International Film & Media Festival
GLITCH
Cinema After the Algorithm
Warsaw, Poland · August 27–30, 2026
// Manifesto
A New Institution for a New Era of Cinema
The film industry is being reshaped by forces it barely understands. Generative AI, real-time rendering, volumetric capture, synthetic actors — the tools are outpacing the institutions meant to evaluate and celebrate the work they produce.
GLITCH exists to close that gap. We are the first major Central and Eastern European festival purpose-built for the convergence of traditional craft and creative technology. Three competition programmes under one institutional roof, judging work not by its tools but by its vision, authorship, and storytelling.
Inaugural edition. Warsaw, August 2026. The algorithm writes the prompt — we write the rules.
68%
OF 18–24s IN POLAND
consume culture via social media
€38.4B
EUROPEAN STREAMING
market projected by 2029
$480B
CREATOR ECONOMY
global value by 2027
0
CEE FESTIVALS
for creative technologies in film
// Competition Programmes
Three Programmes. One Vision.
01
GLITCH Awards
The main international film competition. Craft-first cinema evaluated on vision, authorship, and storytelling — not algorithms, not budgets, not hype.
Golden Glitch Grand Prix
Highest honour of the festival
Award Categories
02
Animaticon
A globally unique animation competition with a three-track system that acknowledges the full spectrum of how animation is made today — from hand-drawn to AI-generated.
Three Tracks
Regular · Hybrid · AI-Assisted
Award Categories
03
Pixel Awards
Commercial and digital creators compete across the formats that define contemporary culture — vertical video, microseries, trailers, and music video.
Sponsor-Nameable
Categories open for brand partnership
Award Categories
// Venues
Warsaw, Reimagined
Main Venue
Kinoteka
Palace of Culture & Science
Competition screenings, opening and closing ceremonies, and the Golden Glitch Grand Prix gala. Warsaw’s most iconic screening room at the heart of the city.
Industry Zone
Museum of Technology
Pitching sessions, workshops, partner demos, and networking. Where deals are made and ideas collide.
Animaticon Hub
Museum of Modern Art
Animaticon screenings, art installations, and immersive experiences. Where animation meets the avant-garde.
// Executive Team
Leadership
Artistic Director
Michał J. Owerczuk
18+ years in film, TV, and game development. Harvard ML & Google AI certified. European hub lead for Machine Cinema. Founder of iPro.One.
Executive Producer
Marcin Perzyna
25+ years in film, TV, and event production. EP of Johnny (2022) — Grand Prix FPFF Gdynia, 3× Polish Film Award winner. CEO of WOW.SHOW & Festival Group.
Festival Director
Maciej Gozdowski
Group VP Streaming at TVN/Warner Bros. Discovery. Led HBO Max launch across EMEA. Managed Player.pl. 15 years at Polsat & Canal+.
Film Competition Director & Programmer
Massimo Benvegnù
35+ years in international film. Former Venice Film Festival Press Office Director. Cannes collaboration. Biografilm Festival. Cinémathèque Française Honorary Member.
// Confirmed Partners
Partners
AI Audio Technology
ElevenLabs / Chroma Awards
GLITCH is the official Polish selection body for the Chroma Awards — the global AI audio competition by ElevenLabs.
GenAI Creator Network
Machine Cinema
20,000+ creators across 30+ countries. Partners with Google, OpenAI, and ByteDance. Bringing GenJam™ hackathon to GLITCH.
GPU-as-a-Service
GMI Cloud
NVIDIA Reference Architecture Partner. Providing an award category and GPU credits for GLITCH filmmakers.
Digital Media Platform
Popcorn / DNA Media Technologies
Founded by Adi Sideman (YouNow, 100M users). Delivering workshops and panels on creator distribution.
For Sponsors & Institutional Partners
Partnership Deck
Naming rights, category sponsorship, Industry Zone activations, brand integrations, and institutional collaboration. Request access to the full partnership materials.
// Open Call
Submit Your Film
Three competition programmes. Feature, short, documentary, animation, experimental, commercial, digital — every form of moving image has a home at GLITCH.