JANINA KSIĘSKA’S “HORDE” SELECTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AT INDIELISBOA
Janina Księska’s animated film “Horde” has been selected for the International Competition of IndieLisboa – International Film Festival, which will take place from April 30 to May 10, 2026. One of Portugal’s most important events dedicated to independent cinema, the festival showcases films that often do not enter regular distribution, supports premieres of new titles, and places strong emphasis on cultural and linguistic diversity.
IndieLisboa’s International Competition focuses on new voices and cinema that looks to the future. The section presents short and feature-length films that cross the boundaries of genre, form, geography, and even ways of perceiving the body and the world, in search of dialogue – about the world and with the world. In this context, “Horde” stands out in the programme as a film of striking formal expression and powerful visual imagination.
The protagonists of “Horde” are humans and kindred creatures who, as if under a spell, move toward a strange tower rising in a barren landscape. Inside, they fall into a trance of relentless movement and dance, performing a ritual orchestrated by a mysterious creature circling at the top of the structure. This rhythmic impulse quickly turns into collective mania – a feverish, uncontrollable dancing frenzy that takes hold of one body after another. Yet amid this hypnotic turmoil, one figure appears to vibrate at a different frequency – confused, detached, untouched by the madness, as though they have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The film is produced by Robert Sowa / Animated Film Studio, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts.
More information about the festival and the other films can be found here.