International Festival
of Independent Cinema

25.04 – 4.05.2025, Kraków

Sections

On the border

Borders have been a hot topic lately; especially in geopolitical terms, considering the increasingly frightening reality that surrounds us. The devastating war in Ukraine, the brutal armed conflict in Israel, the global refugee crisis, and accelerating climate change — these are events that the whole world is living with today, trying to make sense of the underlying factors that brought them about. The status quo has been shaken up and borders have been crossed in many different ways. We’re left with fear and anxiety about what might happen next.

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Black Sheep

You don’t have to go to California anymore to become a freak and live peacefully as a black sheep, as Lana Del Rey sings in one of her songs. The Sunshine State has been known as a Mecca for all kinds of misfits since at least the 1960s, but you just need to take a good look around to see that the contemporary cultural landscape is full of all kinds of freaks; in fact they’ve become favorite characters and protagonists of a variety of shows over the past dozen years or so.

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Girl Power!

Girls and girlhood have fascinated creators, both in film and beyond, for a long time. We only need to think of Nabokov’s famous Lolita, whose budding sexuality is the object of fascination for the main character (as well as for the author himself), to realize that the image of a girl on the one hand embodies carefreeness, fun and fluid identity, but on the other conceals a dark, dangerous potential, full of more or less pronounced desire, resulting mainly from patriarchal beliefs and the tendency to fetishize girls.

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Do The Right Thing

For many decades now, crime and delinquency have been one of the most popular themes for audiences of film and other media worldwide. This is evidenced, for example, by the popularity of “true crime” series and podcasts, which literally get devoured by the public. And it’s no wonder — nothing can hold you in suspense as effectively as a skillfully constructed and staged crime story. The conventions of courtroom dramas and stories about toying with the legal system have been eagerly and skillfully rewritten in recent years by female filmmakers and arthouse auteurs, as demonstrated by Justine Triet winning the Palme d’Or at the latest Cannes Film Festival for “Anatomy of a Fall,” her masterful take on the genre.

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Best of Fests

In this section, we will see the latest films by recognised directors, but also productions of budding filmmakers who captured the attention of audiences and critics around the world. These films, highly appreciated by our programmers, often combine commercial potential with an independent, creative spirit and rebellious nature.

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American Indies

American cinema has always been very much about stories. Stories that stimulate the imagination, are bold and, above all, diverse. Sometimes tongue-in-cheek, at other times a little more serious, they portray characters entangled in various traps, the ups and downs of life overseas. Although the protagonists’ reality is changing as dynamically as the American landscape, they will not hesitate to fulfil their dreams, cross borders and live their own lives.

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Main Dramatic Competition “Making Way”

The international competition for the Andrzej Wajda Krakow Film Award is the main section of the Mastercard OFF CAMERA Festival. Festival audiences will be the first in Poland to see the debuts and second films of the most talked-about artists from around the world. These are the films that delighted audiences at the biggest film events, including festivals in Toronto, Locarno, Rotterdam and Sundance.

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Polish Feature Film Competition

Our Polish Feature Film Competition is dedicated to those Polish titles that opened throughout the past year and stroke us as most interesting, original and universal. Ten feature films will compete for the Dominika Kulczyk & dFlights Award in the Polish Feature Films contest: PLN 100 000.

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Szczepański Square Cinema

Come to Szczepański Square! In an environment rather unusual for film screenings, the cinemaniacs will be able to see the film hits that – though we know them so well – never get old or boring.

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Cinema by the Galeria Krakowska Shopping Center

Galeria Krakowska and the main train station right next door have thousands of people passing through them every day. This makes it an ideal space for the festival’s open-air cinema.

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Botanical Garden Cinema

Nature opens up to the cinema. This new outdoor spot on the festival’s map will let you enjoy the cinematic experience in the unique, verdant setting of the Jagiellonian University Botanic Garden.

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