During this year’s edition of the festival, audiences will have a unique opportunity to explore Agata Kulesza’s artistic journey through three outstanding works of Polish cinema. The programme will feature “Rose” directed by Wojciech Smarzowski, “Ida” directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and “These Daughters of Mine” directed by Kinga Dębska.

Together, these films higlight the many dimensions of her acting – from the harrowing historical drama, through restrained and emotionally charged auteur cinema, to the deeply moving story about family relationships. Each of these works stands as a testament to the exceptional range and depth of the award recipient’s talent, while together they create the portrait of a truly insolent artist.

Audiences are also invited to attend a meeting with Agata Kulesza on Saturday, June 27th. It will be a rare opportunity to meet and speak with one of the most important actresses in contemporary Polish cinema.

The Golden Angel Award for Artistic Insolence is presented by the BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival to artists whose work is distinguished by courage, uncompromising vision and a consistent commitment to following their own artistic path. It is the only award of its kind in the world.

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July 2026. As every year, we invite audiences to the Festival Centre at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, as well as the festival’s open-air cinema venues. All information about the upcoming festival can be found on our website. Follow us at bellatofifest.pl and on our Facebook profile.

This post-apocalyptic classic from 1995 is one of those films that defies simple categorisation. It can be watched as a gripping science-fiction thriller, but it can also draw viewers into its deeper layers, leaving them with questions about time, memory, and humanity’s tendency toward self-destruction. Bruce Willis delivers a performance widely regarded as the finest of his career. Gilliam, a filmmaker of boundless imagination, created a world that is both terrifying and hypnotic.

“12 Monkeys is a film we have always wanted to present in a festival context,” says BellaTOFIFEST IFF Director Kafka Jaworska. “Gilliam created a timeless work: the more time passes since its premiere, the more relevant its questions become. This is exactly the kind of cinema we want to celebrate at BellaTOFIFEST.”

Alongside “12 Monkeys”, the festival programme will also feature “La Jetée” by Chris Marker — the cult 1962 short film that inspired Gilliam and is now considered one of the masterpieces of film history.

Straight from Berlinale, Sundance, Tribeca, and Venice — premieres in Toruń. First titles announced for the 24th BellaTOFIFEST Must See Must Be section

From the Berlinale 2026 comes the festival’s exceptional opening film — “No Good Men” by Shahrbanoo Sadat. Met with lengthy standing ovations, the film is set in Kabul on the eve of the Taliban’s return to power and tells a story in which intimate emotions intertwine with a collapsing world.

From the Sundance 2026 selection we bring “Hot Water” by Ramzi Bashour. This lyrical debut follows a teenager and his Lebanese mother travelling across the United States. It is a poetic story about migration, identity, and the search for home, starring Lubna Azabal and Daniel Zolghadri.

From the Tribeca Festival we present “Dragonfly” by Paul Andrew Williams. This unsettling thriller features two outstanding performances. Oscar nominees Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn portray women whose neighbourly relationship proves far darker than it first appears.

From the Venice Film Festival arrives “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes” by Gabriel Azorín — a daring story about emotional intimacy between men, unfolding across two eras: the contemporary world and Ancient Rome.

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will take place in Toruń from 27 June to 3 July 2026. As every year, we invite audiences to the Festival Centre at CKK Jordanki, Cinema City, the Dwór Artusa Cultural Centre, as well as the festival’s open-air cinema venues. All information about the upcoming festival can be found on our website. Follow us at bellatofifest.pl and on our Facebook profile.

• Main Patron: City of Toruń
• Main Partner: Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
• Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund
• Co-financed by the Polish Film Institute
• Strategic Sponsor: TZMO SA and the Bella brand
• Official Sponsor: PGE Energia Ciepła and PGE Toruń
• Sponsors: Apro Investment, Studio Podłóg Ablux, ONDE SA, Urbitor, Bumar, Freixenet
• Automotive Partner: Auto Reve Toruń
• Official Hotel: Hotel Bulwar
• Official Partner: Cinema City Poland
• IT Partner: Akces
• Festival Club: Pers

If you wish to become a voluntary worker, please fill in our application form. You can apply for the following:

• The Organisational Section where it is all about your readiness to work, your flexibility and availability, but also about timeliness and openness. Your job will consist in supporting the organisers with their work at the festival venues, but also in assisting the audiences.
• The Guest Section where it is a must to be communicative, speak good English, and be ready to take on special assignments. In your line of work, you will get to know famous filmmakers and gain valuable experience in working with people.
• The Media Section where the team is comprised of people responsible for creating texts, doing interviews, taking pictures, as well as making videos and taking care of social media. If you feel like writing texts is a piece of cake for you and/or you have your own equipment and will to work, then this is definitely the right place for you!

The Festival Organiser will cover your insurance. If you decide to work for the Festival, we will provide you with a certificate to confirm that you provided voluntary work for us. We are waiting for you!

Please find detailed information here: https://www.tofifest.pl/pl/wolontariat.

See you at BellaTOFIFEST!

The 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will take place in Toruń from June 27 to July 3, 2026. Films may be submitted to the following competitions:

• ON AIR – International Feature Film Competition. This competition is dedicated to first and second feature films by filmmakers presented at international festivals. The best film will be awarded the Festival’s Grand Prix – the Golden Angel, granted to the director by a jury composed of representatives of the Polish and European film communities.
• FROM POLAND – Polish Films Competition. This competition is intended for productions by Polish filmmakers. The winner in this category will be selected by the Festival audience and will receive the Golden Angel Audience Award.

Detailed information on participation rules, competition regulations, and the submission form is available at: tofifest.pl/submit/en/regulamin.

Up-to-date information is also published on the Festival’s Facebook profile: facebook.com/tofifest.