During the 21st Film Spring Open, participants in the Group held under the patronage of the Stanisław Wyspiański Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków will adapt the final part of the diploma performance “Pagans” (Poganie), directed by Weronika WERUSHA Kowalska, for the cinema screen. The group’s work will take the form of a film set: from preparation, through shooting and sound recording in the forest, to editing and post-production using generative set design and special effects.

Pagans is a diploma performance created by fourth-year students of the Acting Department at the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, specialising in vocal and acting performance. It draws on Slavic legends, rites of passage and songs that for centuries accompanied communities in work, celebration and mourning. The elements themselves become full-fledged characters, while birth and death are presented as two sides of the same ever-renewing cycle. The finale of the performance, complete in both dramaturgical and musical terms, will be taken out of the theatre and into the forest and the surroundings of Hotel Forest in Przegorzały.

The natural outdoor environment becomes a stage that we extend digitally. What cannot be physically built or created with light in the forest will be added in post-production. Everything human remains real and is recorded live: the actors’ presence, dialogue and singing. Artificial intelligence is used where the physical possibilities of the stage and the production budget come to an end – in set design and special effects.

The actor does not perform against a green screen. The actor performs in a real forest, in real light, hearing their scene partners and their own voice in an open environment. This creates a fundamental difference in terms of authenticity of performance and forms one of the group’s key areas of exploration: what happens to the actor’s presence when a real environment is later digitally extended? How should framing, lighting and sound be planned so that generative set design supports the scene rather than replacing it? Where is the boundary between recording and generation, and who decides where that boundary lies?

The film crew will be formed by Film Spring Open participants. The group’s work will function as a film set combining all stages of adapting a theatre performance for the screen:

• preparation, analysis of the final scene and its musical layer, adaptation of the staging to the forest environment, location documentation, shooting plan, lighting and sound concepts, and the assumptions for the digital set design: what will be recorded and what will be digitally extended;
• filming, camera and lighting work on location, using natural and supplementary light with the later extension of the image in mind;
• sound, including live recording of dialogue and singing in outdoor conditions;
• editing and colour grading;
• post-production, generative set design and special effects integrated with the footage recorded in the forest.

Who do we invite?
First and foremost, cinematographers and camera operators, as well as people working in lighting, sound, editing and colour grading, and those interested in post-production, VFX and generative tools.

The group is also open to actors. Only the actors performing in the original stage production will appear on camera, but other actors are welcome to participate in the entire process and gain insight into the work on the other side of the camera – from preparation through to post-production.

Organisational information
The rights to the performance Pagans, its script, music and staging belong to the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków and the creators of the performance. Materials recorded as part of the group’s work will be created as an adaptation of the performance within the educational framework of Film Spring Open; copyright to these materials will not be transferred to the group participants.

Selected generative tools will be used during the group’s work for demonstration and post-production purposes.

Filming will take place outdoors regardless of weather conditions. Participants are asked to bring appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear suitable for the weather.

We invite you to join the Group under the Patronage of the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków – Theatre in the Age of AI and to register for the 21st Film Spring Open, taking place in Kraków from 13 to 22 October 2026.

Group patronage: