Festival founder Roman Gutek, a producer and distributor, said at the opening ceremony that the event has from its start championed "auteur cinema, directors with a distinct signature style, filmmakers for whom form matters".
He added that cinema also reflects reality, and that the festival has always aimed to showcase the diversity of auteur film and differing perspectives on the contemporary world.
New festival director Dorota Lech, who succeeded Marcin Pieńkowski, said she has been a fan of the event for 20 years. She called the festival a symbol of hope, saying she believes cinema has the power to open people to others, broaden worldviews, and highlight what unites people despite their differences. She said she hopes the festival can help imagine a world that is more open, peaceful, accessible and respectful — one where everyone feels welcome regardless of origin.
Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Jan Szyszko said the Wrocław event demonstrates how attractive a destination Poland has become, crediting festivals like Nowe Horyzonty with drawing visitors to see top films. He thanked organizers on behalf of the government and said his ministry has long supported initiatives contributing to the festival's growth.
The opening ceremony closed with a screening of "Fiord", starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. The film follows two families in a small Norwegian village: Romanian Christian immigrants Lisbet and Mihai Gheorghiu, parents of five, and their neighbors, the Halbergs, who become close friends until doubts arise over how the conservative family treats its children.
Lech described the film as combining a moral dilemma with a tense courtroom drama, calling it a finely constructed story examining a polarized world where private life becomes subject to public judgment.
Also screened were Gaston Solnicki's "The Last Concierge", starring Willem Dafoe as a hotelier fighting a developer over plans to demolish the building he has managed for decades, and Elle Sofe Sara's musical "Arru", depicting daily life among the Sami community in northern Norway.
Twelve films will compete for the festival's international prize, including works by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Stillz, Milagros Mumenthaler, Sandra Wollner, Marine Atlan, Ivan Marković, William and David Greaves, Aleksandre Koberidze, Ivan Ostrochovský, Nicolas Graux and Minh Quý Truong, Manon Coubia and Manuela Martelli.
The jury deciding the Grand Prix includes critic and film historian Beatrice Loayza, human rights and rule-of-law expert Maciej Nowicki, critic Jessica Kiang, Oxbelly director Caroline von Kühn, and Ashley Clark of New York's Criterion Collection. An audience award will also be presented.
The festival's closing film will be Agnieszka Smoczyńska's "Hot Spot", a Polish-Greek futuristic thriller about a murder investigation in an algorithm-governed society, starring Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima and Andrzej Konopka.
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Source: PAP