15th KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival

KINOTEKA is back! Taking place from 17 March to 5 April at venues across London, the 15th KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival will be showcasing the best of Polish cinema and culture. The festival programme offers a diverse mix of award-winning and crowd-pleasing films and documentaries, live performances, workshops, Q&As and special guests.

The ICA is honoured to host a retrospective of the cinematographer, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker and director Marcin Koszałka, who has twenty seven awards to his name and one of the most well-rounded careers in Polish cinema. His hands-on approach along with his meticulous attention to detail have made him a highly sought-after collaborator.

Koszałka is said to have an obsession about death and its omnipresence in life; this is highlighted in Declaration Of Immortality (2010) and User-Friendly Death (2007), perfect viewing for anyone who has the morbid curiosity to learn what actually happens in a crematorium. Both films are showing at the ICA as part of KINOTEKA’s Focus on Marcin Koszałka on 22 March, screening four important documentaries as well as the UK premiere of his acclaimed directorial feature film debut, The Red Spider (2015) on 21 March. Loosely based on the serial killer (the so-called Vampire of Kraków) who tormented Poland in the 1960s, Koszałka’s film is more of a thriller than a biopic, exploring evil tendencies and how people come to be the worst versions of themselves. If you haven’t discovered Marcin Koszałka’s talents already, get ready to dive into his macabre world.

The ICA is also unveiling the new KINOTEKA strand Undiscovered Masters of Polish Cinema, offering audiences an opportunity to discover unsung pioneer of Polish film Wanda Jakubowska, one of the first and most historically important Polish female directors. Her work has had a huge impact: the influence of The Last Stage (1948), screening on 1 April can be seen in many subsequent Holocaust films, including Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. We are also hosting a rare screening of her psychological drama Encounters In The Dark (1960) on 2 April.

We are offering a special multibuy offer for KINOTEKA: if you purchase tickets for 2-4 screenings pay £9 (full price)/£7 (concessions)/£6 (ICA Members) per ticket