The 38th Warsaw International Film Festival will take place October 14-23, 2022.

The National Competition programme of the 13th Odesa International Film Festival will be held as part of the Warsaw International Film Festival, October 14-23, 2022. Full-length feature and documentary films, as well as short feature films are invited to participate in the OIFF national competition programme in Warsaw.

"Since Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Poland had a new neighboring country – Ukraine. At WFF we quickly started building connections and developed relationships. It took a number of years until the new Ukrainian cinema gained serious international attention, and I hope Poland at least slightly contributed to the process. In 2013 "The Tribe" by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy was presented as work-in-progress at CentEast Market Warsaw, where it secured a deal ith sales agent, and later was accepted for Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, Ukrainian filmmakers invited their Polish colleagues in July to Odesa IFF, and we invited Ukrainians to the Warsaw Film Festival. This is when the bonds were made, lasting to this day.

No wonder that after Oleg Sentsov was kidnapped and sentenced in Russia to twenty years imprisonment, Polish Film Academy was particularly active in the international campaign, which led to Oleg's release in 2019. Ukrainian films were invited to Warsaw and were winning awards, like Weightlifter by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk or "Blindfold" by Taras Dron. Last year Warsaw IFF was honoured by the presence of Oleg Sentsov, who presented his film "Rhino". Now in 2022, when Russia started the war in Ukraine and the Odesa IFF cannot happen, we quickly agreed that the OIFF Ukrainian Competition will take place in Warsaw. Where else?", said Stefan Laudyn, director of the Warsaw IFF.

“We are grateful to our Polish colleagues for the great support of Ukraine and the opportunity to show the National Competition of the 13th OIFF at the Warsaw International Film Festival. Unfortunately, under the conditions of war, it is impossible to hold the Odesa International Film Festival in the traditional format. However, I am sure that new Ukrainian cinema should be seen. And I am glad that, in particular, it will be seen by the Polish audience and Ukrainians, who are forced to be abroad now”, added Anna Machukh, General Director of the Odesa International Film Festival.

The Warsaw International Film Festival was founded in 1985. The event is held annually in early October in the capital of Poland, Warsaw. The festival presents the best films of world, European and Polish cinematography to local and international audiences.