From August 11 to 16, the 9th Octopus Film Festival will take place in Gdańsk — the largest genre film festival in Poland. The program includes horrors, thrillers, science fiction, action films, and movies that are hard to categorize into a single genre. Over six days, 131 films will be shown to the audience, with some screenings taking place in unusual locations around the city.
This year, the festival set its own record: the program includes 79 feature films and 52 short films. A total of 123 screenings are planned in 13 locations in Gdańsk. In addition to film screenings, guests can look forward to meetings with filmmakers, special events, and a professional program for representatives of the film industry.
Films from Cannes and genre cinema stars
The festival will open with the film “Love, Death, and Growing Up at Camp Miasma” (Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) directed by Jane Schönbrun. The film was previously presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
Will Octopus close with the new film by South Korean director Na Hong-jin — the creator of the thriller «The Wailing.» His film «Welcome to Hope» (Hope) also participated in Cannes.
Among the special guests of the festival is American actress and martial arts master Cynthia Rothrock, known for her action films from the VHS era. Italian actor Fabio Testi will also be coming to Gdańsk.
The Polish program features directors and actors working in various genres of cinema. Among the guests is Marek Brodzki, the director who worked on the Polish adaptation of «The Witcher,» as well as Krzysztof Kieślowski.
Cinema w muzeum, klub bilardowy i w stoczni
One of the trademarks of Octopus is performances in locations that are directly connected to the atmosphere of the film
For example, the iconic “Labyrinth” will be shown at the National Museum in Gdańsk. The organizers promise to fill the space with soap bubbles to turn a regular movie screening into a unique spectacle.
Audiences will watch the "Billiard Players" in the billiard club — the screen will be placed right between the gaming tables
Another unusual venue will appear at the active site of the Karstensen Shipyard Poland. They will showcase «The City of Lost Children» and «The Dark Man».
Festival not only for spectators
This year, the professional part of the program has expanded — Octopus Industry. It is aimed at directors, producers, film school students, and other representatives of the film industry.
As part of the section, there will be lectures, discussions, individual meetings, and pitch sessions of the Gdańsk Film Fund. Representatives from foreign film festivals and companies involved in film sales and distribution will also come to Gdańsk.
The Octopus Film Festival takes place in Gdańsk from August 11 to 16. For six days, the city will be dedicated to genre cinema — from classic horrors and action films to the most unusual and experimental works.
The full program more details
August 11, Tuesday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 16:00 | “The Witch’s Mother” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 16:00 | Octopus Shorts — block 1 “I Think I’m Dreaming” | Spektrum |
| 16:30 | “American Pop Music” | Klub B90 |
| 18:00 | “I Want Your Sex” | Spektrum |
| 18:00 | Festival Opening: “Love, Death, and Growing Up at Camp Miasma” | Multikino, hall 1 |
| 18:15 | “Others” | Kino IKM |
| 18:30 | “The Sparkle of Death’s Diamond” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 19:00 | “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” | Klub B90 |
| 20:00 | “Usurpers” | Spektrum |
| 20:30 | “Fascination” | Kino IKM |
| 20:45 | “Special Unit” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 21:00 | Sister to Sister — Ala&Ela | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 21:30 | “Motor City” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 22:15 | “Saharina” | Spektrum |
| 22:45 | “Angel Mine” | Drizzly Grizzly |
August 12, Wednesday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | Octopus Shorts — block 5: LAB | Spektrum |
| 14:30 | “Motor City” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 15:00 | “Billiard Players” | Green Club |
| 15:30 | “What Happened to Solange?” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 16:00 | “The Rapist” | Spektrum |
| 16:00 | “Hackers” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 16:45 | “The Matrix” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 17:00 | “Polish Kung Fu Madness” — lecture on martial arts films in the PRL | Kino IKM |
| 17:30 | “Mean Girls” | Klub B90 |
| 17:45 | “Land Rat” | Spektrum |
| 18:00 | Bingo | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 18:00 | “Body Melt” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 18:30 | “Who Am I. You Can Be Whoever You Want” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 19:00 | DKF Pełna Sala: “Don’t Look Back” | Kino IKM |
| 19:30 | “I Want Your Sex” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 19:45 | Octopus Shorts — block 2 “Close Encounters” | Spektrum |
| 20:00 | “Solar Eclipse” | TBA |
| 20:00 | Klub Komediowy vs. VHS Hell — dubbing battle | Klub B90 |
| 20:15 | “The Black Abyss” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 20:45 | “Hackers” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 21:30 | “Usurpers” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 21:45 | “The Witch’s Mother” | Spektrum |
| 22:00 | “Fritz the Cat” | Klub B90 |
| 22:00 | “Tank Girl” | scrapYard |
| 22:00 | szkoda — CLUB DiVA | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 22:30 | “Behind the Monastery Walls” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 23:59 | “Doll” | Klub B90 |
August 13, Thursday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | “Stories from the Magic Garden” | Spektrum |
| 13:45 | “American Dollhouse” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 13:45 | “Cultivation” | Spektrum |
| 15:45 | “Leviticus” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 16:00 | Film Quiz | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 16:00 | “Kim’s Video Rental” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 16:00 | “Hackers” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 16:00 | “Ghost in the Cell” | Spektrum |
| 16:00 | “Between the Cross and the Zipper” — lecture by Diana Dombrowska on Italian cinema | Kino IKM |
| 17:45 | “At the Edge of the World” | Klub B90 |
| 17:45 | Octopus Shorts — block 4 “Here is My Body” | Kino IKM |
| 17:50 | “Land Rat” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 18:00 | “Outlaw” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 18:15 | Octopus Shorts — block 3 “Homo filmus” | Spektrum |
| 18:30 | “Who Am I. You Can Be Whoever You Want” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 20:00 | “Deadly Simple” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 20:15 | “Heavy Traffic” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 20:15 | “Camera” | Spektrum |
| 20:30 | “The Witcher” + meeting | Klub B90 |
| 20:45 | “Hackers” | Bunkier pod W4 |
| 21:00 | “Sleeping Camp” | Kino IKM |
| 21:00 | Yemengoblin — CLUB DiVA | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 21:30 | Hidden Screening | TBA |
| 22:15 | “The Rapist” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 23:59 | “Wolf Cat Fever” | Klub B90 |
August 14, Friday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | Short Films for Children | Spektrum |
| 12:00 | Curtas Festival Short Films (Spain) | Kino IKM |
| 13:15 | “Saharina” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 13:15 | Octopus Shorts — block 4 “Here is my body” | Spektrum |
| 13:30 | “Stone” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 14:00 | “Short Film and Festival as a Path to International Distribution” — lecture by Luis M. Rosales | Kino IKM |
| 15:30 | Octopus Shorts — block 3 “Homo filmus” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 15:30 | “Who is Fabio Soldani?” | Spektrum |
| 15:45 | “The Day the Earth Stood Still” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 16:00 | “The Path of the Film: From Festival to International Sales” — panel | Kino IKM |
| 16:30 | “The Most Important Thing is to Love” + meeting with Fabio Testi | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 16:45 | “Vampire Lesbians” | Klub B90 |
| 17:00 | VHS Hell Dubbing Casting | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 17:35 | “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street” | Spektrum |
| 17:45 | “The Rescuers” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 18:00 | “Leviticus” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 19:00 | “Unconquered” + meeting with Cynthia Rothrock | Klub B90 |
| 19:00 | “The Abduction” | Kino IKM |
| 19:30 | “Coonskin” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 19:45 | “Motor City” | Spektrum |
| 19:50 | “Cultivation” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 20:00 | “Ghost in the Cell” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 21:00 | DiV4 — CLUB DiVA | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 22:00 | “Labyrinth” | National Museum in Gdańsk |
| 22:00 | “American Dollhouse” | Spektrum |
| 22:00 | “The Witch’s Mother” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 22:15 | “The Fox” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 23:59 | “Hell’s Insides” | Spektrum |
| 23:59 | “Labyrinth” | National Museum in Gdańsk |
August 15, Saturday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 | Short films from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk | Kino IKM |
| 13:00 | “Umbrella — 25 years of independent film distribution” — lecture by Jeff Harrison | Kino IKM |
| 13:00 | “The Secret of Singing Birds” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 13:15 | “Tour!” | Spektrum |
| 14:00 | “Land Rat” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 14:00 | “Genre Cinema Becomes Global” — lecture by Hudson Sowada | Kino IKM |
| 14:00 | “Yes, Madam!” + meeting with Cynthia Rothrock | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 14:15 | “Charlie’s Angels” | Klub B90 |
| 14:45 | Octopus Shorts — block 1 “I Think I’m Sleeping” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 15:30 | Short films by Krzysztof Kieślowski + meeting with the director | Spektrum |
| 16:00 | “I Want Your Sex” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 16:30 | “Film Distribution in Poland in the 1990s” — lecture by Tomasz Kocwin | Grid Arthub |
| 16:30 | “Revolver” + meeting with Fabio Testi | Klub B90 |
| 16:45 | “Deadly Obsession” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 17:00 | “American Dollhouse” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 17:35 | “Leviticus” | Spektrum |
| 18:00 | “Ghost in the Cell” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 18:50 | Octopus Shorts — block 2 “Close Encounters” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 19:15 | Award Ceremony + “China O’Brien” | Klub B90 |
| 19:30 | “New Dawn” | Spektrum |
| 20:15 | “Cultivation” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 20:40 | “The Fox” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 21:00 | Jaca Music Events | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 22:00 | “The Rescuers” | Spektrum |
| 22:00 | “Man of Darkness” | Karstensen Shipyard Poland |
| 22:30 | “The Rapist” | Multikino, hall 9 |
| 22:30 | “Evil Dead 2” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 23:59 | “Child of the Night” | Spektrum |
August 16, Sunday
| Time | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 13:30 | “Steel Giant” | Spektrum |
| 13:45 | “The Rescuers” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 15:30 | “Jacob’s Ladder” | Spektrum |
| 15:45 | “Saharina” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 16:00 | “Anzu. Ghost Cat” — accessible screening | Kino IKM |
| 16:45 | “Vampyres” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 17:00 | “Zoolander” | Klub B90 |
| 17:00 | Cinema Karaoke | OCTO BAR DOKI4 |
| 18:00 | Festival Closing: “Welcome to Hope” | Multikino, hall 1 |
| 18:00 | “The Fox” | Spektrum |
| 18:15 | Octopus Shorts — block 5: LAB | Kino IKM |
| 18:45 | “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” + meeting with Fabio Testi | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 19:00 | “The Quiet Earth” | Klub B90 |
| 20:00 | “The Lord of the Rings” | Spektrum |
| 21:15 | “Usurpers” | Multikino, hall 10 |
| 21:20 | “The Creeping Seed” | Klub B90 |
| 21:45 | “Children of the Night” | Drizzly Grizzly |
| 22:00 | “The City of Lost Children” | Karstensen Shipyard Poland |
| 23:59 | “Dead Before Dawn” — VHS version | Drizzly Grizzly |
