About the festival

Octopus Film Festival is the largest and most important event in Poland dedicated to genre cinema, held annually in Gdańsk since 2018. In just a few years, it has built a distinctive identity and become one of the fastest-growing film events in the country. Each new edition attracts an ever-growing audience as well as international guests – directors, actors, and creators shaping contemporary genre film.

The festival’s mission is to show the most exciting genre films from around the world while celebrating the cinematic experience as a unique and collective event. Alongside screenings in traditional cinemas, the program features site-specific event,  films presented in spaces that resonate with their atmosphere and genre, such as the industrial landscapes of the Gdańsk Shipyard.

Since 2020, the heart of the festival has been the Main Competition, spotlighting films that merge genre inspirations with strong authorial visions. The main award – the festival’s signature statuette – is decided each year by audience vote. In 2023, the program expanded to include Octopus Shorts, the International Short Film Competition. Equally important is Octopus Industry, a professional platform for networking, exchange, and building international collaborations within the genre film community.

Beyond competitions, Octopus presents retrospectives, filmmaker talks, lectures, workshops, and special events. The festival has hosted such icons as Sergio Martino, Barbara Bouchet, Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Enzo G. Castellari, Lamberto Bava, and Charles Band. Castellari also became the first recipient of the Atramentous Tentacle – Octopus’ lifetime achievement award.

The festival’s dynamic growth and increasing recognition have also been noticed by the industry. Octopus was nominated for the Polish Film Institute Award in the Film Event category in 2021 and 2024, and in 2025 it received the prestigious Splendor Gedanesis prize.

Audience Award – Main Competition winners:

• 2020 – VHYes, dir. Jack Henry Robbins
• 2021 – Bloody Hell, dir. Alister Grierson
• 2022 – Final Cut, dir. Michel Hazanavicius
• 2023 – Robot Dreams, dir. Pablo Berger
• 2024 – Exhuma, dir. Jang Jae-hyun
• 2025 – Lesbian Space Princess, dir. Emma Hough Hobbs & Leela Varghese

Octopus Film Festival organizer: Velvet Spoon

Patronage