Krakow's concert halls will be filled with film, TV and video game music at the 17th Kraków Film Music Festival.

The festival programme, organised by the City of Krakow, KBF and RMF Classic, includes both the hottest titles of the season and unforgettable classics. The finale of the eventful week will be Disney’s The Lion King in Concert at Tauron Arena Kraków. The full score for the 1994 film will be played live in Europe for the first time.

A particularly solemn moment of this year's FMF will be the Traces of Memory concert, which refers to the 30th anniversary of the Polish premiere of Schindler's List – Steven Spielberg's masterpiece with John Williams’ Oscar-winning music. The programme will also include performances of works by Krzysztof Penderecki, Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz and the world music group Kroke. The second part of the evening will be dedicated to Elliot Goldenthal, an Oscar winner who will celebrate his 70th birthday at FMF. The May 22 event is organised in cooperation with the Krakow Philharmonic and the US Consulate in Krakow.

Schindler's List, shot in Krakow and awarded with seven Oscars and three Golden Globes, is one of the most moving films dealing with the subject of the Holocaust. John Williams' score, filled with themes originated in klezmer music, is also one of the most beautiful in the history of cinema. The solo parts will be performed by Agata Szymczewska – an award-winning Polish violinist. We will also hear Elliot Goldenthal's Third Symphony. The work refers to the era of martial law in Poland, when the communist dictatorship tried to stop the democratisation process. These are just two of the compositions that will make up a musically expressive concert, simultaneously carrying a pacifist message, says Robert Piaskowski, FMF Artistic Director.

May 23's International Gala will feature works from Daniel Pemberton, Martin Phipps, Rob Simonsen and Anthony Willis: the monumental flute play from Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, the disturbing themes from Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, royal sounds from Ridley Scott's award-winning Napoleon, and a moving song from The Trial of the Chicago Seven. The dynamic score for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, full of electronic effects, will undoubtedly provide great emotions.

On May 25, audiences will have the opportunity to hear music from Polish film, TV and video game composers. The suite from last year's The Peasants will be performed by Łukasz “L.U.C.” Rostkowski, Rebel Babel Film Orchestra and the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert programme will also include a mesmerizing piece from the video game Blacktail, which earned composer Arkadiusz Reikowski the Digital Dragons award, and Paweł Lucewicz's poetic soundtrack to the Netflix original Forgotten Love, featuring the traditional vocal trio Svahy and the Polish-Ukrainian group Zazula.

The festival programme also includes electronic music; on May 23, the Finnish synthwave producer Kebu will play his own music and classic 1980s fare, including themes from Top Gun, The Terminator and Blade Runner, on a wide array of analog synths. On May 24, Aleksander Dębicz and the Polish Radio Choir will perform new arrangements of themes from Blade Runner, Edward Scissorhands and Interstellar. On May the 26th, the Manggha Museum will host a John Williams retrospective, including pieces from Dracula, Hook, Memoirs of a Geisha, Schindler's List, Star Wars and The Witches of Eastwick, performed by flutist Sara Andon, pianist Simone Pedroni and cellist Cecilia Tsan.

The festival programme is rounded out by the Audiovisual Forum – a series of panels with music and film industry insiders. The Galeria Kazimierz shopping mall will host a Festival Village, where events like a silent disco party and film screenings will take place. The programme of accompanying events will be announced soon.

Festivals in Cracow