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Poland on Screen – Polish Film Festival Comes to Christchurch
This December, Polish cinema is coming to the big screen in Christchurch.
From 4–9 December 2026, Poland on Screen – Polish Film Festival in Christchurch will take over Lumière Cinemas at The Arts Centre for six days of contemporary Polish film, documentaries, drama, comedy, romance and one very special Polish classic.
The festival brings together seven films and seven very different stories, giving local audiences a chance to discover the people, ideas and perspectives shaping Polish cinema today.
Whether you have Polish roots, already love European cinema, or simply want to see something different from the usual mainstream releases, Poland on Screen has been created with you in mind.
Seven films. Six days. One screen.
The festival opens on Friday 4 December at 6:00 pm with Pianoforte, Jakub Piątek’s acclaimed documentary following young pianists through the extraordinary pressure, ambition and emotion of the International Chopin Piano Competition.
Over the following days, the programme moves through very different corners of Polish cinema.
There is the warm and emotional Photosensitive, the funny and deeply human documentary Candidates of Death, Piotr Domalewski’s provocative and award-winning The Altar Boys, the unconventional relationship story It’s Not My Film, Jerzy Stuhr’s beautifully understated black-and-white classic The Big Animal, and Wojciech Smarzowski’s powerful Home Sweet Home to close the festival on Wednesday evening.
Some of these films will make you laugh. Others will challenge you. A few may stay with you long after you leave the cinema.
That variety is exactly what we wanted this festival to be about.
A festival connecting Poland and New Zealand
Poland on Screen is jointly organised by The Polish Association in Christchurch Inc. and Fundacja Nowa Przestrzeń in Poland.
The festival has grown from a shared idea: to bring high-quality Polish cinema to Christchurch, make it accessible to a wider New Zealand audience, and create a cultural event that can develop into a regular part of the city’s festival calendar.
We are delighted to present the festival in partnership with Lumière Cinemas, in the unique surroundings of The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora.
The event has also been made possible through the generous financial support of the Senate of the Republic of Poland – Polonia 2026 programme and the Polish Charitable & Educational Trust New Zealand, with the support and patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Wellington.
Come and discover Poland through film
Film has a remarkable way of taking us somewhere else for a couple of hours — into another family, another city, another generation or another way of looking at the world.
For six days this December, we invite Christchurch to step into Poland.
Come for one film, come for several, bring friends, start a conversation afterwards — and help us make the first Poland on Screen a festival worth bringing back year after year.
Poland on Screen – Polish Film Festival in Christchurch
4–9 December 2026
Lumière Cinemas, The Arts Centre, Christchurch
TRADITION. ART. FUTURE.
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