Dorota Eberhardt, the new CEO of Poland’s Kino Swiat, part of the Canal+ group, is in Cannes to talk to partners for the company’s push into production and acquire festival and market films for distribution.
As local films garner an increasing share of the local box office - up to 27% in 2025 - Eberhardt estimated Kino Swiat will invest in two to four productions a year, with a focus on projects with recognised IP or known talent.
A number of projects are already in development with third-party co-producers as well as with Canal+ Poland’s in-house production team.
As a distributor, Kino Swiat acquires around 10 Polish movies a year, and distributes a further 10 from Studiocanal. Ten more are international acquisitions, spanning commercially focused action, drama, and family through to festival titles such as Competition title Fatherland.
At Cannes, KinoSwiat has acquired FilmNation’s I Play Rocky. “It’s one of these stories which defies clear genre and that’s what makes it special.”
Production
One focus for Eberhardt – a former Warner Bros. Discovery TVN exec – is a push by Kino Swiat into film production, with a focus on Polish-language features.
The move also chimes with sister company Studiocanal’s focus on local productions in the territories where it operates, from France through to the UK and Italy.
Another area of focus is films that can appeal to female audiences, with Eberhardt citing Studiocanal’s recent backing for The Midnight Library adaptation starring Florence Pugh and Custom Of The Country starring Sydney Sweeney. “I feel it is a good time for female artists,” she says.
For Eberhardt, a big trend in the Polish market – as elsewhere – is the ‘eventising’ of cinema, with audiences focusing their attention on a limited number of standout films. “Big event films and big IPs are driving the business,” she says.
She notes that in the first quarter of 2026, the top 10 films achieved 60% of the total Polish box office out of roughly 100 films released.
With big IP in mind, a key focus for Kino Swiat is its September theatrical release of Maciej Kawalski’s The Doll (Lalka), a big-budget adaptation by Gigant Films of Bolesław Prus’s 19th-century novel, widely regarded as one of the greatest works of Polish literature. Eberhardt calls the film ‘spectacular’, saying it has a ‘huge’ budget for a Polish film at €15m. “It is a big deal for the local Polish culture, and also for theatrical business here.”
Intriguingly, a rival Netflix series adaptation of the book is also in the works in Poland and set to launch in the second half of 2026 – with some dubbing the rivalry “Dollheimer,” a nod to the simultaneous releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer in 2023.
Says Eberhardt: “We are big fans of creative competition. We are bringing the epic classic take on the book, while streaming offers a new modern take on the book. I am sure the audience would love to get involved in the artistic discussion. Two years ago, we saw the phenomenon of Barbenheimer, but the history of art is full of such examples, just look at Mattise and Picasso.”
Kino Swiat’s 2026 distribution slate includes three from female directors. Two of them are being sold in Cannes by Kino Swiat’s sales arm, led by Aleksandra Kaźmieruk: No Ghosts On Good Street by Emi Buchwald and comedy The Perfect Holiday Recipe by Magdalena Nieć. “I am confident they will find their fans also abroad, says Eberhardt, adding that Kino Świat is “constantly looking for Polish projects” for sales representation.
One of its best sellers is the family movie Lampo, the Travelling Dog by Magdalena Nieć, which has sold to over 40 territories.
Kino Swiat, which has 60 staff, was founded in 2001. Canal+ Poland became the majority shareholder in 2019, and now owns 100% of the company.
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