The Main Competition with the Golden Frog Award has been the most important part of the ToruńCAMERIMAGE Festival from its beginning. The Competition exists since 1993 i.e. since the first edition of the Festival. From the very beginning the idea behind the competition is to present the feature films where the image significantly contributes to the way a story is told. The visual value of these films results from the cooperation between a director and a cinematographer and the unusual sensitivity of the author of a film image. The Main Competition emphasizes the enormous contribution of the cinematographer to the film work. The aim of the Main Competition is to present films with unique visual appeal which will then be evaluated by International Jury who will choose and award the authors of the best cinematography. Also this year we will present the most interesting phenomena of world's cinematography, distinctive in terms of creative use of the image in film narration.
BEHEMOTH!
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CINEMATOGRAPHER: Damián García
DIRECTOR: Tony Gilroy
PRODUCTION: Searchlight Pictures
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Stany Zjednoczone, 2026
A gifted cellist, Alex Serian, returns home to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road. Music, which has been the constant, all-consuming river of his life, begins to carry Alex on an adventure that will change him forever.
DISCLOSURE DAY
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kamiński
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
PRODUCTION: Amblin Entertainment, Universal Pictures
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Stany Zjednoczone, 2026
When, during a live news broadcast, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild begins speaking a language she does not understand, she inadvertently unlocks the door to a secret that has been hidden for decades. As powerful government forces pursue her, Margaret’s inexplicable ability to feel the emotions of others will lead her to cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner and a revelation about their shared past that will change the world forever.
FATHERLAND
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CINEMATOGRAPHER: Łukasz Żal
DIRECTOR: Paweł Pawlikowski
PRODUCTION: Chapter 2, Extreme Emotions BIS, Nine Hours, Our Film
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Polska, Niemcy, Włochy, Francja, 2026
Fatherland centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, an actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick, taking them across a Germany in ruins, from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family.
GROWTH OF THE SOIL
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oskar Dahlsbakken
DIRECTOR: Hans Petter Moland
PRODUCTION: 4 1/2 Fiction
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Norwegia, 2026
In search of land to cultivate, Isak settles in a remote mountain wilderness. There he meets Inger, a woman as lonely and desperate as himself. Together, they build a farm and raise a family, gradually transforming the harsh landscape into a place they can call home. But tragedy tears their lives apart, and when Inger returns after years away, she brings new skills, ambitions and a longing for freedom. While Isak remains devoted to the land and the rhythms of nature, his wife and children begin to imagine a different future. As the world around them changes, the couple must confront the growing distance between them and find a way to preserve what they have built together.
LA BOLA NEGRA
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CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gris Jordana
DIRECTORS: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
PRODUCTION: Le Pacte, SUMA CONTENT
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Hiszpania, 2026
From directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known together as Los Javis, La Bola Negra follows three generations of men across pivotal moments in Spanish history, bound by pain, desire and love. Carlos longs to belong in a fractured Spain. Sebastián finds connection across enemy lines. And Alberto uncovers a long-buried family secret, one that finally gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.
MINOTAUR
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mikhail Krichman
DIRECTOR: Andriej Zwiagincew
PRODUCTION: MK Productions, CG Cinéma
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Francja, Łotwa, Niemcy, 2026
Gleb, the director of a large company, and his much younger wife Galina present the perfect image of a well-off couple. They are raising a school-age son together, but the feelings they once shared have long since given way to indifference. Matters become even more complicated when the town’s mayor orders Gleb to select fourteen employees from his company to be sent to the front. At the same time, he begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair. Seemingly calm and pragmatic, Gleb starts to lose his grip on reality, driving him towards increasingly radical and dangerous decisions.
THE MOSQUITO BOWL
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jacques Jouffret
DIRECTOR: Peter Berg
PRODUCTION: Film 44, Imagine Entertainment
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Stany Zjednoczone, 2026
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, four of America’s top college football stars set their fame aside to enlist in the Marines. As they prepare for the brutal invasion of Okinawa, they’ll play in a legendary game featuring some of the greatest players in history, a game that, for many, will be the last they ever play.
PROJECT HAIL MARY
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CINEMATOGRAPHER: Greig Fraser
DIRECTORS: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
PRODUCTION: Amazon MGM Studios
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Stany Zjednoczone, 2026
Science teacher Ryland Grace finds himself alone and a long way from home when he befriends an unlikely ally. Transcending every barrier between them, the pair discover that even in the vastness of space, connection remains our greatest resource.
THROUGH THE WALL
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ORIGINAL TITLE: Przez ścianę
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jolanta Dylewska
DIRECTOR: Maciej Sobieszczański
PRODUCTION: Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (WFDiF)
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Polska, 2026
At the darkest time of Stalinist terror in Poland, two young people fall in love. Wiesia and Jerzy are political prisoners incarcerated in neighbouring cells who start communicating via Morse code. Those conversations become their only respite from the brutal reality of the prison. Without ever seeing each other, they fall in love and heroically fight to be together. The film is based on an incredible true story.
ULYA
ORIGINAL TITLE: Uļa
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Wojciech Staroń
DIRECTOR: Viesturs Kairišs
PRODUCTION: Staron-Film
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Łotwa, Polska, Estonia, Litwa, 2026
Soviet Union, Latvia, 1964. Ulya, a teenage Old Believer nearing two metres in height, grows up on a remote collective farm. Her unusual height troubles her family, who wonder if there is a place for her in the world. When word of the unusually tall teenager reaches basketball coaches, Ulya is recruited by a well-known team and moves to Riga. Struggling with her height and identity, she trains hard, but realises basketball cannot fulfil her dream of a normal life. After fleeing back to her home village, Ulya discovers that both village life and basketball see her only for her height. Accepting herself, she faces a choice: hide or aim to become the best basketball player in the world.
VISITATION
ORIGINAL TITLE: Heimsuchung
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Axel Schneppat
DIRECTOR: Volker Schlöndorff
PRODUCTION: Studio Babelsberg, StudioCanal, Ziegler Film
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Niemcy, 2026
A house on a lakeshore near Berlin stands witness to a century of events that reshape the world around it: the rise of Nazism and the devastation of war, Soviet occupation, the reunification of Germany and the dawn of a new era. Carrying the marks of each new regime, generations come and go: a Jewish family, an opportunistic architect and his wife, an idealistic writer and her granddaughter. Twelve destinies search for peace and belonging, while the old house remains a haven through decades of turmoil.
WICKER
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lol Crawley
DIRECTORS: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
PRODUCTION: Escape Plan Productions, Lobo Films
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Wielka Brytania, Stany Zjednoczone, Australia, Węgry, 2026
In a small seaside village lives a lonely woman who has been mocked by the locals for years because she has no husband. Tired of their constant jibes, she decides one day to defy them all and commissions a local basket weaver to make her a husband out of wicker. To everyone’s astonishment, the wicker man comes to life and proves to be far more extraordinary than anyone could have imagined. His irresistible charm sparks a wave of jealousy, fascination and turmoil among the villagers, threatening to disrupt their deeply entrenched way of life. Before long, the woman discovers that the greatest miracles happen when we stop worrying about what others expect of us.
WILD HORSE NINE
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CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ben Davis
DIRECTOR: Martin Mcdonagh
PRODUCTION: Blueprint Pictures
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Wielka Brytania, Stany Zjednoczone, Chile, 2026
Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee set out to Easter Island from Santiago, where they are stationed alongside their boss and bureau chief, MJ. Amongst the Island's iconic statues, as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris's newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.
WOMAN UNKNOWN
ORIGINAL TITLE: Kvinde ukendt
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jasper J. Spanning
DIRECTOR: May El-Toukhy
PRODUCTION: Nordisk Film Production
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Dania, 2026
Marie, a young nanny and housemaid, is about to marry the wealthy older widower Christian, for whom she works. But Marie guards a shameful secret. During World War II, she was in an intimate relationship with a German soldier. Now Marie’s past threatens to catch up with her, and she is forced to do everything in her power to preserve her new status as lady of the house amid the anarchy of the post-war period.
ZERO A.D.
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Gorka Gómez Andreu
DIRECTOR: Alejandro Monteverde
PRODUCTION: 2521 Entertainment, Angel
COUNTRY AND YEAR: Stany Zjednoczone, 2026
In Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph welcome the birth of their son, Jesus. According to prophecy, he is destined to become the new King of the Jews. Upon hearing of the child’s birth, Herod, the ruler of Judea, orders the killing of all recently born boys. Mary and Joseph must flee with the infant Jesus as Herod’s soldiers scour the surrounding area in search of the newborn Messiah. Herod will stop at nothing to eliminate anyone who might threaten his rule.