Through the Wall Wins Golden Lions at Gdynia Film Festival

Director Maciej Sobieszczański's Through the Wall claimed the festival's top honor, the Golden Lions for Best Film, at a Saturday evening ceremony held 26 September 2026 at Gdynia's Musical Theatre, marking the close of the 51st Polish Film Festival.¹²

Main awards

Tell Me What You Feel, helmed by director Łukasz Ronduda and produced by Natalia Grzegorek, received the Silver Lions. Paweł Pawlikowski received the directing award for Fatherland, while Jolanta Dylewska won the cinematography prize for Through the Wall.¹²

Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid won the screenplay award for Good Boy, directed by Jan Komasa, which also received the Audience Award. Jaśmina Polak was named leading actress for Exotic, and Anson Boon leading actor for Good Boy. Jan Sałasiński received the professional acting debut award for Tell Me What You Feel.¹²

Hot Spot, directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, won the Andrzej Żuławski Golden Claw Award and further prizes for music, sound and costume design. Halina Prugar-Ketling received the Platinum Lions for lifetime achievement.¹²

Short films and Perspectives

A panel made up of Ewa Braun, Joanna Szymańska and Bartosz M. Kowalski judged the Short Film Competition, evaluating 28 entries chosen for the lineup. Patrycja Polkowska's Case No. earned the Lucjan Bokiniec Award, given to the year's best short film, along with a PLN 15,000 prize funded by Energa SA. The Knot, directed by Izabela Zubrycka, received a Special Mention with a PLN 5,000 prize. Patryk Roman won the Best Cinematographer award for Recess, directed by Jana Saczka, which includes PLN 20,000 in equipment hire funded by Heliograf.¹²³

In the Perspectives Competition, Empty Pockets won the Sapphire Lions. Julia Totoszko received an award for outstanding artistic contribution for Nice Women, and Wszystkie miały na imię Anżelika received a Special Award with a PLN 10,000 cash prize and a licence worth PLN 15,000 from Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych. Eliza Godlewska and Alan Ruczyński's A Free Woman received the sole PLN 15,000 prize from the jury judging Best Directing Debut or Second Film.¹²

Reception of Through the Wall

Rzeczpospolita described Through the Wall as a film based on a true story about two people who survived in a Stalinist prison by communicating through Morse code, calling it a story of terror and survival and of what one person can mean to another.³

naTemat.pl reported that audiences left screenings of the film in silence and visibly moved. A TVN24 journalist identified as Kobus said the film was one of the most beautiful love stories contemporary Polish cinema has offered, and that he could not recall the last time festival audiences in Gdynia had left a screening so quiet and affected.⁴

Critics offered mixed assessments of style while praising the lead performance. Wojciech Tutaj wrote that the film's aesthetic and use of music could feel forced, but called Maria Dębska's performance the true achievement, noting that in many scenes it is almost her monodrama. Jacek Cygan similarly praised Dębska's role as the performance of her career, while Łukasz Adamski credited Jolanta Dylewska's cinematography for capturing the true face of communism, though he felt the film could have benefited from tighter editing.⁴