Celebrated Polish filmmaker, Wojciech Smarzowski, is coming to the University of Aberdeen to present a special screening of his film Home Sweet Home, one of Poland's most watched and controversial films of 2025.
Home Sweet Home is a story of intense romance that quickly becomes a harrowing tale of domestic abuse, violence, and controlling behaviour.
Wojciech Smarzowski (1963), director, screenwriter, and cinematographer, is one of Poland’s most important contemporary filmmakers. Known for his uncompromising style and drastic realism, Smarzowski’s visceral films examine institutional and societal hypocrisy, considering Polish history and society through a critical lens.
Smarzowski’s visit, which will also include a special masterclass for students and a general Q&A after the screening, is part of the BellaTOFIFEST International Film Festival and the Aberdeen-based Polish Scottish Mini Festival. The masterclass and screening are co-organised and hosted by the University’s Film and Visual Culture Department, the George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture, and the Elphinstone Institute.
Dr Alejandra Rodríguez-Remedi, who is a lecturer in Film and Visual Culture and who helped curate a selection of Scottish films in Toruń, Poland last year, said: “It’s an enormous privilege for us to welcome this seasoned filmmaker whose uncompromising, visceral, satirical and often raw cinema has for 25 years found large audiences hungry for big-screen representations of uncomfortable home truths about Poland’s past and present’.
Co-director of the George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture, Dr Bárbara Barreiro Léon said: “Wwe are proud to support this event, which highlights Wojciech Smarzowski’s powerful engagement with visual culture, memory, and contemporary social realities. His work resonates strongly with the Centre’s commitment to critical, socially engaged approaches to film and visual media.”
Lecturer in Ethnology and Folklore, Nicolas Le Bigre, added: “‘The Elphinstone Institute is proud to be co-hosting this screening and masterclass, building on our work of cultural engagement with local communities. Smarzowski’s films, though focused on the Polish context, are an unflinching look at the inherent pressures and perils of societal norms, traditions, and expectations, topics that are just as relevant here in Scotland.”
Mateusz Łagoda, President of Polish Association Aberdeen, whose hard work has made this visit possible, said: “We are thrilled to continue to build on our relationship with the University of Aberdeen, whose support has been invaluable in creating opportunities for intercultural dialogue and celebrating the diversity of communities here in the North-East.”
Home Sweet Home will be screen on Friday, 27 February 2026, 6pm, at the University of Aberdeen’s Regent Lecture Theatre. The screening, which will be followed by a Q&A with the director, is free and no booking is necessary. Full details available here: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/news-events/events/23444/.