Hot spot : AI Thriller Cast, Story and Release Dates

Hot Spot, the science-fiction thriller directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska, is scheduled to reach French cinemas on December 9, 2026, through The Jokers. Starring Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace and Reika Kirishima, the film places a murder investigation inside a society governed by conscious artificial intelligence. Its French release follows its summer festival launch and theatrical openings in North America and Poland.

Written by Robert Bolesto, the film begins with a recognisable detective assignment before turning the investigator’s own identity into unstable territory. Focus Features’ synopsis describes a private eye discovering rebels who could undermine the digital authority controlling his world.

An AI thriller shaped by fear, identity and rebellion

The premise is more specific than a general warning about dangerous machines. Fantasia’s programme situates the murder in a refugee camp and describes the character played by Noomi Rapace as a member of a religious sect, associated with powers that might disrupt the system. Technology and belief occupy the same unsettling space, making the boundary between hacking and apparent witchcraft part of the film’s dramatic world.

In her director’s statement for Fantasia, Agnieszka Smoczyńska connects the project to anxieties surrounding AI, climate change, war and global instability. She encourages viewers to approach the film as an immersive experience rather than only a puzzle to solve. That stated intention helps explain why the official synopsis promises a progressive collapse of the detective’s reality alongside the criminal investigation.

The project also extends an established creative partnership. Robert Bolesto previously wrote The Lure, while Agnieszka Smoczyńska returns to Focus Features after The Silent Twins. The studio’s April 2026 release announcement identifies Hot Spot as an official Polish–Greek co-production, with Madants and its partners on the Polish side and Neda Film and its partners in Greece.

From a Polish military base to the landscapes of Greece

One revealing production anecdote emerged during a filmmaker Q&A reported by Interia after the Polish festival screenings. Agnieszka Smoczyńska explained that an earlier version placed the story at a military base in Modlin, Poland. She had imagined a Greek setting, however, and a meeting with a Greek producer at Oxbelly led to photographs of Ellinikon. The location search helped turn that imagined environment into a practical possibility.

The same discussion supplied a striking detail about the atmosphere behind the film. Agnieszka Smoczyńska recalled visiting a burned forest and being disturbed by its silence and the absence of animal life. Robert Bolesto said the project’s origins went back to 2016 and his interest in the idea of post-truth. These recollections place its development well before the current wave of public discussion about generative AI.

Principal photography took place in Greece and wrapped on November 22, 2024, according to contemporary acquisition coverage. In a statement reported by TheWrap, Agnieszka Smoczyńska described her ambition to create an immersive experience in which advanced technology approaches magic and love is bound up with fear.

Hot Spot cast, music and creative team

Andrzej Konopka leads the cast alongside Noomi Rapace and Reika Kirishima. The Polish distributor presents his detective as an unusually stylish figure undergoing an identity crisis, and describes a visual world mixing an imagined future with 1980s influences. Its emphasis on humour, satire and deliberate kitsch suggests a broader tonal palette than the murder premise alone might imply.

The technical team includes cinematographer Jakub Kijowski and editor Beata Liszewska. The score is credited to Marcin Macuk and Zuzanna Wrońska. So Films also identifies Marcin Lenarczyk for sound, Anna Anosowicz for production design and Katarzyna Lewińska for costumes, showing the substantial Polish creative contribution behind the international production.

Focus Features’ current film page credits Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska for Madants, together with Gregory Jankilevitsch, as producers. Fantasia lists the film at 101 minutes, while The Jokers’ French page gives a rounded duration of 1h40. The French distributor also lists English, Japanese and Polish among the film’s languages.

Festival premiere and international distribution

Hot Spot received its world premiere at Fantasia in Montreal on July 24, 2026, with a 9:30 p.m. screening at the SGWU Alumni Auditorium, also known as Théâtre Hall. The festival placed it in the Cheval Noir programme. So Films subsequently reported that the film received a Special Jury Mention at Fantasia, adding an award distinction to its festival launch.

Its international rollout had been taking shape long before that premiere. Screen Daily reported in February 2024 that New Europe Film Sales had boarded the project and was beginning pre-sales at the European Film Market. In May 2025, the sales company announced The Jokers’ acquisition for France, noting that Focus Features had previously acquired worldwide rights excluding France, Poland and Greece.

Focus Features set the North American theatrical opening for August 21, 2026, and So Films lists September 25, 2026 for Poland. For French audiences, the date to retain is December 9, 2026, as published by The Jokers.

Synopsis :
In a society ruled by a sentient AI, a private detective investigating a murder stumbles upon a rebel group capable of undermining the digital leader.

Hot Spot
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Written by Robert Bolesto
Produced by Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień
Starring Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima
Cinematography : Jakub Kijowski
Edited by Beata Liszewska
Music by Marcin Mack, Zuzanna Wrońska
Production company : Madants
Distributed by Focus Features (United States), The Jokers Films (France)
Release dates : August 21, 2026 (United States), December 9, 2026 (France)
Running time : 101 minutes

Photos : Copyright Focus Features