The Congress is based on a novel by one of the most internationally recognised Polish writers Stanislaw Lem. A coproduction between Israel, Poland, USA, Germany, Luxemburg, France and Belgium the film went into production in February 2011. The film is a fusion of feature and animated film techniques. The title is produced in Poland by Opus Film in coproduction with Entre Chien et Loup, Pandora Filmproduktion, Paul Thiltges Distributions. The film recieved 3m PLN of production support from the Polish Film Institute and the total budget was 34 m PLN (8.2 m PLN).

The film is directed by Ari Folman, an Israeli filmmaker best knowns for his Waltz with Bashir. The cinematographer for the feature part of the film is Michal Englert while the animated part of the film was made by Orange studio based in Bielsko-Biala. The cast of The Congress includes Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Paul Giamatti, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Danny Huston.

The Congress follows the story of a search for one's humanity. In a futuristic setting, an actress became a virtual superstar by selling the rights for her image to a film studio. At 65, she is not distinguishable from her artificial image and fights to get her identity back. Suddenly she attends a futurologist congress where she discovers the workings of the corporation.