To Love! Malta Festival 2025 Has Come to an End! Nine intense days, seventy hours of music, one hundred and eleven diverse events, and thousands of reasons to be proud.

For nine days in June, Malta Festival transformed Poznań into a city brimming with art, community, and courage. From the spectacular opening high above Plac Wolności, when Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga of the French collective Basinga walked a 200-meter wire without safety gear, to the late-night dances in the Festival Club – this year’s edition celebrated presence, diversity, and engagement. It also honored femininity – under the patronage of Dominika Kulczyk, the festival was reborn with a new feminine energy, bringing the most exciting cultural phenomena from around the world to Poznań. Between these highlights: discussions on cinema, literature in action, boundary-pushing theatre, and concerts bursting with power. Malta 2025 will remain in the memory of over thirty eight thousand participants as an edition rich in meaning, emotion, and connection.

From the lyrical performance “RoZéo” by the French troupe Gratte Ciel, through the energetic, rebellious show by Róisín Murphy – all the way to the opera “Głos Potwora”, in which composer Alek Nowak, librettist and dramaturge Robert Bolesto, and director Agnieszka Smoczyńska combined mythology with a story about hiding one’s identity, creating a poignant image of survival and memory – Malta built a polyphonic landscape of contemporary art. The highlight of the second weekend was the presence of Agnieszka Holland, the festival’s honorary guest, whose work inspired both the theatre stage and the spaces of reflection on cinema and responsibility. The 111 events of this edition are only a fraction – but a meaningful one, full of sparkling creative energy – of what the world of culture and art has to offer, and what Malta consistently presents through its programme.

The heart of Malta was theatre – alive, pulsing, diverse. 42 performances – from monumental spectacles to intimate performative forms – proved that stage art not only asks questions, but builds relationships, crosses boundaries, and constantly searches. Four theatrical premieres had their first encounter with audiences right in Poznań. “Ultraficción No. 1” – featuring twenty sheep and one dog – reminded us that Malta’s theatre is a space of experimentation. The stars of the first weekend were Tilda Swinton and Olivier Saillard, who presented their one-of-a-kind “Embodying Pasolini” – a tribute to the Italian director and his cinema, composed of Danilo Donatti’s costumes, gestures, and presence. The performance, staged only once a year on a selected stage in the world, arrived in Poland for the first time in 2025 – and into the hearts of the Malta audience.

The festival not only opened up to the city – it drew the city inward. 16 outdoor shows transformed urban spaces into democratic stages – without tickets, barriers, or hierarchy. Performances, concerts, and performative actions seamlessly blended into the everyday rhythm of Poznań. Plac Wolności, the Old Market Square, and Stara Rzeźnia became places of encounter beyond divisions – spaces for shared breath, dance, and laughter. Three street orchestras – La Dinamo, La Confizerie, and the Poznań-beloved Bandakadabra – engaged passersby with music and rhythm, inviting them to celebrate in a spirit of openness and joy. These spaces – so familiar, yet newly enlivened – became the symbolic centre of the festival, their pulse co-created by artists from around the world. In total, over 500 artists participated in the festival – this was Malta at its purest: inclusive, urban, and full of unquantifiable energy.

10 concerts and 70 hours of music resounded across the city – both in clubs and on the streets. Festival music knew no stylistic or social boundaries – what mattered was the shared sound. The Festival Club on Plac Wolności became the heart of Malta’s night life – a place for DJ sets, meetings, and spontaneous conversations, where diverse musical sensibilities met on one dance floor. At the Poznań International Fair, global stars performed, combining technical mastery with emotion and freedom. The Teskey Brothers took the audience on a blues-soul journey full of analog sound and nostalgia. Balancing the intimacy of acoustic ballads with the power of electronic tones, FINK moved the audience with a concert full of musical rapture. L’Impératrice swept the crowd away with a danceable mix of nu-disco, synth-pop, and French flair. Róisín Murphy – queen of electropop and icon of stage extravagance – turned her concert into a colourful spectacle. BADBADNOTGOOD proved that jazz, electronics, and hip-hop can speak a common language. Here, the festival beat its most consistent rhythm – open, welcoming, and pulsing with presence.

There was also space for reflection, words, and closeness. 15 film screenings and 18 inspiring conversations after performances and screenings allowed us to explore the themes Malta takes seriously: equality, relationships, freedom, and care – for oneself and for others. Meetings with the audience were held in comfortable conditions – on stylish seats by VOX, which turned the “Kino Kobiet” space into a place for mindful conversation and deeper reception. The Festival Club also hosted evening encounters with acclaimed writers and literary personalities – intimate, lively, often moving, and accessible to all. 16 workshops – open, inclusive, and diverse – fostered the exchange of experiences and understanding between genders, generations, and sensitivities. An important part of this exchange were the discussion panels by Kulczyk Foundation, devoted to archetypes of femininity, menopause, and the relationship between feminine and masculine energies. These conversations – with the participation of experts, doctors, and artists – opened up a space for honest dialogue about the body, inheritance, and gender roles. They were complemented by genealogy and improvisation workshops, creating a safe space for exploration and expression.

But Malta doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Behind its success are people. 600 individuals co-created the festival – including volunteers, the heart and lifeblood of Malta. Thanks to their work, the festival could breathe, transform, and respond. Thanks to them, each of the 18 festival venues operated like a finely tuned instrument. Malta is also the art of collaboration. We thank everyone who was with us – and those who supported our journey: the City of Poznań, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the National Centre for Culture, Polenergia, Lexus, the Poznań International Fair, the Polish Theatre, Santander Bank Polska, and all other organisational and programme partners who supported us. Thanks to you, this festival had strength, flavour, and space to be itself.

With the partnership support of Malta Festival, the concert “A Song for Four Corners of the World” also took place – the largest artistic event concluding Poland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, held at Plac Marka on Friday, June 27.

All of this – effort, thought, energy, presence – happened not for statistics, but for the ideas of love, openness, and encounter. We thank everyone who was part of this edition – audiences, artists, partners, volunteers. Without you, Malta would have no voice.

See you next year.

To love!