2026 Warsaw Film Festival Recap: These 2 Documentaries Stood Out
by Alex Billington
October 19, 2026
Dziękuję! Last weekend I was invited to come over to the capital city of Warsaw, Poland to attend the 42nd Warsaw Film Festival this fall. I’ve been hearing about this festival and decided to make the trek over to catch up with a few films. WIFF is on the rise as one of Europe’s major festivals with a solid fall line-up – complete with government support along with the Polish Film Institute. It’s also one of the many prestigious film festivals in Poland ever year with Camerimage, New Horizons, American Film Fest, Splat!FilmFest, etc. I’m lucky I had the chance to stop by and I enjoyed strolling through downtown Warsaw exploring many of the unique venues where screenings take place. One of them is deep underground at the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw (KinoMuzeum), another was located at the top of the tallest building in the city (Varso). Many screenings were at the vintage Kinoteka cinema located inside Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science – the famous Soviet-era building that is now the symbol of the city located right in the middle of everything. I spent a few days at WIFF watching around 8 films (I’ve seen many at other fests). I published a few reviews for some of my favorites, but I also want to highlight two documentaries I discovered from the 2026 line-up.
View the full line-up for WIFF 2026 here. I watched these documentaries and have some thoughts on them:
How to Feed a Dictator (directed by Andrew Neel) – Such a heavy film to watch… This doc (based on the book of the same name) interviews 5 former chefs who were the private chefs for some of the worst dictators in human history – Saddam Hussein (of Iraq), Idi Amin (of Uganda), Pol Pot (of Cambodia), Pinochet (of Chile), and Kim Jong-il (of North Korea). Another double feature to watch with The Zone of Interest about the banality of evil. About how horribly uninteresting and normal these bad guys are that have led the most awful regimes. A fascinating examination of dictators and genocide in connection with food, including the way the leaders have extreme abundance while people are literally starving en masse. The dishes they cook are quite interesting, but the conversations are all the most compelling. Most amusing was learning that Kim Jong Il’s favorite was pepperoni pizza so he had to get an Italian chef there to make it for him anytime. It’s all absolutely insane but also just the ultimate banality again – regular, boring men (always) who become evil rulers. The director explained that his film is about complicity. But who is complicit? Are all these chefs complicit, too? Another doc to make you think about this world and how it all works (all the good and evil).
Guggi (directed by Ian Thuillier) – Another new artist biopic doc, this one is about the famous Irish painter / sculptor known as “Guggi” (aka Derek Rowen). Perhaps it’s not the best doc film overall – there’s some odd choices (the lighting in the interviews is very weird) and it gets a bit repetitive. However, I still greatly enjoyed meeting Guggi and hearing him tell his story. There’s something strangely poetic and calming about this film, and how genuinely inspiring it is for artists to hear him talk & tell his simple life story (no frills or trauma, he just loves art and artists). Perhaps it’s because Guggi is a rare lucky guy who had such a nice life growing up Ireland – he spoke so lovingly of his adoring mother, he became friends with Bono (of U2) & Gav (aka Gavin Friday) and they conquered the streets of Dublin, he rocked out & toured during the punk era doing crazy things with his band. He turns out to be a good guy who isn’t traumatized but is also a damn good artist. I’m even quite moved by his bowl sculptures and how pure they are in their simplicity. Strangely compelling to learn about him even if the doc itself isn’t that unique. Any/all artists should watch it anyway.
There’s no final release date set for either of these docs yet – keep a watch for them whenever they play near you. The real joy of festivals is catching these films that you’ve heard are exciting and must see new features and they end up living up to the hype. Especially with audiences that are also excited to be there. The other films I watched at WIFF this year include The Debut (my full review), Growth of the Soil (my full review), The Liberation (my Letterboxd review), A Free Woman (a nice Polish film about an unhoused woman), The Trumpeter and the Ghost (terrible), and The Last Day (also pretty bad). The full line-up for 2026 features a number of my favorite films from this year anyway: All of a Sudden (still my #1) along with worthwhile gems like Wildwood, Elephants in the Fog, Everytime, Flesh and Fuel, Josephine, Hope, Iron Boy, La Gradiva, Look Back, Minotaur, Miroirs No. 3, The Invite, The Smell of Apples, Yellow Letters (Berlinale’s Golden Bear winner). This is an immense selection of truly magnificent films that are enough to draw in cinephiles from everywhere, not just those who live in Poland already. I truly hope WIFF continues to grow and establish themselves as vibrant film festival. Not all of my screenings were sold out – sometimes these films need a bit more buzz to get people to come out and watch them. But I’m glad I could stop by and watch some films and explore Warsaw. I look forward to returning again! And finding out what their impressive line-up next year will feature. Hopefully with more discoveries as well as more favorites. 🇵🇱
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