A Wave of Polish Cinema at the Camera Action Festival
Is it possible to stop time without stopping life? “Time That Never Come” (“Czas, który nie nadszedł*) by Julia Rogowska – selected for the Main Competition at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival – is a story about love, the passage of time, and the price we pay for trying to cheat time. Sara and Oskar met years ago, but each chose a completely different path. When they meet again years later, the differences between them are apparent at first glance. This encounter forces them to ask whether it is possible to preserve the past without losing out on what might yet happen. The director’s feature debut balances between a story about a relationship and a twist-filled tale regarding our obsessive desire to hold onto youth, intimacy, and life’s most important moments. For perhaps the problem isn’t that time slips away; perhaps the problem is that we try to catch up with it at any cost. Starring Agata Kulesza (“Cold War”, “Dom dobry”) and Dobromir Dymecki (“1670”, “Silent Land”). After the screening, director Julia Rogowska and producer Krystyna Kantor will meet with the audience.
“Tell Me How You Feel” (“Powiedz mi, co czujesz”) approaches the subject of emotions in a completely different way. Łukasz Ronduda once again blends cinema with contemporary art, drawing inspiration from the lives and work of Patryk Różycki and Karolina Balcer, as well as their “Skup Łez” (Tear Collection) project. The film previously screened in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and at the New Horizons Festival; critics have hailed it as one of the most tender portraits of modern love. “We have reached a point in Polish cinema where we get on-screen emotion without a pile-up of conflicts – and with such tenderness that it makes you want to write about it all,” writes Łukasz Mańkowski for Filmweb. A post-screening meeting with Łukasz Ronduda, part of the “Inspirations” series, will follow the film. The screening is organized in cooperation with the film’s co-producer, EC1 Łódź – City of Culture / Łódź Film Commission.
The program of the 17th Kamera Akcja Festival also features Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s “Hot Spot” – a futuristic thriller that serves as a wild mix of science fiction, crime drama, and satire of a technology-dominated society. “A technical masterpiece and uncompromising cinema,” writes Marcin Prymas for Pełna Sala. The international cast includes Andrzej Konopka (“Heweliusz”, “LARP. Love, Trolls and Other Quests”), Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “Lamb”), and Reika Kirishima (“Drive My Car”, “Norwegian Wood”); the entire ensemble received a Special Jury Mention at the Fantasia Festival. Following “The Lure”, “Fugue”, and “The Silent Twins”, Smoczyńska once again uses genre conventions as a canvas for cinematic experimentation, crafting a cool, visually stunning tale about a world where algorithms take control not only of society but also of human identity.
The 17th Camera Action Festival will take place from October 22 to 25, 2026, in Łódź, and online from October 19 to 21, 2026, on the Think Film platform. This project is made possible thanks to funding from the City of Łódź’s budget. It is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund—a state-administered special-purpose fund—as well as by the Polish Film Institute and the University of Łódź, the festival’s patron. The “Sound Direction” section is organized in collaboration with the Łódź Film School and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Poland. Filmweb is a partner of the section. The festival’s main partners are Monopolis, the Łódź Film School, and the Museum of Cinematography. The Camera Action Festival and the “Man in Danger” Media Festival form the “Łódź Film Festival” network.
