DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Michał Toczek

Born in Gdańsk in 1996. Director and screenwriter, graduate of the Film and TV Direction Department of Lodz Film School (2023). His work is characterized by a subtle sense of humor and expressive acting which together reveal the absurdities of reality hidden beneath the surface of everyday life. His short film A Dead Marriage (2022) was screened at over 45 festivals in 19 countries and won, among others, the Brest International Short Film Festival Grand Prix, the award for best student film at Palm Springs IFF, the Brussels Short Film Festival Grand Prix, the Silver Hobby-horse at the Krakow Film Festival, and more than a dozen other awards and special mentions in Poland and abroad. His graduation film Be Somebody (2023), made the following year, received numerous awards, including the Golden Hobby-horse at KFF, the Jantar at the Koszalin debut film festival Młodzi i Film, the Golden Grape at the Lubuskie Film Summer, the PEER Award at the Leuven Kortfilmfest, and a Special Mention at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Both films were screened at international festivals from the USA to Georgia, winning over 60 awards in total. His 2026 film Spiritus Sanctus, made at the Munk Studio, was among ten titles selected for the Cannes Short Film Competition.