Proud: the Polish series that shook up Series Mania, not to be missed on HBO Max (review)

Winner of the Grand Prix in Lille, and carried by a stunning actor, Proud signs one of the most beautiful serial surprises of the year. An intimate and political chronicle that dares to face the fractures of contemporary Poland.

Launched with a bang at Series Mania last March, Proud quickly established itself as one of the phenomena of the Lille 2026 selection.

Rewarded with the Grand Prix of the festival, the Polish series created by Karol Klementewicz also allowed Ignacy Liss to walk away with the best actor prize. A deserved double accolade for a work that is both deeply intimate and resolutely political, which arrives today on HBO Max in France.

Controversial in its home country, Proud tackles a subject that continues to divide Polish society. Ignacy Liss plays a young gay man, an inveterate party animal, rebellious, free and proud of it. But his life is turned upside down when he suddenly has to take care of his niece, who becomes an orphan after the death of her sister. Then begins a battle as administrative as it is human in Catholic Poland where no legal precedent exists for the adoption of a child by a homosexual couple.

The great strength of Proud is to never reduce its message to a simple manifesto. The series dares to show the different sensitivities that cross the country, the fears, the prejudices linked to homosexuality and the resistance of a society still in the process of changing. Without excusing intolerance, she seeks above all to open dialogue, convinced that it remains possible – and necessary – to talk to each other despite fractures.

But beyond its societal dimension, Proud is especially touching through its humanity. A poignant portrait of a young man on the brink of the abyss, forced to take his life back into his own hands, the series delivers a tender, sincere and moving reflection on love, friendship and family. Faced with responsibilities he had never envisaged, his hero begins a moving introspective journey. A sensitive meditation on what really makes a family, coupled with a lucid look at ordinary homophobia and the mechanisms of escape that sometimes distance us from ourselves. An essential series, whose emotion resonates well beyond the borders of Poland.

Proud, in 8 episodes, to watch on HBO Max, from June 12, 2026.