The AMA Film Academy Community in the Main Competition of the 51st Gdynia Polish Feature Film Festival

Two films co-created by members of the AMA Film Academy community will compete for the Golden Lions at the 51st Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia. Screenwriting graduate Aleksandra Arent co-wrote the screenplay for *Fluids*, directed by Maria Wider, and our Kraków-based lecturer Aleksandra Takuska wrote the screenplay for Jan Holoubek’s *Wild, Wild East*.

In mid-July, the festival organizers announced the list of films selected for the Main Competition of the 51st FPFF in Gdynia. This year, 16 films will compete for the Golden Lions, including as many as five feature-length directorial debuts. The selection was made by the festival’s artistic director, Joanna Łapińska, with the support of the Selection Committee, which included Leszek Dawid, Mara Tamkovich, and Marta Minorowicz. The festival will take place September 21–26, 2026.

For us, this list of 16 competition entries holds special significance—it includes two films whose screenplays were written by people associated with the AMA Film Academy.

“Fluids” — a feature film debut starring one of our graduates

Aleksandra Arent, a graduate of the screenwriting program at the AMA Film Academy, is the co-writer of the screenplay for *Fluids*—Maria Wider’s feature-length debut. The screenplay was co-written by Maria Wider, Magdalena Kućka, and Aleksandra Arent.

The film was produced at the Munk Studio of the Polish Filmmakers Association as part of the “Sixty Minutes” debut program, and the Feature and Documentary Film Studio joined the group of co-producers. Jerzy Kapuściński, Magdalena Tomanek, and Katarzyna Malinowska are responsible for the production.

The inclusion of *Fluids* in the Main Competition—alongside new films by Paweł Pawlikowski, Jan Komasa, and Agnieszka Smoczyńska—marks a strong debut for young cinema on the festival scene. And it proves that the path from the lecture hall to the red carpet in Gdynia is shorter than one might think.

“The Wild, Wild East” — a screenplay by one of our lecturers in a film by Jan Holoubek

Another reason to celebrate is the selection of the film *Dziki, dziki wschód* (The Wild, Wild East), directed by Jan Holoubek—the creator of *Rojst*, *Wielka woda* (The Great Flood), *25 lat niewinności* (25 Years of Innocence), and the acclaimed series *Heweliusz*. The screenplay was written by Aleksandra Takuska, a lecturer at the AMA Film Academy in Kraków.

“The Wild, Wild East” is a noir western set in 1943 in the territories occupied by the Third Reich. The main character is German official Martin Wolff, who arrives in a remote village to investigate the mystery of a Jewish lawyer’s disappearance. His investigation disrupts the fragile balance between the villagers, collaborators, and Nazi authorities, uncovering a web of betrayal, greed, and dark secrets. As the director himself emphasized, at the heart of this story lies a cycle of violence—and the need to resist it.

Bartłomiej Kaczmarek is the director of photography, and the producers include Ewa Puszczyńska, co-creator of the Oscar-winning films “Ida” and “Zone of Interest.” The cast includes Itay Tiran, Joanna Kulig, Robert Więckiewicz, Piotr Trojan, Jacek Koman, Jan Bülow, and Magdalena Różczka, among others. Filming took place in Lower Silesia and Wrocław, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Polska is the film’s Polish distributor.

From Screenplay to Screen

What these two successes have in common is what matters most to us: they both start with a screenplay. Aleksandra Arent honed her craft while studying screenwriting at the AMA Film Academy. Aleksandra Takuska shares her experience with our students in Kraków—and her script found its way into the hands of one of the most important contemporary Polish directors.

Seeing how the creative work of our graduates and faculty members translates into films that make it into the Main Competition of Poland’s most important film festival is a source of great joy for the entire AMA community and reaffirms the significance of what we do every day.

We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Aleksandra Arent, Aleksandra Takuska, and the entire crews of “Fluidy” and “Dziki, dziki wschód.” We’re keeping our fingers crossed for you in Gdynia this September!

The 51st Polish Feature Film Festival will take place in Gdynia from September 21–26, 2026. The full list of films in the Main Competition is available at festiwalgdynia.pl.