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Damian Kocur’s drama Under the Volcano has been selected as Poland’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature in 2025, the country has announced.

World premiering at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, the timely film watches as a blended Ukrainian family spends the last day of their vacation in Tenerife, Spain. When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine strands them on the island, they must contend with isolation, duty, fear… and each other.

Kocur and Marta Konarzewska wrote the script, with Lizart Film, Hawk Art, MGM and Tvp producing.

Already, over 40 countries have submitted their entries for the Oscars. Most recently, France selected Jacques Audiard’s Cannes prize-winner Emilia Pérez, with Spain selecting Saturn Return by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, and Israel putting forward Tom Nesher’s Come Closer.

They always knew a full-scale invasion of Ukraine could happen, but they held onto hope it wouldn’t. How else could they enjoy a vacation abroad in the Canary Islands? This trip is supposed to be about fun. And connection. Roma (Roman Lutskyi) and Nastya (Anastasiya Karpenko) have recently got married and the relationship between her and his children (Sofia Berezovska’s Sofiia and Fedir Pugachov’s Fedir) remains tenuous and new. Add the beach, good food, and warm sun, though, and perhaps their defenses might come down. Maybe this time away can help them learn to trust each other and return to Kyiv stronger than ever. That might have happened, too, if not for Russia’s war.

Damian Kocur’s Under the Volcano (co-written with Marta Konarzewska) turns quickly from the breezy nature of tourists preparing a return to their real lives into a tense powder keg of futility.

Stars: Tymoteusz Bies, Jacek Bies | Written by Damian Kocur, Marta Konarzewska | Directed by Damian Kocur

While studying at the Warsaw Academy of Music, Tymoteusz (Tymoteusz Bies) returns to his hometown for a visit. Surrounded by his friends and younger brother Jacek (Jacek Bies), his group makes a beeline for the new kebab shop opened up by two Arabic immigrants. As tensions rise throughout the summer, Tymoteusz assesses where he stands in the gap between a familiar past and an ever-changing present.

It’s possibly fair to say that those rocking up to a mid-month film festival without much idea of what’s on the schedule might not be too au fait with Polish cinema. Classics such as Ida and Interrogation are heralded as worthy watches, yet the visual imagery of Polish culture instead often comes from BBC News clips of homophobic policies and immigrants who are despised by the Brits.

Since its premiere in Venice, where it scooped the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons section, Damian Kocur’s feature debut “Bread and Salt” has been enjoying a stellar festival run. But the Polish helmer is already planning his next move, teasing a new project under the working title “A Night Without an End” at the Cairo Film Festival, where “Bread and Salt” plays in the International Competition section.

The story will deal with the infamous refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, reveals Kocur. He is determined to focus on the human side of the story, not politics.

“Ultimately, it’s about one person meeting another,” he says. Anna Gawlita of Kijora Films will produce.

“Damian will tackle the extremely important yet sensitive topic: the attitude of local residents toward migrants who show up in their neighborhood, depicting the complex system of relationships that exist in closed communities like small towns and villages,...

The Ugc Writers Campus by Series Mania, an immersive week-long writing workshop for 20 emerging TV drama writers throughout Europe, will run from March 20-27. Now in its third year, Ugc has selected 20 screenwriters from more than 100 candidates and 30 different countries.

The Series Mania Festival runs from March 20-28 in Lille, France, and will include a program of world premieres and series selected for competition.

Under the editorial supervision of Lorraine Sullivan, this year’s president of the Ugc campus will be Eli Horowitz, the creator and showrunner of the Amazon series Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts (the series’ Season 2 is set for this Spring.)

The 20 selected screenwriters also will be tutored by screenwriter Jeppe Gjervig Gram (Follow the Money) and screenwriter and story consultant Nicola Lusuardi (Bulletproof Heart), through masterclasses, writing workshops and meetings with industry professionals.

The selected participants include:

Richard Brabin – At Sea – UK (London Film School) Marta Irene...

Eli Horowitz, creator and showrunner of the Julia Roberts-led Amazon series “Homecoming,” will be the president of the Ugc Writers Campus at annual series showcase Series Mania.

The Campus is a week-long writing workshop for emerging TV drama writers from Europe. Twenty screenwriters were chosen from more than 100 applicants. The workshop will be run under the editorial supervision of Series Mania founder Laurence Herszberg. Screenwriter Jeppe Gjervig Gram (“Borgen”) and screenwriter and story editor Nicola Lusuardi (“1994”) are the other tutors.

The selected screenwriters and projects include: Richard Brabin’s “At Sea” (U.K.); Marta Irene Rosato’s “Bad Reputation” (Italy); Judit Anna Banhazi’s “Christabel” (Hungary); Bar Farjun and Shachar Rosenfeld’s “The Instructors” (Israel); Alain Moreau’s “Agnes & Luis” (France); Daniela Luciani and Ilaria Coppolecchia’s “Lamb of God” (Italy); Elena Lyubarskaya and Katerina Gerothanasi’s “Moving On” (Russia and Greece); Thomas Lehout and Juliette Barry’s...