KINOPOLSKA 2026: two EICAR students join the student jury
The 19th edition of the KINOPOLSKA festival took place from 17 to 20 September 2026 at L’Arlequin cinema in Paris. For this new edition, the Polish Institute in Paris invited EICAR to have two of its students join the festival’s student jury.
Ghazal Ghorbani and Samuel Benhamou, both in the third year of the Bachelor in Film Directing, sat on the jury and took full part in this event dedicated to the richness and diversity of contemporary Polish cinema.
From audience to jury members
Throughout the festival, Ghazal and Samuel watched the films in the official selection before taking part in the deliberations with the other members of the jury. The experience gave them the opportunity to compare their perspectives and sharpen their analytical skills and critical eye beyond the scope of their studies.
They then attended the closing ceremony to present the Student Jury Award, taking part in every stage of a festival jury’s life.
“It was a wonderful experience. The festival was quite different from the short film festivals where I have already served on a jury, and I really enjoyed it. I would like to thank EICAR for supporting us throughout the festival,” says Ghazal Ghorbani.
To carry this discovery on throughout the year, LaCinetek, a partner of the festival, also gave each member of the student jury a one-year subscription to its platform.
A partnership around Polish cinema
The presence of EICAR students at KINOPOLSKA is part of a broader relationship with the Polish Institute. EICAR is also a partner of “Les Mardis polonais” (Polish Tuesdays), a series held since 2016 at the Reflet Médicis cinema and dedicated to discovering and rediscovering Poland’s film heritage.
These ties also resonate within the school itself: Polish directors Wiktor Bojanowski, whose film won an award at the KINOPOLSKA festival, and Maciej Hamela, both EICAR alumni, have come to meet the school’s students and share their experience.
EICAR, a campus open to the international cultural scene
The collaboration with the Polish Institute is part of a wider momentum that makes EICAR a place for meetings and exchanges with the international cultural players based in France.
This openness takes the form of experiences offered directly to students, such as a visit to the Korean Cultural Center for an exhibition and a guided tour, as well as welcoming representatives of many countries on campus.
As part of FICEP (Forum of Foreign Cultural Institutes in Paris), EICAR notably organised meetings dedicated to film and audiovisual media, bringing together representatives of the Embassy of Estonia, the Centre Camerounais de France, the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Embassy of Lithuania, the Taiwan Cultural Center and the Yunus Emre Institute – Turkish Cultural Centre.
All these bridges allow EICAR to foster dialogue between cultures and film traditions, develop new collaborations and offer its students a resolutely international environment.
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