Krakow Film Music Festival 2026

Do you dream of hearing live the soundtrack from your favourite TV series or full-length production? This is possible thanks to the Krakow Film Music Festival! It’s one of the most revered events in the world of film music. Since 2008, it has been organised by the City of Kraków, the Krakow Festival Office and the RMF Classic radio station. The uniqueness of the event is determined by its original programme, world premières, the search for new forms of expression and the presence of the most important creators and experts of the audiovisual industry.

The festival hosted esteemed composers (including Oscar winners): Volker Bertelmann, Alexandre Desplat, Patrick Doyle, Tan Dun, Elliot Goldenthal, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Abel Korzeniowski, Dario Marianelli, John Powell and Hans Zimmer. The festival was also visited by great Polish composers, including Wojciech Kilar and Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as world-renowned directors: Tomas Alfredson, Agnieszka Holland, Roman Polański, Jerzy Skolimowski, Julie Taymor, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi. The guests for the 2025 edition were Oscar and Golden Globe winners: Gustavo Santaolalla, Gabriel Yared and Justin Hurwitz, who conducted the screening of the film La La Land with live music.

Krakow Film Music Festival is famous for its simultaneous concerts presenting film images with live music, as well as the FMF Polish Gala and FMF International Gala concerts, which took place regularly in recent years and presented a selection of the most talked-about film and TV series premières of recent months on a national and international level. The highest artistic level of the events is guaranteed by leading orchestras as well as excellent conductors and soloists, representing both the local and international scene. The festival traverses the decades of film music with curiosity and courage, devoting equal attention to classic and contemporary titles. The programme includes reinterpretations of unforgettable works, as well as acoustic experiments, innovative explorations in the realm of surround sound or the diverse sounds of electronic music. Compositions created for theatre, series or video games are also regularly presented. The festival thus proves the incredible richness of the film music.

Its permanent feature is the Audiovisual Forum, which is an educational platform for beginning composers, songwriters and instrumentalists, as well as a space for networking partners and connecting creators with audiences. The festival’s team also supports the film music community and recognises their most important achievements with prestigious awards: Polish Soundtrack of the Year and the associated Audience Award, the FMF Young Talent Award supporting composers of the younger generation, the FMF Ambassador, the Kilar Award presented to exceptional film music composers for their lifetime achievement, and the Jan A.P. Kaczmarek Award – FINDING NEVERLAND dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Polish composer of theatre and film music, Oscar winner, master and mentor to successive generations of artists.