Imagine a single week during which the paths of European cinema cross in one city. Fatih Akin — director of Head-On (Proti múru) (Golden Bear from the Berlinale) and his latest Amrum (Ostrov Amrum) — comes to Košice to receive the Golden Camera for lifetime achievement. He is joined by Siddiq Barmak, the author of the legendary Osama — the first Afghan film made after the Taliban era, which twenty-two years ago took home a Golden Globe and the Caméra d’Or – Special Jury Mention from Cannes; he has appeared in Europe only sparingly since then. Piotr Domalewski, the Polish director whose Golden Lions from the Gdynia Film Festival 2025 confirmed his position as the strongest auteur voice in contemporary Polish cinema, is bringing his Altar Boys (Miništranti) for its Slovak premiere. Two domestic icons will visit the eastern metropolis — first Anna Šišková, to receive the Actor’s Mission Award, and as soon as Košice bids her farewell, singer and songwriter Richard Müller arrives to accept the Milan Lasica Award on behalf of his father Vlado Müller. Mohammed Almughanni, a Palestinian director from Gaza, brings to the jury a perspective rarely heard in the Central European region.
The 32nd edition of IFF Art Film Košice (19 – 25 June 2026) brings encounters that may not recur any time soon. During this week the city becomes a space where the paths of European cinema and authors who travel only sparingly cross. Several layers of guests weave through the festival programme: laureates arrive with their own retrospectives, masterclasses and personally introduced screenings; the international jury meets the filmmakers directly in the screening halls; delegations of Slovak premieres introduce their films to the audience; and live shows, concerts and meetings unfold at the Historic Town Hall, Záhradné kino, and Kulturpark. Below is a guide to the names that make it worth buying a cinepass for IFF Art Film Košice.
Three laureate awards, three encounters that may not recur
The highlight of the entire edition is the personal visit of the German director Fatih Akin, who will receive the Golden Camera in Košice for outstanding contribution to cinema. The author of Head-On (Golden Bear from the Berlinale) and his latest Amrum (Cannes 2025) ranks among the most distinctive European directors of his generation. You will be able to meet him several times in Košice: at a masterclass within the Industry programme, at personally introduced screenings of both his films and at the closing ceremony where he will accept the Golden Camera. For the film audience, this is the kind of encounter that only happens in the Central European region once in a few years.
The Actor’s Mission Award of the 32nd edition goes to Anna Šišková — an actress who, since the 1990s, has stood by the strongest films of Slovak and Czech cinema: Filthy (Špina) (directed by her daughter Tereza Nvotová), Divided We Fall (Musíme si pomáhať) (Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film), The Garden (Záhrada),Escape to Buda (Útek do Budína), and is currently appearing in the TV series The Promise (Sľub). In Košice, on Friday 19 June, she will personally introduce the screening of Divided We Fall and on the same day she will officially receive the Actor’s Mission Award. Fans, however, can enjoy this honour most of all on Saturday 20 June, when she will accept it again before the public at Kulturpark. The actress will be supported by her daughters Tereza and Dorota Nvotová. The opening of Art Film thus brings two festival days during which fans can meet a legend of the Slovak and Czech acting scene in person.
As soon as Košice bids her farewell, another domestic icon arrives. On Sunday 21 June, the Milan Lasica Award is presented from the hands of Magda Vášaryová — on behalf of his father Vlado Müller — to singer and songwriter Richard Müller, the author of dozens of songs that every generation has known since the 1980s. Fans can meet him during the Sunday evening special edition of the talk show Dinner with Havran (Večera s Havranom) at the Historic Town Hall, where he will be the guest.
Twelve jurors, seven countries, four awards
The festival’s four juries bring twelve film personalities from seven countries to Košice. The Blue Angels in the International Feature Film Competition will be decided by the Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson — author of the acclaimed Icelandic tragicomedy Under the Tree (Pod stromom) and his latest Northern Comfort; the Slovak screenwriter and dramaturge Barbora Námerová; and the Hungarian film critic and festival programmer Géza Csákvári.
The most distinctive name in the entire jury line-up is Siddiq Barmak, president of the jury of the International Competition of Central and Eastern European Films. The Afghan director, author of the film Osama — the first film made in Afghanistan after the Taliban era, which in 2004 won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and the Caméra d’Or – Special Jury Mention at Cannes — has appeared in Europe only sparingly since his festival triumph. In addition to meeting him, the festival will also present an encore screening of Osama for Slovak audiences. He is joined by the Kazakh film historian Gulnara Abikeyeva and the Polish-British professor of film studies Ewa Mazierska.
The International Short Film Competition will be decided by the Palestinian director Mohammed Almughanni — born in Gaza, a graduate of the prestigious Łódź Film School and the author of the closely watched short drama An Orange from Jaffa (Pomaranč z Jaffy) about a young Palestinian crossing an Israeli checkpoint. The film received a Special Mention from the IFF Art Film jurors in 2024. His presence on the jury is, in today’s geopolitical context, an event in itself. He is joined by the Polish film historian Maciej Gil and the Slovak documentary filmmaker Barbora Sliepková (Lines / Čiary).
The fourth — International FIPRESCI Jury — will award a separate critics’ prize and consists of the French film critic Pierre-Yves Roger, the Dutch critic Clementine van Wijngaarden and the Slovak journalist Matúš Kvasnička.
Fans can meet the jurors during the screenings of the films competing in the individual competitions.
Slovak season: the makers of the strongest domestic premieres
The opening film of the 32nd edition — the mysterious drama Wirbel — brings to Košice the debut director Tomáš Hubáček with the whole team (actress Judit Pecháček, cinematographer Alan Soural, producers Marek Urban and Ján Macola, sound designer Tobias Potočný). It will be screened right at the opening ceremony and the film is in the Feature Film Competition and also nominated for the FIPRESCI Prize. The audience will not miss out either — the delegation has prepared both an introduction to the film and a post-screening discussion for the public screening.
A truly large delegation will also arrive for the world premiere of The Last Season (Posledná sezóna) by director Pavol Hirjak. The film will be presented in Košice by actors Marko Igonda, Diana Semanová, Mária Miklošková, Juraj Stebila, Vanessa Weisz, Tadeáš Moravec, Mário Mačičák, Bronislava Kováčiková, František Beleš and producer Vladimír Sabadoš.
A special visit is prepared by the wide-screen retro comedy Kuko, Drobček and Raťafák Strike Again (Kuko, Drobček a Raťafák znova zasahujú) directed by Andrej Kolenčík and Juraj Šlauka. The premiere and accompanying programme will be attended by actors Patrícia Jarjabková Garajová, Andrea Froncová, Margaréta Nosálová, Milan Prekop, Radomir Milić, child actors Boris Bačík, Emília Širotníková, Dominika Horváthová and music composer David Kollar. Anyone nostalgically expecting a children’s film will be surprised.
Other Slovak guests of the 32nd edition of IFF Art Film include director Tomáš Krupa with the team of the documentary We Have to Survive (Musíme prežiť) (cinematographer Ondřej Szollos, editor Peter Kudlička, composer Dalibor Kocián), Lucia Janičová with the British documentary filmmaker Paul Diffley for the documentary Everest: The Mother’s Mountain (Everest: Hora matky), and director Lea Podhradská with cinematographer Krisztián Ollári for the personal documentary My Father’s Daughter (Dcéra môjho otca).
International film authors: Domalewski, Andrš, Geisler and more
The most closely watched international author in the Central and Eastern European competition is the Polish director Piotr Domalewski, the current holder of the Golden Lions from the Gdynia Film Festival 2025 — the most prestigious award of Polish cinema, which he also received in 2017 for Silent Night (Tichá noc). He comes to Košice with his latest film Altar Boys (Miništranti), honoured immediately after its Polish premiere, and will introduce it to Slovak audiences in person. For the Slovak audience, this is an opportunity to meet an author whom Polish critics describe as one of the strongest voices of his generation.
The short film competition will be enhanced by the Czech director Jindřich Andrš and the German director Leo Geisler, who will personally introduce their films. Slovak short film production is represented by director Emília Ondriašová and producer Marianna Vadovičová with the short film This Room Cannot Be Eaten (Táto izba sa nedá zjesť), as well as the Iranian-Slovak director Haman Foulad Vand with the film Man in White (Muž v bielom).
Live shows, music and culture from all sides
The Historic Town Hall in Košice will host three evenings worth attending even without a festival cinepass. Comedian Milan Kolcun, together with the journalist Peter Béreš, will bring a special edition of the cult talk show Without a Prompter (Bez šepkára). You can look forward to actor Marián Mitaš, the presenter, actor, director and screenwriter of TV JOJ’s latest series Kočeny Andy Kraus, director of cult Slovak films Dušan Rapoš and festival programming coordinator Magdaléna Mezoughi, who will reveal the behind-the-scenes of programming films at the festival, communication with distributors, the selection of films into the programme and many other insights from festival practice. The commentary line-up of the popular show SEDEM (Seven) comes live with the journalist Marián Leško, standup comedians Matej Adámy, Michal Szatmary, Tomáš Hudák and presenter Elena Vacvalová. The third star — the journalist Michal Havran — extends his Dinner with Havran (Večera s Havranom) format.
The musical peak of the festival is the evening concert of Mike Parker Trio — the New York double-bassist and composer who today plays out of Krakow across all of Europe, from the Netherlands to the Baltics, brings his current jazz line-up to Košice. The festival also welcomes singer Christina Mantis, who will perform as a musical guest. And one of the strongest literary moments of the entire edition — the verses of Ukrainian poet Hera – Olena Herasymjuk — will resound in the programme.
A traditional gateway to familiar faces is the TV JOJ Autograph Session in front of the Historic Town Hall — free admission, more than thirty actors, presenters and journalists of the channel in one place, including Marián Mitaš, Elena Vacvalová, Marián Leško, Michal Szatmary and Matej Adámy.
The complete list of guests, schedule of premieres, masterclasses, industry programme and accompanying programme of the 32nd IFF ART FILM Košice are available at aff.cinepass.sk.
The 32nd IFF ART FILM is made possible thanks to the support of:
Main organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.
Co-organizers: Mesto Košice, K13 – Košické kultúrne centrá, Visit Košice, ART FILM FEST, n.o.
With the financial support of: Audiovizuálny fond
The project was co-financed by the Košice Self-governing Region from the Terra Incognita program
Main partners: CODES Brand House, H2O FUND SICAV
Automotive partner: AUTO-VALAS
Official hotel: Hotel Yasmin
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia
Sponsors: U. S. Steel Košice, ANTIK Telecom, Kino Úsmev, LOKO TRANS Media, CORE Labs, Technická univerzita v Košiciach
Technological partners: NOV, ZEBRA, Deutsche Telekom Systems Solutions Slovakia, DELTA OnLine, ARICOMA, Datacomp
Official suppliers: DKC Veritas, PLOOM, DOMOS SLOVAKIA, Reštaurácia Contessa, Natura, Kinley, Budweiser Budvar, Julius Meinl
Official wine: KubBo Select, Ostrožovič
Media partners: JOJ play, JOJ 24, Film Europe Media Company, Rádio KOŠICE, Aktuality.sk, Forbes, Startitup.sk, Korzár, Slovenka, SITA, TASR, Mediaboard, AHOJ TV, See & Go, BigMedia, Kino Sterio, Košice City Guide, Košice V Skratke, MOJAkultura.sk, Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze – ČSFD, Filmsk.sk, diva.sk, koktejl.sk, zenskyweb.sk, Naše Košice
Partners: JOJ Cinema, Jojko, Slovenský filmový ústav, WITKOWITZ SLOVAKIA, DDDental, CK TUI ReiseCenter Slovensko, Taper, ECO Technologies, Aupark Shopping Center Košice, Dopravný podnik mesta Košice, Letisko Košice, YumEarth, Rent2Eat, CPK Transport, iWish.sk, Kvety Garomi, Hair Factory Košice, Face up! Studio by Michaela Petroci, Panta Rhei, ARTFORUM, LOCAL NOMAD, Východoslovenské múzeum v Košiciach, MIHYRING
Gastronomic partners: Pub u Kohúta, OhniskO Fire Dining & Brew Bar, MAIKO SUSHI, Kaviareň Slávia, El Nacional, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Casa Trade – Casablanca cafe, La Hacienda, Red Velvet Cake Bar, Macarons Košice, Savour Patisserie
