“12 Monkeys” announced as the main theme of the 24th BellaTOFIFEST IFF! First films revealed straight from the world’s major festivals
Visionary. Unsettling. Prophetic. This is the kind of cinema that stays with audiences long after they leave the theatre. We are delighted to announce that the main theme of the 24th BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival will be Terry Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys”.
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
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Fundacja Biuro Kultury
ul. Ducha Świętego 2a/2
87-100 Toruń, Poland
contact@tofifest.pl
Dofinansowano ze środków Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego pochodzących z Funduszu Promocji Kultury — państwowego funduszu celowego.
