The Festival unveils a new visual identity, created in collaboration with the Kraków-based studio Weird Gentlemen. This year’s graphic design is firmly rooted in the INSIDER concept that has accompanied the event for several years now.
“With this year’s visual design, we wanted to say something more about the very idea of the festival. The use of film stills is intended to spark curiosity and intrigue, while the Insider tagline symbolically invites audiences to step right into the heart of the stories presented on the big screen. This narrative and visual concept was developed in collaboration with Łukasz Podolak, who captured the festival’s central idea beautifully: when we watch films, on the one hand we observe the world from the outside, yet simultaneously become part of the stories being told,” says Festival Director Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła.
Since its inception, the Krakow Film Festival has served as a platform for discovering the world through film. The event’s mission is to bring vital subjects closer to its audiences, to uncover new talents, and to present artistic cinema with conviction. The festival showcases documentaries, short animations, and fiction films that not only examine our reality but also highlight both individual lives and global challenges. It acts as a gateway to lesser-known film industries, offering insight into the diversity not only of our own continent but far beyond. It is for this reason that, since 2022, the word INSIDER has been adopted to characterise the festival’s essence.
“The Krakow Film Festival has always possessed a distinctive and recognisable visual character, as evidenced by the anniversary mural composed of posters from past editions. Our new visual identity, created by Weird Gentlemen – once again, we are working with the very best – is intended above all as an invitation. Both the dominant, vivid blue of the colour palette and the motif of the journey are designed to encourage audiences to discover new places, experiences, characters, and aesthetics through cinema. Let’s discover them together!” comments Artistic Director Anita Piotrowska.
INSIDER is not merely a descriptor but an identity – one that reflects our commitment, personal perspectives, and support for the community of film lovers, filmmakers, and industry professionals who do not simply observe the world from the outside but become an integral part of the cinematic experience.
“Perspective changes everything. This year’s visual concept for the festival is founded upon the multi-layered nature of the image. What we see at first glance is merely the surface – beneath it lie more levels of meaning, emotion, and narrative. There’s a tension between flatness and depth, guiding the viewer through the image and allowing them to uncover its hidden sense. The layers interpenetrate, creating a space for the experience of film – a meeting point for stories, their creators, and their audiences,” says the concept’s author, Łukasz Podolak.
Weird Gentlemen is a Kraków-based design studio founded by Łukasz Podolak (a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts), specialising in visual communication, web design, and motion design. The studio produces exclusively bespoke, original work – no templates. Its clients have included the Ministry of Culture, the Kraków Philharmonic, and the Jagiellonian University. The studio received Gold Award at the European Design Awards for its visual identity for Planet Lem.
Insider passes for the 66th Krakow Film Festival are now on sale!
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 Polish Film Institute, the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state purpose fund. The Polish Filmmakers Association serves as co-organiser.
The 66th Krakow Film Festival will be held in cinemas from 31 May to 7 June 2027 and online on KFF VOD from 5 June to 19 June 2026.