The Madison Polish Film Festival is back! This year’s edition will take place on November 9 and November 16 at the Marquee Cinema (located in Union South) on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. All screenings are FREE and OPEN to the public. Join us to again celebrate Poland’s vibrant and universally recognized cinematic tradition, with English subtitles. Everyone is welcome – Zapraszamy na festiwal!
The 2025 edition of the Madison Polish Film Festival will take place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on two subsequent Sundays – November 9 and November 16. Traditionally, all screenings will be FREE and open to the wider public and local community beyond UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.
All films will be screened with English subtitles.
2025 MADISON POLISH FILM FESTIVAL (November 9 and November 16)
This year, the selection for the Madison Polish Film Festival includes:
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Chopin, Chopin (2025, dir. Michał Kwieciński)
Running time: 133 min
Sunday, November 9 at 3 pm
Marquee Cinema, Union South
Room 245 (2nd floor), 308 W Dayton St, Madison
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Paris, 1835. Renowned composer Frédéric Chopin navigates high society, performing concerts, teaching for income while battling illness. He composes masterpieces, attends parties, pursues romance amid aristocratic and royal circles.
White Courage / Biała odwaga(2024, dir. Marcin Koszałka)
Running time: 116 min
Sunday, November 9 at 6 pm
Marquee Cinema, Union South
Room 245 (2nd floor), 308 W Dayton St, Madison
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Two Highlander brothers, clash after their father’s death. Andrzej meets Wolfram, an anthropologist. War erupts, Andrzej seeks Highlanders’ cooperation with Germans, leading to a violent brotherly confrontation amidst wartime turmoil.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Franz (2025, dir. Agnieszka Holland)
Running time: 127 min
Sunday, November 16 at 3 pm
Marquee Cinema, Union South
Room 245 (2nd floor), 308 W Dayton St, Madison
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Directed by Agnieszka Holland and written by Marek Epstein. Starring Idan Weiss as Franz Kafka, it follows the author’s life from his early teens in his hometown of Prague to his premature death in 1924.
Sparrow / Wróbel (2024, dir. Tomasz Gąssowski)
Running time: 106 min
Sunday, November 16 at 6 pm
Marquee Cinema, Union South
Room 245 (2nd floor), 308 W Dayton St, Madison
Trailer:
Synopsis:
Remek, a bachelor postman passionate about soccer and studying, unexpectedly meets his unknown grandfather and new neighbor Marzenka, upending his orderly life, forcing him to adapt to the changes.
Location and parking
The Marquee Cinema is located in Room 245 on 1308 West Dayton Street in Madison. Parking is available on lots 80 (Union South Garage), 17, and 20, in addition to numerous UW and City of Madison parking options.
For more information on South Union parking, visit this guide. To find the best bus route, visit the Madison Metro Transit trip planning guide.
Madison Polish Film Festival
Celebrating Polish cinema at UW–Madison since 1991
The annual Madison Polish Film Festival is co-organized by the UW–Madison Polish Studies program and the Polish Student Association in collaboration with the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+ (GNS+), Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA), Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Film Committee, and the Polish Heritage Club, Madison–Wisconsin. Inaugurated in 1991 by our longstanding Polish language lecturer Dr. Ewa Miernowska, the festival has quickly become an annual celebration of Polish cinema. Since then, it has attracted hundreds of viewers each year and is now a major cultural event at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Greater Madison Area. In 2021, the Festival’s longstanding director Dr. Miernowska received a prestigious distinction from the Chicago Society for Arts for her outstanding merits in promoting Polish cinema in North America. The award ceremony took place at the Polish Film Festival in America in Chicago.
Donate to UW–Madison Polish Studies program
The UW–Madison Polish Studies program is actively involved in researching, teaching, and promoting Polish film, language, literature, and culture. Since its establishment more than 80 years ago, our faculty has trained hundreds of students in these areas and disciplines, in addition to organizing numerous events such as the annual Madison Polish Film Festival. If you would like to help us continue our rich tradition of promoting Polish culture in Wisconsin and beyond, consider donating to our program using the Donate banner below. You can also consider setting up a fund to support our students or faculty in their studying, teaching, research, or outreach activities. To learn more about our program and what we do, click here.
Questions? Email Rebecca Forbes Wank, our Financial Specialist, or Dr. Łukasz Wodzyński, our Professor of Polish, to start the conversation today.
* * *
UW–Madison Polish Studies Program
Educating the Wisconsin public about the Polish language, literature, and culture since 1936.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Polish Studies Program is the oldest academic program in the United States focused on the study and teaching of the Polish language, literature, and culture. UW–Madison Polish studies offer a comprehensive package of Polish language, literature, and culture courses, a generous scholarship program designed exclusively for its students, and various extracurricular activities each academic year.
The program, dating back to 1935, offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced Polish language courses, in addition to intensive Polish courses for heritage speakers and (under)graduate students. In 2011, the program received the prestigious Award Distinction from the University of Warsaw for its achievements in promoting the Polish language and knowledge about Polish culture and history. The UW–Madison Polish program also offers a broad range of Polish culture courses on Polish film, contemporary Polish culture, Polish migration to the Americas, a survey of Polish culture from the Middle Ages to modern times, Polish comedy culture, and post-communism.
Each year, the UW Polish program awards scholarships for tuition through the Lapinski fund to undergraduate and graduate students studying the Polish language, literature, and culture. The Polish Student Association (PSA) provides a space for all students interested in events, activities, and learning about Poland and Polish culture. In collaboration with the Polish program faculty, the PSA also co-organizes the Madison Polish Film Festival, an annual celebration of Polish cinematography in Madison, Wisconsin, now in its fourth decade of existence.