The event, aiming to promote Polish culture in Hollywood, will run until 3 May.

It is held under the honorary patronage of Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Polish Film Institute, and California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others.

The festival will open with the screening of a comedy by Tomasz Konecki entitled The Ideal Guy for my Girlfriend. The festival will see six movies running for the grand prize in the main contest, namely Jerzy Skolimowski’s Four Nights with Anna, Thirty-Three Scenes from Life by Małgorzata Szumowska, Drowsiness by Kasia Adamik, Tricks by Andrzej Jakimowski and Luiza’s Garden. Other competitions will award the best among feature films, animations, documentaries, student etudes, and independent productions.

What sets this film festival from others is the fact that the awards are given to prizewinners at the beginning of the event, so that they can draw the attention of important figures of the American film industry. Up-and-coming artists will have the opportunity to present their works to established cameramen and participate in workshops run by the American Film Institute.

The highlights of the event include a concert by renowned composer of movie soundtracks Wojciech Kilar, and the screenings of theater plays made for Polish television.

Special guests attending the festival include film directors Jacek Bromski, Jerzy Antczak, Magdalena Łazarkiewicz, and actors Jadwiga Barańska, Maria Seweryn and Robert Więckiewicz.