If you follow Bitcoin mainly through charts, forecasts and Fed decisions, this weekend in Warsaw will show you the other half of the story. From Thursday June 4 to Sunday June 7, Kinoteka in the Palace of Culture and Science is the stage for the fourth edition of Bitcoin FilmFest — the world's largest film festival devoted to Bitcoin culture. Not an investment conference, not a trade show. A film festival, with real cinema, an awards gala and an audience from more than 20 countries.
This year's motto: "Fix the Money. Fix the Culture." Because — as the organizers argue — money is not only technology and price. It's also the stories we tell about it.
🕵️ Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? The makers of a buzzed-about documentary will be in Warsaw
One of the strongest items on the programme is Finding Satoshi — the fruit of a four-year journalistic investigation into the identity of Bitcoin's creator. Behind the film are investigative journalist William D. Cohan, a New York Times bestselling author, and private detective Tyler Maroney. The documentary features, among others, Michael Saylor, Bill Gates, Phil Zimmermann, Bram Cohen and Jameson Lopp — and the makers say they point confidently to the person behind Bitcoin.
The film's creators will appear at the festival in person. The audience will see the trailer, and ticket holders will get access to the full film online.
🎬 A thriller about a forgotten password and 18 films in the cinema
The cinema programme includes 18 titles, with another 3 available on VOD only. Self Custody — an American thriller with Adrian Grenier about a father who discovers a 2014 Bitcoin bonus is now worth millions — has its European premiere. The problem? He has to recall the password to his wallet, facing hackers and dark-web threats along the way. It sounds like fiction, but anyone who has ever lost a seed will feel this film personally.
Alongside the thriller: the dark comedy Bitcoin Castle about a prepper holding 42 BTC in a French château, the satirical Crypto Castle about a San Francisco hacker house in 2015, the documentary Hummingbird about a Lightning economy on the coast of Costa Rica, and Bitchamler — the story of a Serbian crew turning river scrap into Bitcoin on the Danube.
🤖 2.5 million satoshi to win — the audience decides
On Sunday, the contest for AI-assisted films — Future of Money, Money of the Future — will be decided. The rules are simple: 1–5 minutes, a film made with the help of AI, theme — the future of money. The prize pool is 2,500,000 satoshi, and the audience will choose the winner by voting live at the closing gala.
That same evening, the Golden Rabbits will be presented — the world's only film awards given directly to Bitcoin cinema, in the categories Best Movie, Best Short, Best Story and Audience Choice.
🔐 Two events, one ticket
This year Bitcoin FilmFest is co-located with MoneroKon — a technical conference on privacy and financial technologies. Both events take place in the same Kinoteka space, and one ticket gives access to both programmes. The festival remains a Bitcoin event; the co-location stems from overlapping themes — privacy, financial freedom and permissionless tools.
🎟️ What it costs and what you get
A Full Pass costs 120 euros and covers four days of the festival, MoneroKon, workshops, evening events, post-festival VOD access and — note — a Trezor Model T hardware wallet in the bundle. For the late and the undecided, there's the LITE ticket: 39 euros for one day. Payment? In Bitcoin, of course, on-chain or via Lightning, at bitcoinfilmfest.com/bff26.
Those who can't make it to Warsaw aren't left empty-handed: every ticket holder gets post-festival access to the IndeeHub catalogue — more than 20 titles beyond the cinema, including films from past editions.
📅 What's still ahead
Friday and Saturday bring the main film blocks (from 2:30 p.m.), the AI Film Jam and Lightning Piggy workshops, a Bitcoin Run along the Vistula, and in the evenings the Vistula River disco and Palace Bass Journey. Sunday: the Community Stage, the closing gala, the AI contest results, the Golden Rabbits and a Roger9000 concert.
Two years ago, at BFF'24, the Bitcoin halving fell exactly during the festival — the audience counted down block 840,000 like a Bitcoin New Year, and the BTC logo was projected onto the Palace of Culture. No one is promising a repeat. But that's exactly why people come to events like this: some moments can't be watched from a chart.
