Pluto Film Boards 'Ida' Star's Horror 'Sick' — SkimNews
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- Pluto Film boarded sales for Agata Trzebuchowska's horror feature 'Sick,' with world premiere set for Fantastic Fest in Austin followed by European debut at Sitges.
- Trzebuchowska, the Polish director-screenwriter-actress best known internationally for her lead in Pawlikowski's 2015 Oscar winner 'Ida,' makes her feature directorial debut with the film after prior Sundance-selected shorts 'Heat' and 'Vacancy.'
- Patryk Sielecki and Adrianna Rędzia at Warsaw-based Lumisenta lead produce, with cast including Konrad Kąkol, Katarzyna Łubik, Monika Niemczyk, Julian Świeżewski, and Eliza Rycembel.
- The story centers on 16-year-old Maks and his older sister Emma, sent to the Polish countryside to care for their ailing grandmother, where stifling summer isolation pushes their bond into something 'unsettling and difficult to define.'
- Producer Sielecki framed 'Sick' as 'a deeply emotional story about adolescence, desire and dependence, centered on a relationship that crosses every possible boundary,' arguing it can resonate beyond the genre circuit.
- Pluto Film MD Daniela Cölle positioned the film as 'the horror of growing up,' exploring 'the fear, confusion, and loss of certainty that accompany the passage into adulthood.'
- Sick premieres in the New Wave sidebar of Fantastic Fest, running September 17 to 24, 2026, and Trzebuchowska continues to act — recently appearing in Pete Ohs' 'Erupcja' alongside Charli XCX.
Why it matters: An Oscar-winning actress's debut behind the camera landing back-to-back premieres at Fantastic Fest and Sitges signals serious genre-platform momentum for a Polish film explicitly marketed as crossing taboo boundaries. For Pluto Film, picking it up before either festival screening gives the company first-look positioning on what producers argue is a crossover title — horror trappings concealing a coming-of-age drama about adolescence and dependence.
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