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‘Tarantino-style’ Kościuszko Uprising epic wins Gdynia film festival

A new film about the Kościuszko Uprising has won the coveted Golden Lion for Best Film last night at the Gdynia Film Festival, Poland's leading cinema showcase.

Dubbed a ‘Tarantino-esque Western in 18th century Poland’, the film’s compelling blend of grotesque violence and black humour is set against the tumultuous backdrop of Poland in 1794, when Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the eponymous 'Kos', returns to Poland to rally support among the peasantry for his insurrection against the Russians.

Their jou
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Thwarted love which inspired Mickiewicz to be turned into epic new film

An upcoming film and TV series are set to capture the fiery passion of national bard Adam Mickiewicz, responsible for towering literary achievements such as Pan Tadeusz and Dziady.

Titled Uncertainty, the ambitious mega-production promises an intimate portrayal of the young Mickiewicz during a turbulent love affair, which would sow seeds of inspiration, ultimately germinating in works that would go on to become the cornerstone of Poland's literary heritage.

According to producers at Telewizja
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Priceless painting looted during WWII returned to Poland from Japan

A precious Italian artwork from the 16th century stolen by Nazi Germany during World War II and later found in Japan has been restored to Poland.

The first war-loss to be repatriated from the Far East, the Madonna with Child painted by the Italian master Alessandro Turchi at the end of the 16th century was stolen by the Germans during the war from the extensive Lubomirski art collection in Przeworsk.

The first war-loss to be repatriated from the Far East, the Madonna with Child painted by the
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Exhibition celebrates Andrzej Wróblewski, Poland’s most expensive artist

An outsider, individualist and Poland's most expensive painter, Andrzej Wróblewski is the subject of a newly opened exhibition at the National Museum in Lublin.

Dying tragically at just 30 years of age, he is regarded as one of Poland’s most important artists of the 20th century, with his work reflecting the times in which he lived – the atrocities of the war and the political changes in Poland.

Execution IV, from the series Executions, exemplifies Wróblewski’s preoccupation with the war and d
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British Earl returns 16th century literary treasure to National Library

A member of the British royal family has travelled to Poland to personally hand over one of his books to the National Library after discovering that it had once graced the hallowed shelves of the institution's precursor in the 18th century.

Speaking in Polish at the National Library, George Windsor, the Earl of St Andrews, explained that he bought the 1523 French literary treasure ‘L’histoire de Primaleon de Grece’ by Francisco Vázquez thirty years ago at a street market in Cambridge while he w
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Hollywood duo surprise Muranów locals after filming in Warsaw

Jesse Eisenberg, who played Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, and Kieran Culkin from HBO's megahit Succession have been seen spotted in Poland working on a forthcoming Holocaust film set in Warsaw and Lublin.

Yesterday, on Zamenhofa street in Warsaw near the POLIN Museum, surprised locals were able to catch a glimpse of the duo shooting A Real Pain, written and directed by Eisenberg.

Yesterday, on Zamenhofa street in Warsaw, surprised locals were able to catch a glimpse of the duo shootin
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The Poles behind Hollywood giant Warner Bros

As legendary film studio Warner Bros reaches its monumental centennial anniversary today, a little-known fact about its founders is that the brilliant minds behind timeless classics like Casablanca came from a small village near Pułtusk in northern Mazowsze.

The first Warner to step foot in America was the father of the brothers, cobbler Benjamin Warner, who arrived in America with just a gold watch in his pocket and stories in his head of golden opportunities and untold riches.

Upon arrival t
The First News •

Skolimowski’s ‘emotional’ donkey film nominated for 2023 Oscars

Jerzy Skolimowski's moving film about a donkey's adventures has become one of five nominees in this year's Best International Film category for the Academy Awards.

Chosen alongside the German production All Quiet on the Western Front, Santiago Mitre's Argentina 1985, relationship drama Close from Belgium and the Banshees of Inisherin featuring Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson, actors Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams revealed the nominees for the upcoming 2023 Academy Awards on Tuesday.

The movie
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Long-forgotten photos spark mission to find the people involved

A treasure trove of 500 negatives from the 1960s and 1970s found in the basement of a Youth Cultural Centre in Warsaw has sparked a mission to track down the people and stories behind the images.

The negatives discovered at the Łazienkowska centre and which have been lying hidden for over 50 years, depict people and events related to the centre's activities as well as scenes captured on the streets of Warsaw.

The discovery was made when workers were tidying up the basement and found sealed car
The First News •

Sundance documentary reveals Chopin Piano Comp’s harsh realities

A documentary film that transports viewers into the high-stakes world of the Chopin Piano Competition will receive its premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival this Friday.

Directed by Polish filmmaker Jakub Piątek, the film offers an intimate and gripping portrait of young pianists' entry into adulthood as they compete in one of the world's most cutthroat piano competitions.

Directed by Polish filmmaker Jakub Piątek, viewers are given a rare opportunity to look behind the scenes of
The First News •

Art historian and TV host to set up museum of looted WWII art

Art historian and popular TV host Magdalena Ogórek is making sure the stories of stolen Polish art are not forgotten with the construction of the Museum of Stolen Art in Lower Silesia.

The museum, set to open by the end of 2023, will feature a permanent exhibition on how the Germans stole an estimated USD 30 billion of Polish cultural goods.

The museum, set to open by the end of 2023 in Sulisławice near Ząbkowice Śląskie, will feature a permanent exhibition on how the Germans stole an estimate
The First News •

New hotel to symbolise ‘courage and determination’ of Ukrainians

Polish architects are behind a new hotel being built in Lviv in a show of defiance to Russia’s ongoing war.

In 2019, architects from Kuryłowicz & Associates came up with the winning design for the four-star hotel, which Ukrainian contractors are now building on the famous Mickiewicz Square UNESCO World Heritage Site, which sits on one of the main traffic routes leading to Lviv's Old Town.

Jakub Lewkowicz, an architect and management board member at Kuryłowicz & Associates, told TFN: “The proje
The First News •

Artist whose paintings helped resurrect Warsaw goes on show in stunning new exhibition

To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Warsaw’s best-known city portraitist Bernardo Bellotto, the Royal Castle in Warsaw is hosting an exhibition about him on a scale never seen before in the country.

There is no other source that reveals more about how the capital looked during the boom-time of the reign of the last king of Poland in the late eighteenth century.

Bellotto's city landscapes, or vedutes, let us see Warsaw how it really looked in astonishing photographic detail.

So
The First News •

Govt. launches ‘Empty Frames’ campaign to help regain WWII looted art

With an estimated half a million works of art destroyed or stolen from Poland during World War Two by Germany and the Soviets, the ministry of culture is doubling up on its efforts to regain some of Poland’s lost heritage.

Empty Frames, a campaign that aims to remind people about Polish works of art and culture stolen during World War II by both the German and Soviet occupiers, was launched today by culture minister Piotr Gliński.

As part of the campaign, special plaques providing information
The First News •

Recipes and memories of Holocaust survivors shared in new cookbook

The miserable rations of food prisoners received at Germany’s extermination camp Auschwitz were poor quality, insufficient for life and often withheld from starving inmates for even minor infringements of petty camp rules.

According to the Auschwitz Museum, prisoners received three meals per day. In the morning, they were given only half a litre of a liquid euphemistically called coffee.

The noon meal consisted of about a litre of thin ‘soup’ with a few chunks of vegetables normally used to fe
The First News •

Campaign to save Kashubian language gathers steam

A foundation in Kashubia is seeking to create the first professional online dictionary dedicated to the endangered Kashubian language.

The Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language, or Jinternetowi Słowôrz Kaszebsczégò Jãzeka, is needed, say the Kaszuby Foundation, to keep the language alive.

Though dictionaries of the regional language exist in book form, the foundation says that the world has changed so much that an online dictionary is now required to serve the interests of younger gene
The First News •

Emotional donkey film chosen as Poland’s Oscar nomination

A film in which the main role is played by a sad-eyed donkey will be the Polish candidate for the Best International Film at next year’s Oscars.

Announced yesterday, the film named EO by veteran filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski was selected from among seven other titles: The Balcony Movie, Illusion, Silent Earth, Woman on the Roof, Broad Peak, Fucking Bornholm and Filip.

The Polish-Italian co-production tells the story of a donkey, who, wandering around the world, suffers cruelty at the hands of ma
The First News •

Poland’s most bankable film director turns camera on himself

Patryk Vega has been Poland's most bankable film director for many years with hits including Pitbull, Women of Mafia and Secret Wars.

Now, the controversial filmmaker has turned the camera on his own turbulent life with the film Niewidzialna Wojna (Invisible War) to hit cinema screens at the end of September.

A trailer for the biopic, directed by Vega himself and featuring Quentin Tarantino actor Rafał Zawierucha (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) in the lead role as well as Anna Mucha, has just
The First News •

Powerful images reveal ordinary lives in war torn Ukraine

An exhibition of photographs showing Russia’s war in Ukraine through the eyes of ordinary Ukrainians has opened on Kraków's market square.

Over 90 photos by award-winning photographer Justyna Mielnikiewicz focus on the emotions of ordinary people.

Many of Mielnikiewicz’s photographs show people who, after much personal drama, managed to escape from Mariupol.Łukasz Gągulski/PAP

In the photographs at the International Culture Center, viewers will not see blood, destruction or burnt-out Russian
 The First News •

Survey reveals pork and cabbage still Poles’ number one dish

Pork chop and cabbage is still the favourite dish of Poles across all ages, according to a recent survey.

Carried out by Kantar for weekly current affairs magazine Polityka, the survey looked into the eating preferences of Poles by age, income, education level and region.

It also looked at preferences for eating out among Poles, how much they spend and who they like to eat with.

While culinary fashions are changing, the slice of breaded and fried pork loin served with potatoes and cabbage is
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