They programme and organise festivals, review, produce or direct films, and this year they are also going to judge them during the 65th Krakow Film Festival. From nearly one hundred titles in competition, they must select only a handful to receive awards. We shall discover who will take the gold and silver statuettes home, along with financial prizes, on 31st May during the festival’s closing gala ceremony.
They programme and organise festivals, review, produce or direct films, and this year they are also going to judge them during the 65th Krakow Film Festival. From nearly one hundred titles in competition, they must select only a handful to receive awards. We shall discover who will take the gold and silver statuettes home, along with financial prizes, on 31st May during the festival’s closing gala ceremony.
International Documentary Film Competition
The jury of the Documentary Competition will work under the leadership of Marcin Koszałka, the distinguished Polish cinematographer, film director, and professor at the Film School in Katowice and the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Koszałka, a member of both the Polish and European Film Academies, has received awards for best cinematography at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia and for his documentary debut Such A Nice Son I Gave Birth To at KFF in 2000. His latest film White Courage (2024) triumphed at the 49th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.
He will be joined by: Jenny Horwell – director and chief programmer of London’s Bertha DocHouse, the United Kingdom’s only cinema dedicated exclusively to documentary films; Ondřej Kamenický – director of One World – the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival held in Prague and over 50 cities across the Czech Republic; Nima Sarvestani – Emmy-winning Swedish director and producer, renowned for his films on human rights and social justice. His latest film Surviving the Death Committee will be screened during the festival; and Mira Staleva – director of the Sofia International Film Festival, producer, distributor, and board member of the European Film Academy.
International Short Film Competition
The jury of the International Short Film Competition will be headed by Anna Bławut-Mazurkiewicz – producer, lecturer and lawyer specialising in copyright law, member of both the Polish and European Film Academies, awarded at KFF 2024 for the best production of documentary and short films (Everything Needs to Live).
The jury also includes: Gregory Coutaut – French film critic, co-founder of LePolyester.com magazine, and member of the Directors’ Fortnight selection committee at Cannes; Ana Nedeljković – Serbian visual artist, director and animator, recipient of the Crystal Bear at Berlinale for her film Rabbitland; and Léo Soesanto – French film journalist, curator of short film competitions at the Riga International Film Festival, experienced festival programmer and FIPRESCI member.
International Music Documentary Competition DocFilmMusic
The DocFilmMusic Competition jury will be led by Urszula Śniegowska – artistic director of the American Film Festival in Wrocław, creator of the US in Progress programme, cultural manager, and member of the European Film Academy.
She will be joined in evaluating the films by: Ayat Najafi – Iranian-German film and theatre director whose documentaries Football Under Cover and No Land’s Song have gained widespread acclaim at over 100 international festivals, including in Kraków; and Jakub Piątek – Polish director whose documentary debut Pianoforte won the 2024 Eagle Polish Film Award and an International Emmy Award in the Arts Programming category.
National Competition: Short films
The National Competition – Short Films jury will be chaired by Magdalena Kamińska – producer and founder of Balapolis, whose production The Hamlet Syndrome won the Grand Prix in the Semaine de la Critique section in Locarno and the Golden Hobby-Horse at the 62nd KFF, while the fiction film White Courage claimed four victories in Gdynia.
The jury also comprises: Kaja Krawczyk-Wnuk – screenwriter, graduate of Film Studies at the Jagiellonian University and Film Production at the Łódź Film School, author of the screenplay for the acclaimed film Leave No Traces; and Wiola Sowa – animated film director, winner of the Silver Dragon, Silver Hobby-Horse, and the FIPRESCI Award at the Krakow Film Festival for her film Refrains.
National Competition: Medium and Full-Length Documentaries
Polish documentary films will be assessed by a jury chaired by Izabela Łopuch, film and television producer, founder and CEO of Spirit Animal, long-standing head responsible for original productions at HBO Poland, and producer of dozens of documentaries that have achieved worldwide success, including Communion, The Wind. A Documentary Thriller, and The Queen of Silence.
In selecting the best production, the producer will be supported by Grzegorz Brzozowski – director, PhD in sociology and film critic, recipient of the Silver Hobby-Horse for best Polish documentary at KFF in 2017; and Aliaksandr Tsymbaliuk – cinematographer and documentary director whose debut Koka won multiple awards, while Queendom, for which he co-created the cinematography, was an Oscar finalist in 2024.
FIPRESCI Jury
The International Federation of Film Critics, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and having maintained a presence in Krakow for 60 years, will be represented by: Giulia Dobre – visual anthropologist from Romania, reporter for RAI and ARTE; Jakub Demiańczuk – Polish film and comic book critic, journalist for the weekly Polityka; and Yael Shuv – Israeli film critic, chief reviewer for Time Out Tel Aviv and lecturer at the Open University of Israel.
FICC Jury
The International Federation of Film Societies jury comprises: Theresa Grysczok – German director, illustrator, and programme coordinator for the Braunschweig International Film Festival; Maja Moan Brataas – board member and programme team member of the Tromsø Film Club in Norway; and Lech Moliński – Polish cultural animator, organiser of film events, and former artistic director of the Okiem Młodych and SPEKTRUM festivals.
Student Jury
For the 21st time, festival films will also be evaluated by a Student Jury. This year’s panel includes: Zuzanna Adamowicz, Michał Bech, Amelia Georgiewska, Marcin Gołąbek, Wiktoria Gornowicz, Iga Gross, Roman Kraiński, Ignacy Pstrągowski, Krzysztof Strumiński, Katarzyna Szyszkowska, Maciej Warchoł, and Oliwia Weksej.
Let’s not forget that the audience also serves as jurors. The plebiscite partner is the Polish Filmmakers Association’s Film Magazine.
Explore the insider programme of the 65th Krakow Film Festival!
The Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards® in short film categories (fiction, animation, documentary) and feature-length documentary, the European Film Awards in the same categories, and serves as a qualifying event for the BAFTA Awards.
The Krakow Film Festival is organised with financial support from the City of Krakow, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Polish Film Institute, and the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme. The Polish Filmmakers Association serves as co-organiser.
The KFF at the Barbican is co-organised by the National Cultural Centre as part of the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.
The 65th Krakow Film Festival will be held in cinemas from 25 May to 1 June 2025, and online on KFF VOD from 30 May to 15 June 2025.