This is an excellent opportunity to see the most acclaimed titles from Cannes, Venice and Berlinale, take part in discussions, and also meet our alumni and lecturers.

The Lodz Film School has been a long-time partner of the Kamera Akcja Festival, a permanent fixture in our calendar. At the Lodz Film School Cinema and in the "Z" Building Studio, you'll see the most interesting titles awarded at international film festivals.

The programme includes the Romanian Oscar candidate "The Invaders" (Thursday, 23, October, 7 p.m., Kino Z, Lodz Film School) one of the funniest romantic comedies of the year, "Complicated" (Friday, 24, October, 7:15 p.m., Kino Z, Lodz Film School), "The Last Viking" (Friday, 24, October, 9:45 a.m., Kino Szkoła Filmowej), Lodz Film School) starring Mads Mikkelsen, and Harris Dickinson's directorial debut, "Rogue" (Friday, 24, October, 10 p.m., Kino Z, Lodz Film School). One of the most anticipated screenings is the pre-premiere screening of "Left-Handed Girl" (Saturday, 25, October, 7:45 p.m., Kino Z, Lodz Film School), the Taiwanese Oscar candidate produced by Oscar winner Sean Baker ("Anora").

The Kamera Akcja Festival offers more than just film screenings; it also offers a chance to meet international filmmakers. This year, festival-goers will have the opportunity to participate in a meeting with director Bogdan Mureșanu, which will precede a screening of "The New Year That Never Came" (Friday, 24, October, 4:50 p.m., Film School Cinema, Lodz Film School). This is a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of Romanian cinema and discover the making of the film, which won an award at last year's Venice International Film Festival. Participants will also be able to take part in workshops with representatives of the production team from the Young KIPA section (Sunday, 26, October, 9 a.m.). The conclusions from the workshops will be discussed during the panel discussion "Fear. Should Cinema Be Saved?" (Sunday, 26, October, 3 p.m., Monopolis), which will feature director Katarzyna Warzecha ("Absolute Beginners"), producer Marcin Wierzchosławski ("Franz Kafka," "The Green Border"), and film critic Kamil Kalbarczyk.

A permanent fixture at the Kamera Akcja Festival is the International Authors Spotlight Competition, which honours the most interesting student films including animations. Attendees will have the opportunity to view 30 of the most compelling Polish and international productions, which were very highly acclaimed at Sundance, Venice, SXSW Texas, and Polish festivals like Millennium Docs Against Gravity and "Młodzi i Film" in Koszalin. Among them there are also productions by students of the Lodz Film School competing for the award including a film "How to: Laugh When U Get Hurt?" by Jan Cisiecki and Bartosz Stankiewicz, a wild adventure set to Polish rock. The finalists also include Mikołaj Piszczan's "SLAP!!", a film shown at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, in which a confused man finds an outlet for his emotions in a slap-fighting competition. Among the selected animated films, we find Zuzanna Zofia Heller's Kafkaesque absurdist film "Hello, Headquarters?," which becomes a universal metaphor for helplessness in the face of bureaucracy and the struggle against a heartless system. The Authors Spotlight section also features Jakub Krzyszpin's "Crooked Heads", the story of a young man grappling with the shadow of his brother and the burden of the past.

There will also be plenty happening at the Film School Cinema, where festival-goers will meet esteemed Polish filmmakers. The screening of "Three Loves" (Friday, 24, October, 8:10 p.m., Film School Cinema, Lodz Film School) will be accompanied by a Q&A with director and Film School lecturer Łukasz Grzegorzek, producer Natalia Grzegorzek, and the leading actor, Mieszek Chomka (a directing student at the Lodz Film School). The festival programme also includes Paweł Podolski's feature-length debut, "Life for Beginners" (Sunday, 26, October, 12:40 p.m., Film School Cinema, Lodz Film School). The film screening will be accompanied by a Q&A with the director and sound designer Agata Chodyra. On 24, October, the Film School will host representatives of film studies research groups from across Poland. They will participate in the "Akcja - Filmoznawca" (Film Scholar Action), an event that brings together the film studies community and facilitates communication between research groups from various centres in Poland. The Film Scholar Action will be attended by the Film Flow Consortium, a research group operating at the Lodz Film School focused on film distribution.

During the 16th Kamera Akcja Festival, audiences will also encounter the early work of Wojciech Jerzy Has, one of Poland's most distinguished directors, former lecturer and Rector of the Lodz Film School. The programme includes his first short films, including "Karmik Jankowy," "Harcerze na zlocie", "Zielarze z Kamiennej Doliny" and "Przegląd Kulturalny". This is an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with the early work of this esteemed filmmaker and to appreciate the director's distinctive style and sense of imagery. The presentation of Wojciech Jerzy Has's films will take place on Saturday, 25, October at 2:45 p.m. at the Film Museum.

Complete schedule of the Kamera Akcja Festival: kameraakcja.com.pl/edycja-2025/harmonogram-godzinowy


The 16th Kamera Akcja Festival runs from 23 to 26, October, 2025, in Łódź, and from 15 to 26, October, 2025, online on the Think Film platform. The project is subsidised by the City of Łódź and co-financed by the Łódź Voivodeship Government. Addidtional funding is provided by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state-funded special-purpose fund, the Polish Film Institute, and the University of Łódź – the festival's patron.

The festival's main partners are Monopolis, the Lodz Film School, and the Museum of Film. The Camera Action Festival and the Man in Danger Media Festival form the Łódź Film Festival co-operation network.

The Hungarian cinema review during the festival is financed by the Wacław Felczak Institute of Polish-Hungarian Cooperation.