Opening Night Gala — the U.S. premiere of „Lalka”, with Jan Englert as special guest
An extraordinary evening celebrating Polish cinema on the American stage. Polish Film Festival North America 2026 opens on Friday, November 6 at 7:00 PM at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, with the U.S. premiere of „Lalka” — one of the most ambitious Polish productions of the year. Bolesław Prus’s timeless story returns to the […]
Jan Englert — Honorary Guest of Polish Film Festival North America 2026
We are honoured to announce that Jan Englert will be the Honorary Guest of Polish Film Festival North America 2026, and our guest at the opening night of the festival. Few careers run through Polish cinema and theatre as completely as his. He was fourteen when Andrzej Wajda cast him in Kanał in 1957 — […]
The Year of Andrzej Wajda: A Special Exhibition in Chicago
The Senate of the Republic of Poland has declared 2026 the Year of Andrzej Wajda. The resolution, passed unanimously in May 2025, marks two dates falling in the same year: the hundredth anniversary of the director’s birth and the tenth of his death. Polish Film Festival North America will mark the year with a special […]
„Nasza rewolucja”: the Kuroń marriage, and a love that outlasted martial law
Piotr Domalewski’s „Nasza rewolucja” comes to Polish Film Festival North America 2026 fresh from its Polish release on 11 November. The film sits inside one of the best-known marriages in modern Polish history: Jacek Kuroń and his wife Grażyna, known to everyone as Gajka. In the 1980s their Warsaw flat was a newsroom, a meeting […]
„Jak żyć, żeby nie zwariować”: when the perfect life falls apart
Not everything in the 2026 programme is heavy. „Jak żyć, żeby nie zwariować” is a comedy, and it arrives in Polish cinemas on 23 October — two weeks before our festival opens. Anka has the life people are supposed to want: a loving husband, children who are doing well, a job she enjoys, a good […]
„Przepis na Święta”: a Christmas comedy that opens on our opening day
„Przepis na Święta” reaches Polish cinemas on 6 November 2026 — the same day Polish Film Festival North America opens. We could not have arranged the timing better if we had tried. Ida bakes, and dreams of a patisserie of her own. Her life takes a turn when she meets Piotr, a bank director whose […]
Polish Film Festival North America 2026 Opens with „Lalka”
Great cinema. Our stories. The feelings that bring us together. There are moments when the lights go down, the conversations fade, and the screen opens a whole world in front of us. Those moments are why we come to the cinema. Polish Film Festival North America invites you to another celebration of Polish film. This […]
