Sick Teaser Sets Agata Trzebuchowska’s Horror Debut

The Sick teaser has arrived just before the Polish horror film makes its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. This is a new coming-of-age nightmare from writer-director Agata Trzebuchowska, not the unrelated 2022 slasher with the same title.

Trzebuchowska, best known for her lead role in the Academy Award-winning Ida, is making her feature directing debut with a story that turns a summer visit to the countryside into something increasingly uncomfortable.

What the Sick Teaser Reveals

Sick follows 16-year-old Maks and his older sister, Emma, as they travel to the Polish countryside to care for their ailing grandmother. What should be a quiet family obligation starts to feel wrong as the heat, isolation and their grandmother’s unsettling presence begin wearing down the siblings.

The first footage does not rush to explain what is happening. Instead, it leans on strained silences, a stifling rural setting and the sense that Maks and Emma have stepped into a part of their family history they do not fully understand. That restraint suits a movie being described as both a horror story and a passage into adulthood.

The 90-minute, Polish-language film stars Konrad Kąkol, Katarzyna Łubik, Monika Niemczyk, Julian Świeżewski and Eliza Rycembel. Patryk Sielecki and Adrianna Rędzia produced the film.

Agata Trzebuchowska Moves Behind the Camera

Trzebuchowska made a striking screen debut in Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida, but Sick puts her on the other side of the lens as both writer and director. That makes the Fantastic Fest premiere more than a first look at a new horror title; it is also the public launch of a filmmaker horror audiences have not seen in this role before.

There is no U.S. release date yet. Pluto Film’s involvement means the movie arrives at the festival with international sales representation, so the next question is where audiences outside the festival circuit will eventually be able to see it.

What We Think

Family caregiving, sibling tension and the helplessness of being young in an adult crisis already give Sick more to work with than a standard remote-house setup. There are themes teased here that if explored could create a really creepy and uncomfortable experience. This could be one of the festival’s quieter surprises or an experience we wish we could unsee.

Watch the Sick Teaser

Fantastic Fest Screening Details

Sick has its world premiere Friday, September 18 at 5:30 p.m. CT at Fantastic Fest in Austin and the film is part of the festival’s Next Wave Competition.

It joins a packed Fantastic Fest 2026 lineup running September 17–24.

Sources: Pluto Film; Fantastic Fest