From June 4 to 7, 2026, Warsaw's Kinoteka, inside the Palace of Culture and Science, becomes the meeting point for two communities that are increasingly shaping the conversation about freedom, privacy and the future of money. Bitcoin FilmFest — the largest film festival devoted to Bitcoin culture — returns to Warsaw, and alongside it runs MoneroKon, a technical conference on privacy and financial technologies. One trip, one ticket, two events, and four days of films, debates, workshops, concerts and gatherings of people who treat Bitcoin not only as a technology but also as a culture.
🎬 Bitcoin already has its own cinema
Bitcoin fits ever less neatly into simple categories. It's no longer only a subject for programmers, investors, economists or cypherpunks. Over the past few years it has also become a language of stories: about freedom, responsibility, inflation, emigration, privacy, family, the state, technology and the human need to seek the truth.
That's precisely why Bitcoin FilmFest matters as more than just another date on the industry calendar. It's a festival that shows a distinct cultural space forming around Bitcoin: documentaries, fiction, comedies, short forms, AI animation, music, art and a community of creators. This year's motto — "Fix the Money. Fix the Culture." — captures the event's ambition. Fixing the money is one thing. But without culture, imagination and a shared language, even the best technology stays cold and hard to grasp.
"You can't fix the world with technology alone. Better wallets won't do it. Legal frameworks won't do it. Culture has to move in parallel," says Tomek K, founder and lead organizer of Bitcoin FilmFest.
The fourth edition of Bitcoin FilmFest takes place June 4–7, 2026 at Warsaw's Kinoteka, one of Poland's best-known festival cinemas. The venue is no accident. The Palace of Culture and Science, a former symbol of a centrally planned reality, will be taken over for a few days by one of the most decentralized, freedom-minded communities in the world.
🎟️ A festival, not a conference with films
The organizers stress that Bitcoin FilmFest is not a conference with a few screenings tacked on. It's an event built around cinema. The programme includes documentaries, short films, comedies, dramas, AI productions, post-screening discussions, workshops, exhibitions, concerts, walks, morning activities and daily social events.
This year the audience will see 21 titles, including 18 cinema screenings and 3 available on VOD only. The cinema programme features, among others, Self Custody, Bitcoin Castle, Coined in Watercolor, Bitcoin Motorcycle Diaries, Finding Home — Ep. 4, Hummingbird — the Bitcoin Jungle Story, Bitchamler — Freedom on the River, MaxisClub ep.3, Seeding Bitcoin and Crying baby, dancing bee. All screenings will also be available online after the festival through a partnership with the IndeeHub platform.
Special attention goes to Self Custody, a 31-minute American short thriller starring Adrian Grenier, having its European premiere in Warsaw. The film follows a father who discovers that a Bitcoin bonus received in 2014 is now worth millions — but to recover the funds, he has to recall a forgotten wallet password.
The programme's second highlight is Hummingbird — the Bitcoin Jungle Story, a feature documentary about Bitcoin Jungle — a grassroots circular economy flourishing on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, where Lightning payments power surf shops, restaurants and the everyday life of the Uvita and Dominical communities. In the VOD-only programme — available after the festival — there will also be Finding Satoshi, an investigative documentary devoted to one of the field's biggest mysteries.
Friday features two film blocks and the Vistula River disco at Cud nad Wisłą. Saturday: Paco Yoga in Saski Park, the Lightning Piggy workshop, two film blocks and the Palace Bass Journey at Bar Studio. Sunday: a Bitcoin Walk, an entrepreneurs' lunch, and the closing gala with the AI Contest vote, the Golden Rabbits and a Roger9000 concert.
🏆 Golden Rabbits: the little Oscars of Bitcoin cinema
The Bitcoin FilmFest awards are called the Golden Rabbits. It's a deliberate nod to the symbolism of the white rabbit: an invitation to go deeper, to discover a new world, to follow a question that won't let you rest.
In 2026, four awards will be given: Best Movie, Best Short, Best Story and Audience Choice. For the young current of Bitcoin cinema, such honors matter more than one might think. Past winners already use the festival laurels on their posters and promotional materials, and the award is gradually becoming a reference point for creators telling stories about Bitcoin.
"Every legendary film award once started as something small. The Golden Rabbit is still young, but in the world of Bitcoin cinema it can become a very important mark of quality," says Tomek K.
🤖 AI, or a new generation of creators
One of the most important elements of this year's edition is the contest for films made with the help of artificial intelligence: Future of Money, Money of the Future. The prize pool is 2.5 million satoshi, and submitted films are to run 1 to 5 minutes. The audience will choose the winner live during the festival, and the results will be announced at the Sunday closing gala.
This isn't merely a flashy add-on to the programme. Cinema is one of the industries most strongly changed by AI. Tools that were recently out of reach for independent creators now let a single person make a short film, an animation, a visual story or an artistic experiment. Bitcoin FilmFest wants Bitcoin creators to enter this shift early — not as passive viewers, but as authors.
On Friday morning there will be AI workshops directly tied to the contest. Participants will be able to make a short form on the spot, show it to the audience and compete for a prize.
🔐 MoneroKon: privacy, technology and a shared space
This year's Bitcoin FilmFest takes place alongside MoneroKon, a conference devoted to privacy and financial technologies. Both events use the same Kinoteka space, run on the same dates and share social events. One ticket gives access to both programmes.
For part of the Bitcoin audience this pairing may be surprising, but the organizers are clear: Bitcoin FilmFest remains a Bitcoin event. The co-location doesn't mean mixing brands or changing the festival's identity. It's rather an intersection of communities that talk about similar problems: privacy, financial freedom, censorship resistance, open-source tools and the right to use permissionless money.
It's also an important signal for Poland. For a few days, Warsaw becomes a place people travel to not only for the price of Bitcoin, but for deeper questions about freedom, privacy, culture and technological sovereignty.
📍 Poland as a meeting place for Bitcoin culture
The local context is worth underlining. Bitcoin FilmFest was founded in Poland in November 2022. The first edition was an intimate event that grew out of a failed attempt to organize a single screening of the film The Great Reset and the Rise of Bitcoin. After a conversation over two beers came a simple idea: if there are more films about Bitcoin, perhaps it's worth showing a few, inviting people and picking the best?
That's how a festival was born that today is the largest film event devoted to Bitcoin culture.
The first edition drew about 120 people and eight films. In the following years the festival grew along with the community. Concerts, workshops, debates, artists, creators, awards and ever more international guests appeared. In 2024, one of the most memorable moments was the projection of the Bitcoin logo onto the Palace of Culture after block 840,000, during the halving, following a screening of GODS OF THEIR OWN RELIGION. The image later went around international media and became one of the festival's symbols.
For the Polish Bitcoin community it's a point of pride. At a time when many big industry events take place in the US, Switzerland, El Salvador or Asia, one of the most interesting cultural gatherings of the Bitcoin world is growing right here in Warsaw.
👋 Not only for experts
Bitcoin FilmFest is not an event only for advanced bitcoiners. The organizers say plainly that the festival is also for beginners, the curious, artists, families, filmmakers and people who wouldn't necessarily come to a tech conference but will happily watch a good film or join a post-screening conversation.
That matters, because cinema works differently from an economic panel or a technical lecture. A film can reach where a chart, a report or a thread on X cannot. It can show the consequences of inflation through a family's story, the idea of self-custody through a thriller, the Bitcoin community through music and art, and the question of Satoshi through the form of an investigation.
"The best films about Bitcoin don't push Bitcoin into people's heads. They make the viewer start asking better questions," says Tomek K.
📅 Four days of films, talks and gatherings
The full programme is updated on the Bitcoin FilmFest website, but the structure of the event is already clear. Thursday, June 4, will be the opening and community day with live music, DJs, pizza and BTC payments. Friday and Saturday are the main film blocks, workshops, discussions and evening events. Sunday brings the Community Stage, the closing gala, the AI contest, the Golden Rabbits and a Roger9000 concert.
Side events include a Bitcoin Run along the Vistula, a Bitcoin Walk, yoga, AI workshops, the Lightning Piggy workshop, a Vistula Silent Disco, a Palace Rave and a final gathering at Amondo. The festival keeps its intimate character — the planned attendance is around 200–300 people — but the programme shows it's now a full-scale cultural event.
A ticket costs 120 euros and can be paid in Bitcoin on-chain or via Lightning. It gives access to the Bitcoin FilmFest programme, MoneroKon, workshops, the Community Stage, social events and later VOD. Everyone who bought a ticket will also receive a Trezor Model T.
❤️ Why be in Warsaw?
Because Bitcoin needs not only code, but places, people and shared memories.
You can watch Bitcoin content online. You can listen to podcasts, read analyses, follow charts and discussions. But every now and then it's worth walking into a cinema with people who understand the same jokes, the same fears and the same hopes. It's worth seeing how an abstract network of online contacts turns into real conversations, friendships, projects and bonds.
Bitcoin FilmFest and MoneroKon in Warsaw are not just another event. They're a sign that Poland has its place on the global map of Bitcoin culture. And that this place doesn't have to be a copy of big conferences with exhibition halls, booths and corporate language. It can be a festival: a bit cinematic, a bit musical, a bit technological, very social and very Bitcoin.
From June 4 to 7, Kinoteka becomes one of the most interesting points on Europe's Bitcoin map. It's worth being there.
