This year, ŻUBROFFKA celebrates its 20th anniversary!

For twenty years, the ŻUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival has been created by people, for people — without barriers, pretension or red carpets. It has always done things somewhat “the Podlasie way”: with heart, empathy, commitment and hospitality. It has been, and continues to be, a meeting place for people who are open-minded and genuinely curious about the world and about one another. Through everything it has consistently stood for and done, ŻUBROFFKA has offered — and continues to offer — hope for a better future. That will not change. And 2026 will be no exception.

Drawing strength from closeness and friendship, we were delighted when the artistic duo Kijek/Adamski accepted our invitation to create the anniversary opening sequence and the Festival’s main visual concept. Based on their idea, the festival’s visual identity was developed by graphic designer Izabela Sroka, a long-time friend of ŻUBROFFKA.

It was Kijek/Adamski who, years ago, helped take ŻUBROFFKA’s visual language to another level — one that could confidently be called world-class. Anniversery opening sequence and visual identity will therefore mark an artistic return not only to the Festival’s roots, but also to Podlasie, the region where Kasia Kijek and Przemek Adamski themselves come from.

This is how the artists describe their project:
“Anniversaries invite us to look back and return to our origins. The memories accumulated over successive editions of ŻUBROFFKA bring together the darkness of forests alive with the cawing of crows and the warmth of communal celebration. In December, the bare crowns of the trees radiate a primal energy whose rawness evokes the power of pagan ritual. It is this worship of nature in its most archaic form that has given this year’s visual identity its tense, mysterious aura. Its rough texture, meanwhile, owes much to an unmistakable association with black metal.”

Drawing on the primal pagan rituals of the winter solstice, as well as on dream symbolism in which the number 20 signifies awakening, readiness for change and a willingness to break with established patterns, we would also like to announce that the Festival’s 20th edition will be the last under the artistic direction of Maciej Rant.

An exciting celebration of cinema and friendship lies ahead: SOMETHING IS COMING TO AN END — AND SOMETHING NEW IS BEGINNING!

Ave ŻUBROFFKA!
Come and join us!
See you in Białystok and across Podlasie, 2–6 December 2026!

(Translation: Wojciech Rogalski)