During this year’s EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival, we invite audiences on an extraordinary cinematic journey following in the footsteps of explorers, researchers, and visionaries — those whose passion and courage have changed the world. As part of the Kujawy Pomorze on Screen section, we will present exceptional films inspired by the idea of the Year of People of Science, established by the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Regional Assembly to honor the legacy of scholars connected to our region.
This year’s program is a tribute to the unquenchable spirit of discovery that has shaped the identity of Kujawy and Pomorze for centuries. It was here that outstanding scientists — inventors, doctors, educators, physicists, and chemists — were born, whose discoveries influenced the development of world science. Their attitude, courage, and curiosity continue to inspire today’s artists.
Therefore, in the Kujawy Pomorze on Screen section, alongside documentaries, we will also showcase feature films created by filmmakers fascinated by our region — films shot here, produced with the support of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Film Fund, in which the spirit of exploration and discovery finds expression in story, imagery, and emotion. These works not only promote Kujawy and Pomorze on screen but also show that this land continues to inspire stories filled with passion, reflection, and human truth.
The Kujawy Pomorze on Screen section reminds us that science — much like cinema — is born from curiosity about the world and the desire to seek truth. It is a meeting of image, thought, and emotion that allows us to view the achievements of the region through the lens of universal values: wisdom, courage, and the passion for discovery.
THE CHEMIST'S RETURN
Powered by TARR and the Jan Czochralski KPCNT /
Original title: Powrót chemika
Director: Anna Laszczka
Cinematographer: Weronika Bilska
Produced by: Media Brigade
Country and year: Poland, 2014
The Chemist’s Return is a documentary story about the remarkable life of Jan Czochralski, an eminent Polish chemist and metallurgist, often hailed today as the ‘forefather of global electronics’. His discoveries underpinned virtually everything for which monocrystalline silicon is used today. The problem is that in his homeland almost no one has heard of him. Why?
THE CROSSROADS
Original title: Skrzyżowanie
Director: Dominika Montean-Pańków
Cinematographers: Bartosz Świniarski
Produced by: Studio Munka SFP
Country and year: Poland, 2024
Tadeusz, a retired head of a hospital department, sees his orderly life upended in the blink of an eye after a serious car accident. Instead of the peaceful, well-planned ‘golden years’ he had envisaged, he faces a situation that overwhelms both him and those closest to him. A shadow falls over his marriage, his relationship with his son and the approaching wedding of his beloved granddaughter. Meanwhile, a woman enters his life, and under her influence he begins to make unexpected decisions.
GINGERBREAD HEART
Original title: Piernikowe Serce
Director: Piotr Wereśniak
Cinematographer: Jakub Sztuk
Produced by: Anderegande Studio
Country and year: Poland, 2025
In the magical, festive setting of Toruń, the lives of several characters intertwine, bound not only by family ties but also by old secrets, unfulfilled dreams and second chances at love. Gingerbread Heart is a touching yet humorous tale about how sometimes you must return to the past to find your way to the future.
JAN CZOCHRALSKI. FOREFATHER OF ELECTRONICS
Powered by TARR and the Jan Czochralski KPCNT /
Original title: Jan Czochralski. Praojciec elektroniki
Director: Katarzyna Trzaska
Cinematographer: Andrzej Wojciechowski
Produced by: Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny (FINA), Telewizja Polska (TVP)
Country and year: Poland, 2020
The film portrays a brilliant scientist and great Polish patriot, the chemist and metallurgist Jan Czochralski. His research and scientific work in the early twentieth century laid the foundations for the modern electronics and photovoltaics industries based on monocrystalline semiconductors, which are produced using the Czochralski method, widely known in scientific circles worldwide.
THE SEASONS
Original title: Sezony
Director: Michał Grzybowski
Cinematographer: Edgar de Poray
Produced by: Haja Films
Country and year: Poland, 2024
A comedy about the marital crisis of a pair of actors that takes place in a theatrical world full of absurdities, in which the private lives of the characters mix with the fates of the characters they play on stage. The difficult emotions experienced by them are accompanied by surprising, lyrical humour. The film tells a universal story about love and human relationships in a satirical way.
SECRETS OF ENIGMA
Original title: Tajemnice Enigmy
Director: Andrzej Tomczak
Cinematographers: Wiesław Matuszewski, Tomasz Stelmach
Produced by: Andrzej Tomczak
Country and year: Poland, 2005
The two-part film recounts the story of the Polish mathematicians who were the first in the world to break the cipher of the German Enigma machine – one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Second World War. At its centre is Marian Rejewski, a brilliant cryptologist who, by applying permutation theory, managed to decipher a code long deemed unbreakable. The filmmakers trace his path from mathematical studies to cooperation with French intelligence and the key breakthroughs that enabled the Allies to read German military messages. The documentary restores the long-overlooked contribution of Polish cryptologists to victory in the war.
TADEUSZ REICHSTEIN'S GARDENSSCH
Original title: Ogrody Tadeusza Reichsteina
Director: Krzysztof Krauze
Cinematographer: Jacek Siwecki
Produced by: Apple Film Production
Country and year: Poland, 1994
A filmed portrait of Professor Tadeusz Reichstein, discoverer of cortisone and holder of the patent for the production of vitamin C, a Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1950. Born in Włocławek at the end of the nineteenth century, Professor Reichstein lectures in Basel and holds Swiss citizenship. A man of remarkable modesty who avoids the media, he nevertheless makes an exception for Polish journalists. In the film, he speaks about his life and scientific career.