Calendar

The largest celebration of independent cinema in our part of Europe, the event presents auteur films from all over the globe, fascinating discussions with representatives of the film industry, meetings with stars of the red carpet, film screenings and concerts in Kraków’s beautiful scenery. One of the most important elements of the Mastercard Off Camera Festival is the competition for the Krakow Film Award.

The world premiere of Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa’s Wanda is held as part of the celebrations of the Year of Cyprian Kamil Norwid. Based on motifs from his drama, the music spectacle held at the Arcaded Courtyard at Royal Wawel Castle is directed by Waldemar Zawodziński. Music direction comes from Michał Klauza, and the soloists are accompanied by an orchestra, choir, children’s choir and ballet of the Kraków Opera.  

An event bringing together avid readers and fans of state-of-the-art technologies, held in September as part of the city-wide celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Lem. The festival intertwines culture, science and technology through workshops, lectures, concerts, spectacles and film screenings at the Potocki Palace and the ICE Kraków Congress Centre.

The performance by the L’Arpeggiata ensemble and the Romanian countertenor Valer Sabadus is held as part of this year’s Opera Rara Festival. The programme Miracolo d’amore. Da Venezia a Napoli takes us on a musical journey in the Italian seicento.

In one of the final instalments of this year’s festival, Karolina Sofulak directs Peter Eötvös’ opera which reaches for elements of musical, cabaret and psychodrama to explore pressing social issues such as isolation, migration and poverty. 

Drawing on its twenty years of experience, the current formula of the festival aims to bridge independent and academic music and intertwine plastic arts, opera, theatre and performance. It “profanes” classics, tradition and conservatism and “sacralises” experimentation, avantgarde and curiosity. This year’s leitmotif is “Maturity”.  

Held every year since 1976, the festival is an opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to meet acclaimed artists. Young performers chosen by an international jury through auditions become indelibly written in the festival’s history and gain an opportunity to boost their career through networking with industry experts.  

The 10th anniversary Patchlab Festival is held under the banner GAME OVER. It recalls artistic games which form an important element of this year’s celebrations of digital art, and forms a broader reflection on the condition of culture rooted in the virtual world. Some of the most important themes of the festival are reflections on the work of Stanisław Lem.

The performance by the male soprano Samuel Mariño culminates the autumn instalment of the Opera Rara Festival. As well as accompanying the dazzling singer, Capella Cracoviensis also performs Symphony No. 29 in A major, composed by Mozart when he was just seventeen. 

The Unsound festival specialises in contemporary electronic and experimental music. It is renowned the world over as an event which is always ahead of the trends and serves as a platform for exchanging ideas. It presents unusual takes on sound, concert venues and promotion, and its guests are artists who cannot be easily pigeonholed. This year’s theme “dəəp authentic” is a play on “deep fake”, which is creeping into all spheres of our lives, including the artistic. 

During the International Book Fair in Krakow, publishing houses, bookshops, printing presses and cultural institutions from all over the country showcase their latest publications and accompanying activities at over 300 stalls at EXPO Kraków. The October event also features workshops, industry panels, meetings with authors at their publishers’ stalls and in seminar rooms, and other events promoting reading.

The largest international literary event in Poland and one of the most important of its in Europe. It showcases literature created in all corners of the globe and works by Polish authors featuring discussions with artistic and social dimensions. The festival also includes meetings with authors, debates, workshops, film screenings, concerts, exhibitions, literary walks and industry events for publishers, translators and illustrators.

The longest-running jazz festival in Europe, it features concerts in the capital of Małopolska and further afield: in Wieliczka, Trzebinia, Olkusz, Oświęcim and Bukowina Tatrzańska. This year’s refreshed formula is “Jazz for Everyone”, featuring brand-new trends and young musicians alongside tradition and established masters.

Audio Art is an experimental, post-modernist form of art of the turn of the millennia. Launched in 1993, the festival programme features concerts, sound installations and ‘separate art’ which eludes classification. It abounds with digital and analogue art and various hybrids, as well as plenty of low-tech, discovering old and even forgotten technologies.

This international event has been held in Kraków since 1994. The festival confronts the achievements of students at film and art schools the world over and the achievements of creators of artistic animations – professionals, students, and independent artists. Each festival presents two competitions: Etiuda (for best short film) and Anima (for best animation).

This international festival, running since 2006 and held in Kraków’s Kazimierz district, is organised by the Dom Kultury Alchemia Foundation and Alchemia Club in collaboration with Not Two Records. It aims to showcase contemporary improvised music. The star of this year’s event is the British double-bass virtuoso Barry Guy and his 14-strong Blue Shroud Band.