New Zealand Polish Film Festival

The New Zealand Polish Film Festival is a boutique foreign language film festival dedicated to presenting a range of high quality, unique, cutting edge, exciting and little-seen work in New Zealand. The Festival showcases contemporary Polish filmmakers, with an added focus on masterpieces of classic Polish cinema. 

Polish Filmmaking

With an impressive, over one hundred year history, Polish cinema has evolved as one of the more remarkable European and world cinemas. A diverse corpus of films from Polish filmmakers who are often regarded as masters of cinema, has been punctuated by political struggle during WWII and then restrictions on civil rights while under Soviet influence.

Under a dynamic Poland, Polish cinema has flourished and new and emerging Polish filmmakers create films within Poland and collaboratively with filmmakers from other countries. The Polish Film Institute has helped place Poland’s filmmakers on the world stage and supports filmmakers, and formalises film co-production agreements with a number of countries.

In 2015, New Zealand signed a film co-production agreement with Poland, which has the potential benefit of sharing creative and technical resources.

The New Zealand Polish Film Festival helps to foster opportunities for collaboration between filmmakers from both Poland and New Zealand, by introducing New Zealand filmmakers to Polish filmmaking and bringing Polish filmmakers to the Festival.

The New Zealand Polish Film Festival Team

Festival Director: Wanda Lepionka

Festival Manager: Zofia Miliszewska

Designer: Edwin Hooper

The New Zealand Polish Film Festival Trust

The New Zealand Polish Film Festival (NZPFF) is organised by the New Zealand Polish Film Festival Trust (NZPFFT), a registered charitable trust (Reg. No.CC53689), established in 2016. 

The purposes of the Trust are:

  • To develop, support, encourage and enhance knowledge, awareness and understanding of Polish film, art, culture and language in New Zealand.

It’s aim is to:

  • Offer the New Zealand public an opportunity to view high-quality, contemporary Polish films;

  • Foster opportunities for collaboration between filmmakers from both Poland and New Zealand;

  • Expose New Zealand filmmakers to the Polish style of filmmaking; and

  • Collaborate with organisations with similar purposes to the Trust.

The Trust is comprised of trustees who are professional business leaders and advocates for arts and culture. The Trustees are appointed by unanimous resolution of the Trustees. The Trust Board are:

Wanda Lepionka (Festival Director)

Todrick Taylor (Chair)

David Strong

Helena Fagan