Legends, New Discoveries and International Genre Filmmakers at the 12th Splat!FilmFest

This year’s special guest will be Julie Corman – producer of more than 35 films, Roger Corman’s wife and long-time collaborator, and a key figure in one of the most important chapters in the history of American independent cinema. Together with Roger Corman, she built New World Pictures, a company which, alongside its genre output, also distributed films in the United States by filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, François Truffaut and Akira Kurosawa.

Her visit will be part of Splat!FilmFest’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of Roger Corman’s birth – the only event of its kind in Poland. In this centenary year, Corman’s films have also returned to the screens of some of the world’s leading film institutions and festivals: Cannes Classics presented a restored version of “Machine Gun Kelly”, Venice Classics screened The “Wild Angels”, while New York’s Museum of Modern Art presented the world premiere of the 4K restoration of “Bloody Mama”.

Julie Corman was present at the screenings both at Cannes and at MoMA. In Warsaw, she will meet the Splat!FilmFest audience at screenings of three Roger Corman films: “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes” and “Bloody Mama”.

Another special guest will be George Mihalka, one of the notable figures of Canadian genre cinema and the director of a film that has earned a permanent place in slasher history – “My Bloody Valentine”. Splat!FilmFest will screen the cult horror to mark its 45th anniversary, followed by a meeting with Mihalka. He will be joined by producer Susan Curran, who has been part of the Canadian film industry for many years.

A completely different energy will come to Warsaw with Simple Town – a New York comedy group whose sketches have appeared on Adult Swim and Comedy Central. The whole team will be at Splat!FilmFest: director Ian Faria, along with Felipe Di Poi, Caro Yost, Sam Lanier and Will Niedmann. They will present their feature debut, “Big Break” – a bloody, absurd comedy about Hollywood ambitions, friendship and a serial killer.

Polish filmmakers will also be strongly represented. Julia Kowalski, whose “Her Will Be Done” premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, will meet the audience together with actors Maria Wróbel and Wojciech Skibiński. Agata Trzebuchowska, widely known for the Oscar-winning “Ida”, will appear at the festival this time as the director and screenwriter of “Sick”.

From Spain, Zoe Berriatúa and Rosa Vercher will come with “Buffet Libre”, while Bruno Martín and Irene Guerrero will present “Luger”. Belgian “Attack on Paradise” will be presented by Bob Colaers and Rilke Eyckermans, while British “Abandoned” will bring three of the people behind the film to Warsaw – Joby Stephens, Joe Bird and Grace Gallagher. The audience will also have a chance to meet Paulo M. Nascimento, creator of “The Taxidermist”, and Evar Anvelt of “Something Real”.

This year’s guest list brings together filmmakers from different generations, countries and corners of cinema – from people who helped shape the history of genre film to filmmakers whose work is only just beginning its international festival journey.

Splat!FilmFest is not only a chance to see films that are often unavailable anywhere else in Poland. It is also an opportunity to meet the people who made them, hear stories from the set, go behind the scenes of their production and ask your own questions during Q&As.

The 12th Splat!FilmFest will take place 22–31 October 2026 at Kinoteka in Warsaw. Selected titles will also travel to nine other cities across Poland as part of Splat!FilmFest On Tour, bringing this year’s edition of the festival to a total of ten cities.