Eight remarkable films, eight musical worlds, and one unifying thread – music as a force that drives emotion, ambition, and determination. The DocFilmMusic Competition at the 66th Kraków Film Festival guides its audience through stories stretched between past and present, community and solitude, the stage and everything that unfolds beyond it. From cosmic narratives and attempts to transcend genre boundaries, to portraits of artists searching for their place in a world of strict expectations, these films collectively demonstrate that music on screen is never merely a backdrop.
Classical, With An Edge
Festival audiences will encounter three documentaries that reaffirm classical music as a compelling cinematic subject. In Kaprálová, Petr Záruba revisits the life of Vítězslava Kaprálová – the most celebrated Czech composer and conductor – who travelled to Paris to study shortly before the outbreak of the World War II and, still in her twenties, carved out a place for herself in a world dominated by men. Drawing on archival materials and personal letters, the film creates a portrait of an artist whose career was cut short by illness. Yet, contemporary renditions of her compositions still make a compelling statement about the place of women in the history of music.
Where Music Grows by Katrine Philp guides us to a Danish farm where young musicians from all over the globe are preparing for concerts and auditions, learning not only how to play but also how to live alongside one another in harmony. Founded by Jacob Shaw, it’s a space where artistic work meets the rhythm of everyday life, emerging as a welcome antidote to the pressures exerted by the musical elites. Meanwhile, Philippe Béziat’s Nous, l’orchestre de Paris immerses us in the world of the Orchestre de Paris, observing how 120 musicians, under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä, coalesce into a single, perfect organism. These films present classical music not as a finished product but as a process. They tell the stories of beauty shaped by hard work, discipline, and an unrelenting search for one’s place.
Beyond Boundaries
Three further documentaries in the DocFilmMusic competition reveal music as a language of memory, a tool for forging connections, and a force capable of transcending boundaries – between generations, species, and even between worlds. The Magic City – Birmingham According to Sun Ra returns to Birmingham, Alabama, the birthplace of Herman Poole Blount, later known as Sun Ra. A jazz icon and pioneer of Afrofuturist imagination, he conceived of himself as a visitor from outer space. Through his extraordinary persona, the film also reflects on a place scarred by racial segregation and violence.
If the protagonist of Maupin and Guarise’s film was reaching for the stars, the director of The Musician and The Whale moves in the opposite direction – beneath the ocean’s surface – in search of contact with the non-human world. Valentin Paoli follows Ron, a renowned French composer and DJ, who collaborates with marine biologists to explore whether music might serve as a bridge to communicate with a humpback whale. In Puuluup – cables in the car, Taavi Arus portrays two brilliant, middle-aged Estonian musicians – fathers, partners and artists – who combine their own sense of humour with the long-forgotten sound of the talharpa to build an idiosyncratic musical language. They call it neo-zombie post-folk, and it has won admirers worldwide.
Bright and Dark Sides of Fame
Though the protagonists of the next two films could not be more different – in age, background, musical tradition, and life experiences – they are united by passion and a shared struggle to reclaim themselves in moments of crisis. In Meant to Be, we follow Pogány Induló, a teenager from provincial Hungary who rises meteorically in the hip-hop scene, becoming a Gen Z idol, only to feel the weight of success. A different trajectory unfolds in Farruquito – A Flamenco Dynasty, which tells the story of Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, one of the most distinguished flamenco dancers of our times, whose path leads from triumph on stage through personal tragedy, imprisonment, and a reckoning with guilt. In both films, art becomes a form of expression, a space of inner conflict, and a means of reclaiming balance in life.
At the 66th Kraków Film Festival, the DocFilmMusic competition will see these titles compete for the Golden Heynal across a wide spectrum of musical worlds – from classical and jazz to experimentation, rap, and flamenco. What the selected films share is a refusal to treat music as ornament: here it is a force that shapes memory, forges relationships, and defines identity – on stage and off it alike. This year’s programme unfolds as a polyphonic meditation on passion, craft, and the crossing of boundaries that once seemed insurmountable.
Titles selected for the DocFilmMusic competition:
- Farruquito, a flamenco dynasty, dir. Santi Aguado, Reuben Atlas, Spain, USA, 90’, 2025
- Kaprálová, dir. Petr Záruba, Czech Republic, 70’, 2025
- The Magic City – Birmingham According to Sun Ra, dir. Guillaume Maupin, Pablo Guarise, Belgium, 100’, 2025
- The Musician and The Whale, dir. Valentin Paoli, France, 83’, 2026
- Nous, l’orchestre de Paris, dir. Philippe Béziat, France, 90’, 2025
- Puuluup – cables in the car, dir. Taavi Arus, Estonia, 96’, 2026
- Where Music Grows, dir. Katrine Philp, Denmark, Sweden, 90’, 2026
- Meant to Be, dir. Oliver Mark Toth, Hungary, 84’, 2026.
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.