Culture.pl’s Monthly Cultural Round-up: August 2026
August is one of Poland’s most beautiful months: blooming flowers on Polish meadows create picturesque landscapes, the waters in our lakes are warm and harvest festivals (Dożynki) are celebrated. We stuff are faces with an abundance of raspberries, wild blueberries and delicious, juicy tomatoes, which this time of year are the best in the world (don’t tell the Italians)…
August is also a little bit nostalgic as it inevitably leads to the end of summer. It’s usually a bit slower with everyone off on holiday, but when it comes to Polish culture, there’s always something new going on. And this month was especially eventful for female film directors.
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Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s Hot Spot premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal where it received the Special Jury Mention for Best Ensemble Cast. It was shown at the New Horizons Film Festival in Wrocław, and it hit American cinemas on August 21 via Focus Features.
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The film is a sci-fi thriller set in a near-future society ruled by a sentient AI and it stars Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace and Reika Kirishima. Smoczyńska wrote the script with Robert Bolesto (The Last Family, The Lure), with cinematographer Jakub Kijowski, and the score was written by Marcin Macuk and Zuzanna Wrońska. The film is set to compete at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia in September. Konopka will step out onto Gdynia’s red carpet at least twice as he also played in another international coproduction shown in the main competition – Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow alongside Lesley Manville and Tom Burke.
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Kamila Serwicka’s feature documentary debut Blossoming has won the main prize at the Semaine de la Critique in Locarno. The film is a deeply personal story about the director’s own family whom she filmed for over five years. The jury underlined the film’s visual craft and sound design, while also praising its bravery in describing domestic violence and trauma.
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Agata Trzebuchowska’s horror Sick is going to premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Texas in September. The film, described as ‘thrillingly perverse’, is the directorial feature debut of Trzebuchowska, who gained recognition playing the title character in Paweł Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning Ida.
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But that’s not all! When it comes to music, the Polish folk revival was noticed by The Guardian which published Jakub Knera’s article about ‘rural revivalists’ such as Tercet Imperial, who’ve just played the OFF Festival in Katowice alongside The Flaming Lips and Johnny Marr and are going to play in Utrecht and London in November 2026.
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When it comes to mainstream pop, there’s no shortage of summer festivals as well: from Pol’and’Rock to the Green Music Festival, it’s a busy month for Polish artists. Possibly the most popular series of concerts is Męskie Granie – roughly translated as Men’s Playing – which is headlined each year by a different trio of top musicians (not just male!) who come together to write the anthem of the summer and play a concert consisting of Poland’s best hits. This year it was Igor Herbut, Vito Bambino and Zalia – check them out if you want a crash course in Polish pop.
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Last, but not least, Poland has been crawling with Hollywood stars as of late! Perfect city break? Working on top secret film projects? Or just visiting family? All of the above it seems! We hope Henry Cavill (ex-Witcher), Jesse Eisenberg (newest Polish citizen), Daniel Pudi (proudly American-Polish-Indian), Jeremy Allen White (amazing TV chef?), and the impeccable Isabella Rossellini enjoyed/are enjoying their time here!
And now it’s finally time to go back to school…! See you next month!