NEWS
Call for Entries: 42nd Warsaw International Film Festival
The Warsaw International Film Festival (WIFF), one of the most significant film events in Central and Eastern Europe, has officially opened submissions for its 42nd edition. Starting Wednesday, April 1, filmmakers worldwide can submit their productions via the form available at https://wff.pl/en/filmmakers/submitting-a-film-42. The submission deadline is July 31.
WFF holds prestigious FIAPF accreditation (Category A), placing it alongside festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. In competitive sections, priority is given to World and International premieres.
We invite filmmakers, producers, and sales agents to submit films to both competitive and non-competitive sections—ranging from feature-length narratives and documentaries to short films.
WIFF Among A-Class Festivals
The Warsaw International Film Festival (WIFF) maintains its prestigious A-class festival status under the new accreditation system of the International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations (FIAPF).
For the Warsaw International Film Festival – an event with over 40 years of history – this is a confirmation of its position as one of the most important film festivals in Europe and worldwide, alongside such events as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastián, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Busan, and Shanghai.
The winners of the Audience Poll
The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania; the documentary Signs of Mr. Plum, directed by Urszula Morga and Bartosz Mikołajczyk; the short film Lift Lady by Marcin Modzelewski; and Cutting Through Rocks, directed by Sara Khaki, were voted the best films of the 41st Warsaw Film Festival by audiences participating in the annual Audience Poll.
In the FEATURE FILMS category, the highest number of votes went to The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia / France, 2025), directed by Kaouther Ben Hania — winner of the Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize and eight other non-statutory awards at the Venice Film Festival.
In the DOCUMENTARY FILMS category, the undisputed winner was Signs of Mr. Plum (Poland, 2025), directed by Urszula Morga and Bartosz Mikołajczyk – a story about Karol Śliwka, the Polish graphic artist and designer whose iconic logos brightened the gloomy reality of communist Poland and forever changed the face of Polish design.
In the SHORT FILMS category, the most votes went to Lift Lady (Poland, 2025) by Marcin Modzelewski, which tells the story of the surreal everyday life of Mzia, a former sniper who now supervises a paid elevator in Tbilisi – the only such vertical transport system in the world.
The Audience Award in the FREE SPIRIT section went to Cutting Through Rocks (Iran / Germany / United States, 2025), directed by Sara Khaki – a documentary about Sara Shahverdi, the first woman ever elected to her village council in Iran, who seeks to break long-standing patriarchal traditions by teaching teenage girls to ride motorcycles and fighting against child marriage.
Award Winners of the 41st Warsaw Film Festival
The International Competition Jury, composed of Lone Scherfig, Joanna Szymańska, Václav Marhoul, Anatol Schuster, and Volodymyr Yatsenko, has granted the following awards:
FESTIVAL BLOG
Fiction as a refuge
Pauline Loquès talks about Warsaw Film Festival winner Nino
Even the dead need to make a living
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke talks about A Useful Ghost
Animation always meant freedom
Reinis Kalnaellis talks about Thelma’s Perfect Birthday
Only life can write scripts like this
Joanna Deja talks about What the.. hen?
Modern motherhood and a search for belonging
Janicke Askevold talks about Solomamma
I don’t like “political art” but I like art in politics
Karolis Kaupinis talks about Hunger Strike Breakfast
Meditation on closeness
Jon Einarsson Gustafsson talks about Anorgasmia
It's a film about storytelling
Sergio Oksman talks about A Scary Movie
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