Competitions

The European Competition, the Szczecin Film Festival's flagship competition, returns for the 20th edition of this film event after a two-year hiatus due to insufficient funding. The fact that selecting films for the competition in 2025 was particularly challenging due to the high quality of the submitted films is evidenced by the Festival Programming Director's decision to present the films to the audience in six blocks, instead of five as before. All films are recent productions – created between 2024 and 2025. The documentaries featured in the competition were filmed around the world, but their production involved filmmakers with ties to Europe – a requirement of the European Competition. Most of the films address serious issues – including economic and social inequality, armed and religious conflicts, the problem of migrants and refugees, issues of identity and human rights, and human frailty – but some treat the topic with humor. This year, 308 films were submitted to the competition, of which 20 will ultimately compete for awards – eight Polish productions and 12 European productions and co-productions. In addition to films from Poland, two films from Italy qualified for the finals, as well as one film each from the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Spain, Denmark, France, Turkey, and three co-productions: French-German, French-American, and German-Indian.