About

Spektrum is an international film festival that showcases both feature-length and short films. Since its inception, this event has been a gathering place for people who love and celebrate cinema. Since 2024, the festival has taken place in two cities as a Polish-Czech event that draws on the cross-border character so distinctive of Lower Silesia.

The 11th edition of Spektrum will take place between October 21 and 26 in Świdnica, Poland, and Trutnov, Czech Republic.

Idea

Make silence with me

Over the past year — a jubilee year for the Spektrum Festival — I’ve been asking myself: what does cinema mean to me? Ten editions, that is ten years of preparing a single event, prompted reflection and the question: why organize a film festival at all? Does anyone actually need it? And if so — why?

The answer surprised me deeply. In today’s world, nothing is as desperately needed as silence and closeness with another human being. The cinema hall is one of the few places where we can be silent together — not alone, not apart, but together. In silence, we laugh, cry, are moved, and sometimes afraid — all as one.

We create a community of sensitive people, experiencing the stories of this world in silence and focus. But cinema is also the place of unforgettable first dates and kisses — a refuge for lovers who, in the darkness of the theatre, first touched hands, or for lone wolves searching for love in row five, always sitting themselves in row seven.

Cinema is a space where we allow ourselves to feel close, to love, to feel. From these two words — love and silence — came this year’s festival slogan, paraphrasing the famous phrase “Make love with me”:
“MAKE SILENCE WITH ME.”

Come to the cinema. Let’s be silent together — and fall in love with one another.

— Paweł Kosuń
Artistic Director of the Festival

Previous editions

Spektrum is, above all, a brilliant interpersonal experience – I have never met so many friendly and open-minded people anywhere. Spektrum is a festival without pathos, created by people who love what they do, and this energy is transferred to the event.

Miłosz Sakowski

Take a few people with open heads, with imaginations exceeding the norms […] And take a city with a metaphysical soul. […] With wise and modern authorities. Take a cinema room, projector and movies. Now mix it all together, add heartiness, hospitality and lack of haughtiness. Here is a fulfilled recipe for Spektrum, Świdnica Film Festival. I know because I was a guest there.

Jan Jakub Kolski

Great program and honest audience. An intimate festival at its best!

Agnieszka Woszczyńska

Spektrum is primarily people who love cinema. I felt at home during the festival. Very good organization, very good movies and a picturesque city. It is worth being there, it is worth spending the extended November weekend at Spektrum.

Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska

Świdnica

Świdnica is a city whose attractions exceed its scale, and with a pleasant and intimate atmosphere, it is able to give a relief to anyone who suffered from fatigue with the big city rush.

Świdnica, located only 50 km from Wrocław, stands out from similar cities with a rich offer of cultural events, but also historic architecture, a bustling Market Square and close proximity to picturesque touristic sites. It is an ideal place to spend free time, as well as a brilliant stopping point on the travel route.

Tourists from all over the world, visiting Lower Silesia, always go to the 17th-century Church of Peace, which is the seat of the Evangelical-Augsburg parish, but also – thanks to the efforts of Bożena Pytel and Fr. Bishop Waldemar Pytel – a cultural center. In 2001 the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and its spaces are where meetings, discussions and unforgettable concerts are held, with the Bach Festival at the forefront.

Trutnov

Świdnica and Trutnov are 65 kilometers apart. In October, they will be connected by cinema through the collaboration of the Wrocław Film Foundation, Świdnica Cultural Center, and UFFO – Společenské centrum Trutnovska.

The first written mention of the town dates back to 1260 when it was founded as the settlement of Úpa (named after the river). It received its current name, Trutnov, no later than the early 14th century. Today, it is the second-largest city in the Hradec Králové region, with a population of around 30,000..

In Trutnov, festival screenings will take place at the Vesmír cinema, which first opened over 100 years ago—on March 1, 1929. The venue has undergone renovations in recent years, and Spektrum will be one of the first festival events to inaugurate its activities in this new chapter.