Best European thrillers to compete in Polish seaside resort

Almost 50 thriller feature films from all over Europe will be shown in Kołobrzeg on the Polish Baltic coast at the international Suspense Film Festival organised for the seventh time.

Eight productions will compete for the Golden Seahorse statuette and the best European thriller feature film of the year title.

The festival will start on Wednesday and continue until Sunday. According to the organisers, it is the only such event in Europe where "the latest and most iconic works of the genre" are shown and the "best" ones are awarded.

Film screenings will take place at the Regional Centre of Culture and on the beach.

An international jury will choose the winner from among eight competition entries: France's "Black Tide" (directed by Erick Zonca), Romania's "Hawaii" (directed by Jesus Del Cerro), Italy's "The Last Prosecco" (directed by Antonio Padovan), Norway's "Thelma" (directed by Joachim Trier), the Netherlands' "Control" (directed by Jan Verheyen), Slovakia's "Line" (directed by Peter Bebjak), Germany's "Luna's Revenge" (directed by Khaled Kaissar) and Poland's "Sleep Darling" (directed by Krzysztof Lang).

Meanwhile, five productions will compete for the best thriller feature film debut of the year in the Eye on Films Competition: "The Benefit of the Doubt" (Belgium), "Blue My Mind" (Switzerland), "Respiri" (Italy), "Hostile" (France) and "The Man with a Magic Box" (Poland).

There will also be a competition for young artists - First Shot. Eleven short feature films will be screened. Young filmmakers will also be able to take part in free 360 degree film making workshops.

During the previous six Suspense Film Festivals over 300 film screenings took place, and the festival hosted nearly 250 actors and filmmakers from Poland and around the world.