Feature · Warsaw on film
Warsaw on film: The Pianist, A Real Pain and The Doll
Warsaw has played a 19th-century metropolis, a city at war and a modern capital, and very often itself. Here are four films to watch before you go, with their official trailers and the places you can visit. By the ULTIMATE Warsaw Editorial Team.
Updated October 2026
The Pianist (2002)
Roman Polański’s film tells the true story of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist who survived the German occupation of Warsaw and the Holocaust. Some scenes were shot in Germany, but Warsaw’s Praga district played an important role in recreating the wartime city: the crew used the pre-war buildings of Mała Street, and reconstructed parts of the ghetto on Stalowa Street (Warsaw Tourism Office).
A Real Pain (2024)
Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and stars with Kieran Culkin, who won an Oscar for the role, as cousins who travel to Poland to learn about their family’s history. Its Warsaw scenes were filmed at the Warsaw Uprising Monument on Krasiński Square, in Muranów by POLIN and the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, around Grzybowski Square and at the Central Station, to the music of Chopin (Warsaw Tourism Office).
The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)
The film tells the story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński, the director of the Warsaw Zoo and his wife, who hid people escaping the ghetto in their villa at the zoo during the war. The Żabiński Villa, at the zoo in Praga, can be visited (zoo.waw.pl).
The zoo and the Żabiński Villa
The Doll (2026)
Bolesław Prus’s 19th-century novel The Doll has two new adaptations in 2026: a series by Paweł Maślona on Netflix and a film by Maciej Kawalski in cinemas. For weeks, Krakowskie Przedmieście was turned back into a 19th-century street; the film also used the Sobański Palace on Aleje Ujazdowskie and, in Royal Łazienki, the Royal Garden, the White Pavilion, the Royal Theatre in the Old Orangery and the Palace on the Isle (Warsaw Tourism Office). The trailer above is the film’s, from its distributor; the Netflix series has its own trailer on Netflix Polska.
The Royal Route Royal Łazienki
Questions and answers
Where was The Pianist filmed in Warsaw?
In Praga, on Mała and Stalowa streets, where the crew recreated the wartime city (Warsaw Tourism Office).
Where was A Real Pain filmed in Warsaw?
At Krasiński Square, in Muranów by POLIN and the Ghetto Heroes Monument, around Grzybowski Square and at the Central Station.
Filming places from go2warsaw.pl; trailers play from the official YouTube channels named under each film (checked 31 October 2026).