BROTHER
BRAT
BROTHER
drama I 2025 I Poland I 98 minutes
Original Title: BRAT
Duration: 98 min
Language: Polish with English subtitles
Director: Maciej Sobieszczański
Cast: Filip Wiłkomirski, Tytus Szymczuk, Agnieszka Grochowska, Jacek Braciak, Tomasz Schuchardt, Julian Świeżewski
Winner of the Audience Award at the Trieste Film Festival and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Warsaw Film Festival, BROTHER is a raw and compelling portrait of brotherhood, resilience and the price of growing up in a fractured world.
Fourteen-year-old Dawid is doing his best to protect his younger brother while navigating a home life shaped by instability and adult mistakes. With his father in prison and his mother desperate to escape the past, Dawid finds refuge in judo — and in a coach who sees a future in him beyond the limits of his circumstances. But when a new relationship enters the family’s fragile world, loyalties are tested and tensions begin to rise. Caught between responsibility, anger and the desire for a different life, Dawid must confront choices no child should have to make.
Directed by Maciej Sobieszczański, BROTHER is an emotionally powerful social drama that combines raw realism with tenderness and hope. Featuring a remarkable debut performance by Filip Wiłkomirski — winner of Best Acting Debut at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia — the film offers an intimate portrait of adolescence under pressure.
“One of the most touching discoveries at the 2025 Warsaw Film Festival.” — Eye for Film
“This is the kind of cinema you wait for. It goes straight to the heart” — Interia
"Draws the viewer in with a skilfully constructed screenplay and confident direction." — ELLE
Sobieszczański succeeds for the same reason Piotr Domalewski did with The Altar Boys: he knows how to work with young actors.” — Filmweb
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS & AWARDS
WINNER: Audience Award, Trieste Film Festival, 2026
WINNER: Ecumenical Jury Award, Warsaw International Film Festival, 2025
WINNER: Best Acting Debut – Filip Wiłkomirski, Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, 2025
WINNER: Special Award for Debut Artist – Filip Wiłkomirski, Tarnowska Film Award, 2026
WINNER: Special Award – Maciej Sobieszczański, Tarnowska Film Award, 2026
WINNER: Golden Puppy – Best Leading Actor, Filip Wiłkomirski, Festival of Actors' Art, 2026
NOMINATED: Best Film, Polish Film Awards (Eagles), 2026
NOMINATED: Best Director – Maciej Sobieszczański, Polish Film Awards (Eagles), 2026
SELECTION: Main Competition, Cottbus Film Festival, 2025
SELECTION: Main Competition, Camerimage International Film Festival, 2025
MACIEJ SOBIESZCZAŃSKI
Polish film director, screenwriter and lecturer at the Łódź Film School and Wajda School, where he heads the directing programme Studio Prób. He co-directed Performer, which received the Think Award at the Berlinale in 2015, while his feature debut The Reconciliation (Zgoda) won him the Best Director Award at the Montreal World Film Festival.
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