London’s Kinoteka Polish Film Festival Unveils 2023 Lineup Including BFI-Backed Jerzy Skolimowski Retrospective

EXCLUSIVE: The Kinoteka Polish Film Festival has set the lineup for its 21st edition, running March 9 — April 27 at venues across London.

The festival will open at the Institute of Contemporary Arts with the UK Premiere of Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur's debut feature, Bread and Salt .

Inspired by true events, the pic follows Tymek, a young and talented student of the Warsaw Academy of Music who returns to his provincial hometown for vacation. Upon his return, he discovers that the central meeting point for local youth is a newly created kebab bar. Tymek witnesses a growing conflict between the shop workers, who are Arabs, and his friends from the neighborhood, leading to a conflict that will turn out to be tragic. The film debuted at Venice last year.

The festival will close with a gala screening of the 1977 film Top Dog (Wodzirej) at the Cine Lumiere in South Kensington. Causing much debate in Poland on its original release, Top Dog follows the story of small-town entertainer Danielak, who will stop at nothing to achieve his aim of hosting the town's 500th-anniversary celebrations.

Other standout highlights from the lineup include a month-long retrospective of Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski 's work to be screened at BFI Southbank. Titled 'Outsiders and Exiles: The Films of Jerzy Skolimowski,' and hosted in collaboration with the BFI, the retrospective will screen many of Skolimowski's early Polish-based features, including Identification Marks: None (1964) and Hands Up! (1967/1981) , both of which will also be released on BFI Blu-ray on 24 April.

As part of the season, the EO filmmaker will also take part in a live on-stage conversation with journalist Michael Brooke, who has curated the season.

The festival will once again host its New Polish Cinema strand alongside programs dedicated to documentary films and cinema classics. Highlights across the strands include Anna Maliszewska's Dad (2022), The Hamlet Syndrome by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski (2022), and Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds (1958). Scroll down for the full lineups.

This year, for the first time, Kinoteka will also present a new section titled XRossspace Showcase 'On the Other Side,' dedicated to immersive extended reality works from Poland.

The festival is organized by the Polish Cultural Institute, based in London, and supported by the Polish Film Institute.

New Polish Cinema Dad — Anna Maliszewska, (2022, UK Premiere) Fucking Bornholm — Anna Kazejak, (2022, UK Premiere) Illusion — Marta Minorowicz, (2022) Shreds — Beata Dzianowska, (2022) Woman on the Roof — Anna Jadowska (2022, UK Premiere)

Documentary Pawnshop — Lukasz Kowalski, (2021, UK Premiere)