Anyone who enjoys classic cinema, science fiction and fantasy should save the date as Portal Film Fest will take place from 21–23 August 2026, bringing three days of films, discussions, live music and festival activities to Kino Muza and selected spaces around the city, including the Quadro passage on Stary Rynek.
The festival is built around a simple idea: fantastic cinema can be entertaining while also giving us a way to think about technology, society, the future and ourselves.
A Weekend of Cinema, Nostalgia and Discovery
Portal's programme reaches across several generations of film, from landmark science fiction to fantasy adventures and Polish genre cinema.
Among the announced titles are Blade Runner: Final Cut, The Terminator, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Conan the Barbarian, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes and They Live.
Polish cinema also has a strong presence, with The Witcher from 2001, Piotr Szulkin's The War of the Worlds: Next Century and Andrzej Żuławski's On the Silver Globe among the films featured. Most of the films will be screened with the original English audio and Polish subtitles.
The programme is divided into four broad paths, covering everything from humanity's relationship with technology and retro-futurist visions of tomorrow to adventure, mythology and the craft of filmmaking. Visitors can follow one route or simply pick the films that catch their attention.
One particularly interesting event will be a screening of the silent-film classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, accompanied by live music. The documentary Wojna gwiazd will also be presented alongside panel discussions.
Bringing Film Culture Into the City
The involvement of Stary Rynek gives Portal a distinctly Poznań character.
Rather than keeping the festival entirely inside a cinema, some of its activity will move into the city, with the Quadro passage among the announced locations. That makes it possible to encounter the festival as part of a day spent exploring central Poznań, rather than treating it as a conventional cinema programme.
It also fits the festival's emphasis on community. Portal is intended for long-time genre fans as well as people who are simply curious about films they may have heard about for years but never seen on the big screen.
For families, it could be an opportunity to introduce a younger generation to films such as E.T. or Back to the Future. For dedicated film lovers, there is plenty of cult and Polish cinema to discover.
A New Summer Date for Poznań Film Fans
There is something particularly appealing about revisiting these films in a cinema. Streaming has made almost every classic readily available, but watching 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner on the big screen, surrounded by an audience, is a very different experience.
Portal Film Fest is using that shared experience as the starting point for a weekend that combines cinema with the atmosphere of Poznań itself.
Portal Film Fest 2026 takes place 21–23 August at Kino Muza and selected locations around Poznań, including the Quadro passage on Stary Rynek. Information about the full programme and tickets are available on the festival website.
image credit: Portal Film Fest
