How Polish Cinema Lit Up the Film O'Clock Festival: Mirona Radu Reflects
Mirona Radu, Director of the Film O'Clock International Festival, a remarkable festival spread across 11 countries, shares her thoughts on this year’s edition. Polish cinema came into focus thanks to the Polish Presidency of the EU Council, but for Radu it was personal.
The wonderful journey that was the fifth edition of the Film O'Clock International Festival has just come to an end. It was a resounding success and I simply must tell you about it. One standout moment for me was certainly the launch of the Celluloid Solidarity podcast in Romanian – this inviting online warm-up event truly strengthened the bond between Polish cinema and our festival audience.
A heart-warming conversation about solidarity
Created by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Celluloid Solidarity podcast offered us a delightful chance to discuss the significance of solidarity in cinema and how film can act as a bridge for cultural exchange and building understanding. This was particularly special for me, as my personal ties to Polish cinema have profoundly influenced both my educational and professional paths.
The audience at the Film O'Clock International Festival, photo: Creatrix Fama
We were fortunate to hear from accomplished Polish filmmakers like Zuzanna Solakiewicz, Hanna Nobis and Hanna Polak, who generously shared their insights with us. The online event, which I had the privilege of moderating, was an opportunity to uncover the stories behind the films, but also a chance to ponder how cinema can beautifully cross cultural boundaries and forge connections between varied human experiences. This heart-warming conversation about solidarity also celebrated the core values that unite us through the art of film, a medium that still transcends borders and cultures in a world that, though increasingly connected, still faces its share of conflicts and inequalities.
This warm-up event crystalised Film O'Clock’s mission to nurture authentic dialogue between cultures and emphasise the importance of film – film, not merely as an artistic medium, but as a meaningful form of education and contemplation on global challenges.
The festival trailer, Film O'Clock International Festival, photo: Creatrix Fama
Sharing my connection to Polish cinema
With a master’s degree from the Kieślowski Film School, my connection to Polish cinema is very personal. Sharing this beautiful film tradition with audiences in 10 other countries (besides Poland) felt like a truly extraordinary chance to highlight the experiences that shaped my studies.
One of the most thrilling aspects was organising a discussion titled Poets or Engineers in Filmmaking, featuring the Polish director Rafael Kapelinski and representatives from esteemed Polish film schools, including Agnieszka Marczewska from the Wajda School, Aleksandra Toruński from the Warsaw Film School, Robert Sowa from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, and Kuba Mikurda from the Łódź Film School. At its core, making cinema takes a beautiful balance between the precision of an engineer and the heart of a poet, where what the audience experiences is crafted through technical skill but also through the emotional depth that transcends the frame.
Mirona Radu speaking to the audience of the Film O'Clock International Festival, photo: Creatrix Fama
It was such a rich experience to share these heartfelt stories and perspectives on an international platform and to watch how their universal themes and unique artistic approaches connected with the festival’s audiences and their diverse cultures. Events like this highlight the vital role of film education – especially in cultivating the capacity to comprehend, interpret and engage with the rich emotional and cultural narratives that cinema allows us to explore. Through this educational lens, cinema becomes a wonderful tool for empathy, and a remarkable way to promote dialogue and understanding across the globe.
Themes that resonate with audiences everywhere
The festival also highlighted the talents of Polish filmmakers through its competition, where two short films truly shone and were compensated with awards. Hushes and Phonics, directed by Piotr Kamiński, was awarded with the Jury’s Ex Aequo Prize for its ‘delicate cinematography and subtle performances’, while From You, directed by Jędrzej Gorski, received a Special Honorary Mention for its ‘incredible depiction of the father-son bond’. Both films moved me with their emotional depth and narrative, and it felt like a true honour to witness the International Jury Committee validate that.
Still from Camera Buff, 1979, photo: The National Film Archive/www.fototeka.fn.org.pl
Another highlight of the programme was the inclusion of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Camera Buff in the classic films section. Its appearance felt particularly fitting, as the film truly captures the spirit of the Film O’Clock International Festival. Kieślowski had a remarkable talent for observing people and situations with deep empathy, avoiding judgment, and allowing space for thoughtful reflection. His films encourage audiences to develop their own viewpoints, rather than providing pre-packaged answers. This essence of openness and understanding aligns with the festival’s mission – to build connections across cultures, break down barriers, and encourage authentic dialogue. Camera Buff is a heartfelt exploration of humanity and the complexity of our choices, and its universal themes resonate profoundly with audiences everywhere. In the context of our festival, it functioned as a powerful spark for meaningful discussions, highlighting how cinema can bring people closer together. Its presence also reaffirmed the festival’s core values: celebrating the rich diversity of humanity while honouring the shared essence that connects us all.
Kuba Mikurda’s presentation at the academic conference Archives, Cinema and Collective Healing, featuring his documentary Solaris Mon Amour was undoubtedly one of the festival’s most significant moments. The film, an extraordinary found-footage documentary inspired by Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, impressed the festival’s audience with its seamless integration of excerpts from 70 different films produced in the 1960s by the Educational Film Studio in Łódź. Hypnotic to watch, it is a profound exploration of loss, mourning and memory, told with both intimacy and deeply distinctive flair.
A still from Solaris Mon Amour, directed by Kuba Mikurda, 2023, photo: courtesy of Creatrix Fama
What resonated most with me was how the film addresses humanity’s hidden traumas, capturing how these surface in bold and emotional forms. As a cinephile and researcher of visual memory, I felt a profound connection to this work – its method of reviving fragments of history and cinematic art can forge bridges between generations. For our festival audience, this documentary was an opportunity to reflect on how cinema preserves and translates our own traumas. It was an intellectual and emotional challenge that reminded us all that film is a way to understand and reconcile with our past.
As we look toward future editions, we remain dedicated to expanding this vision, nurturing new voices, and strengthening the universal bonds that cinema creates. But if you want more of this year’s event, you can explore interviews we did with Polish professionals on the Film O’Clock Festival website. There you can learn more about their experiences and perspectives directly and discover more about this year’s remarkable journey. See you at the next edition!
Film O’Clock International Festival #5 was a cultural project produced by Creatrix Fama and co-financed by the administration of the National Cultural Fund in Romania (ACFN). The fifth edition was organised under the aegis of ‘Solidarity on Screen - Polish Presidency Film Review’, organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the International cultural Programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.
Mirona Radu is the Founder and Festival Director of Film O'Clock International Festival.
