“Freak Show” | Film Screening

What?

What happens when people who have been marginalized for years take center stage and begin to decide for themselves how they want to be seen?

The protagonists of the documentary *Freak Show*, directed by Łukasz Ronduda and Filip Pawlak, are a group of young artists with disabilities who were invited by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw to stage a provocative “freak show” for the opening of the museum’s new headquarters. However, rather than simply replicating the historical format of “freak shows,” they reclaim it and use it on their own terms—to challenge norms regarding the body, ability, and beauty, and to confront the audience with the stigma and isolation experienced by people with disabilities.

The camera follows the characters as they create the play, but also as they build a community. We learn about their motivations, doubts, and ambitions. The premiere takes place on Halloween—a night traditionally associated with confronting fear—which serves as a starting point for questioning what we are actually afraid of when we look at bodies that defy socially established norms. The film reverses the perspective: it is not people with disabilities who must conform to the majority’s gaze, but rather the viewer who is confronted with their own habits and categories of “normality.”

The film was screened in 2026 as part of New Horizons and Millennium Docs Against Gravity, where it was included in the Polish Competition.

One of the film’s protagonists is Daniel Kotowski, who will be a guest of Agata Siwiak the following day at a festival event dedicated to Deaf culture, language, and identity.

Who?

Directed and written by: Łukasz Ronduda, Filip Pawlak

Łukasz Ronduda—director, screenwriter, writer, researcher, and curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. In his work, he consistently explores the relationship between contemporary art and cinema. A graduate of the directing and screenwriting program at the Wajda School, he is an expert on experimental film and the author of numerous publications on contemporary art. His filmography includes, among others, Performer, Heart of Love, All Our Fears, Rave, and Tell Me What You Feel.

Filip Pawlak—theater artist, independent curator and producer, and advocate for artists with disabilities. A graduate of the Film School in Katowice, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and the performing arts program at the Malmö Academy of Theatre and Lund University. As an artist and producer, he works to increase the presence of people with disabilities in culture. Since 2025, he has been a doctoral candidate in film and theater arts at the University of Silesia.

The cast includes: Nadia Markiewicz, Grandma, Agata Wąsik, Daniel Kotowski, Marcel Pieczonka, Mariana Hernandez, and Filip Pawlak.

For Whom?

The screening is intended for young people aged 12 and above and adults. We invite both those interested in documentary film and contemporary art, as well as anyone interested in issues of representation, disability, social norms, and the right to make independent decisions about one’s own image. The film does not require any prior knowledge of these topics—it can serve as a starting point for examining how we view others and how often social hierarchies are hidden behind the neutral categories of “normality.”

Why is it worth it?

The Łódź of Many Cultures Festival explores diversity not only through origin, language, or tradition, but also through different bodies, identities, and ways of functioning in the world. “Freak Show” fits particularly well within this understanding of multiculturalism because it does not stop at calling for the inclusion of previously marginalized people into the existing order. Rather, it asks who established this order and why we consider certain bodies and ways of life to be the norm, while viewing others as deviations from it.

The film’s protagonists do not want to be merely objects of representation or recipients of someone else’s inclusivity. They take control of the tools for telling their own stories, using art to negotiate their own visibility. In this sense, the film resonates well with the Festival’s vision as a space where the convergence of diverse experiences does not mean subordinating them to a single dominant perspective.

Availability

The event will take place at the Center for Dialogue in the theater and theater hall, which is equipped with an induction loop. The Center for Dialogue building is accessible to people with mobility impairments. It has wide, non-automatic entrance doors, an accessible restroom, and an elevator. The theater hall is located on the ground floor, has a ramp, and the auditorium includes spaces for people in wheelchairs. In front of the building, there is a large parking lot with marked spaces for people with disabilities. Assistance dogs and guide dogs are welcome both inside the building and in the auditorium. The building is equipped with the ToTuPoint audio navigation system. The entrance to the parking lot is on Wojska Polskiego Street. Nearby bus and tram stops include: Wojska Polskiego/Centrum Dialogu and Wojska Polskiego/Sporna.