The KF New England Chapter Presents: 2026 Polish Film Festival – Celebrating 250 Years of America and 100 Years of Andrzej Wajda

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS — Polish history, cinema and the enduring ties between Poland and the United States will take center stage this October as the Annual Polish Film Festival returns to Western Massachusetts with three free film screenings.

This year’s festival carries special significance: 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of American independence and the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda. Together, the milestones provide a framework for a program exploring revolution, freedom, history, memory and the human experience.

Presented by the Kosciuszko Foundation New England Chapter, the festival will feature three films shown in Polish with English subtitles. Each screening will be followed by a conversation or question-and-answer session with scholars and authors.

The festival opens Sunday, Oct. 4, with Kosciuszko: A Man Before His Time at 2 p.m. at the Alumnae Library Theater at Elms College in Chicopee.

The film tells the story of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the Polish military engineer and revolutionary who traveled to America to support the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Kosciuszko later returned to Poland, where he became an advocate for freedom and equality.

His story offers a particularly fitting connection to the festival’s American anniversary theme, highlighting the historic links between Polish and American struggles for liberty.

Following the screening, audiences will have an opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Alex Storozynski, author of The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution.

The festival continues Sunday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. at the Alumnae Library Theater with Zemsta (Revenge), one of Wajda’s most entertaining films.

Based on Aleksander Fredro’s beloved Polish comedy, Wajda’s adaptation showcases a very different side of the director, combining humor, elaborate visuals and theatrical energy. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Jeremi Szaniawski, a University of Massachusetts professor and scholar of Polish cinema whose work includes extensive study of Wajda.

The festival concludes Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2 p.m. at the Northampton Center for the Arts with Katyn, Wajda’s acclaimed 2007 film about the Katyn massacre and its devastating impact on Polish families.

The film examines the intersection of personal grief, historical memory and political truth. It also carries a deeply personal dimension for Wajda, whose father was among the Polish officers murdered at Katyn.

A second Q&A with Szaniawski will follow the screening.

A Centennial Celebration of Wajda

Few directors have had as profound an influence on Polish cinema as Wajda, whose career spanned more than six decades. His films chronicled Poland’s political and social upheavals while bringing Polish stories to audiences around the world.

Wajda repeatedly returned to questions of history, identity, memory and political power, often portraying individuals struggling against forces larger than themselves.

The two films selected for this year’s festival — Zemsta and Katyn — demonstrate the breadth of his work, moving from comedy and literary adaptation to one of the darkest episodes in Polish history.

The Western Massachusetts screenings are also part of a broader international recognition of Wajda’s legacy. This fall, the Polish Cultural Institute New York, in partnership with Film Forum, is presenting a three-week retrospective of his films in New York.

For local audiences, the Annual Polish Film Festival offers an opportunity to experience that legacy closer to home while learning more about the historical and cultural connections between Poland and the United States.

All three festival screenings are free and open to the public.

Films will be presented in Polish with English subtitles.

2026 Annual Polish Film Festival Schedule

• Sunday, Oct. 4, 2 p.m. — Kosciuszko: A Man Before His Time, Alumnae Library Theater, Elms College. Q&A with Alex Storozynski.

• Sunday, Oct. 25, 2 p.m. — Zemsta (Revenge), Alumnae Library Theater, Elms College. Q&A with Jeremi Szaniawski.

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m. — Katyn, Northampton Center for the Arts. Q&A with Jeremi Szaniawski. Screen from “Katyn”, 2027, dir. Andrzej Wajda featured as the cover photo.

The festival is sponsored in part by the Polish National Credit Union in Chicopee, Massachusetts.