Mia Wasikowska Travels to Sarajevo in Kuba Dorabialski's Debut 'Agata the Writer,' Premiering at Venice

Mia Wasikowska plays a Polish-Australian novelist who leaves Sydney for Sarajevo in Agata the Writer, the debut feature from Polish video artist Kuba Dorabialski, which premiered at the 2026 Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori sidebar — Venice Days, a programme that runs parallel to the main competition and spotlights more independent work. Variety published its review on 6 September 2026.

Wasikowska's character, Agata, has built a career on satirical novels but travels to Sarajevo to research a story about a father-daughter relationship during the Bosnian War, according to Variety. The shift from satire to a war-era drama sets up the central tension: an author stepping outside the register that made her name. Screen Australia describes the film as being about Agata's impulse to redefine herself as a writer.

The cast includes Mia Morrissey as Davina, Agata's friend and editor, and Vedrana Božinović as Jasmina, a local theatre director in Sarajevo. Wasikowska, whose previous credits include Mia Hansen-Løve's Bergman Island, carries the film as its lead. The film runs 95 minutes and is classified as a comedy-drama, according to IMDb. The Adelaide Film Festival, which has selected the film for its 2026 edition, lists it as an Australian production with a 15+ classification.

Behind the scenes, MMM Film Sales boarded international sales for the film ahead of its Venice premiere, a deal Variety reported exclusively on 26 August 2026. International sales agents handle the rights to sell a film to distributors in territories outside its country of origin — in this case, taking the film to buyers worldwide from a Venice launch. FilmInk confirmed the Venice world premiere on 5 September.

For Dorabialski, the film marks the transition from video art to feature filmmaking. For Wasikowska, it adds another collaboration with an international auteur to a career that has moved between Hollywood studio titles and smaller festival films. And for the Sarajevo-set story itself, Venice's Venice Days sidebar — a programme that has historically championed first features and emerging voices — offers a launch platform before the film heads to Adelaide and, through MMM Film Sales, to potential buyers in other markets.

The 2026 Venice Film Festival runs through mid-September.