The EKRAN Toronto Polish Film Festival, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, presents a curated academic screening of short films produced by Studio Munk, one of Poland’s foremost incubators for emerging cinematic talent. Studio Munk, operating under the auspices of the Polish Filmmakers Association, serves as an essential professional platform where early-career directors develop projects that combine artistic innovation with critical social inquiry. This program highlights four distinguished filmmakers whose work reflects the evolving landscape of contemporary Polish cinema and its engagement with transnational, diasporic, and socio-political themes.
This initiative is presented as part of a broader international academic partnership developed by the EKRAN Toronto Polish Film Festival, connecting leading North American institutions engaged in the study and promotion of contemporary world cinema. The Munk Studio screening program is undertaken in collaboration with the University of Toronto as well as several distinguished partner universities across the United States, including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Chicago.
The screening features: The Power of Resistance by Elzbieta Benkowska, an award-winning director and scholar whose research and artistic practice examine memory, resistance, and identity; The Strangers Came by Bartosz Brzezinski, a Warsaw Film School graduate whose films explore psychological tension and the human response to crisis; Entropy by intercultural artist Anna Fam-Rieskaniemi, whose work interrogates cultural hybridity, social rupture, and intergenerational dynamics; and The Border by Polish-Israeli filmmaker Maria Magriel, whose transnational background informs her exploration of migration, familial bonds, and ethical decision-making across geopolitical boundaries.
A distinguished jury will evaluate the participating films, ensuring a rigorous and thoughtful selection process. The 2025 Jury includes:
Dr. Magdalena Cabaj (University of Toronto, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures),
Prof. Ilona Copik (University of Toronto, film scholar),
Prof. Zdanko Mandusic (University of Toronto), and
Vince Woodford (film student, University of Toronto).
Their diverse academic and artistic backgrounds bring scholarly depth and critical insight to the evaluation process.
As part of this special academic collaboration, the best film of the program will be awarded the American Academic Award for Best Short Film, recognizing outstanding contributions to cinematic excellence, narrative clarity, and artistic achievement. This distinction underscores the festival’s commitment to supporting emerging filmmakers on an international stage and advancing academic discourse around contemporary film practice.
By bringing together four filmmakers and a panel of esteemed jurors, this program offers Canadian audiences a unique opportunity to examine contemporary Polish work within a global scholarly context. The event fosters dialogue between filmmakers, students, researchers, and the broader community, reaffirming cinema’s role as both an expressive art form and a lens through which to engage with complex social realities. This collaboration strengthens the University of Toronto’s commitment to interdisciplinary engagement and its longstanding ties to Central and Eastern European cultural studies.
