Agnieszka Zając, selector of the ANIMA.PL competition, invites you for a feast composed of the Polish animated films.
 

Still from the film "Three Women on a Bench", dir.: Karolina Borgiasz

Announcing the first edition of the ANIMA.PL competition, we were anxious to see if and how the Polish filmmakers would surprise us. Animation can be a very powerful tool that reaches the core of our feelings, affects us on many layers of imagination, unfolds new universes before our eyes, often balancing on the verge of reality and fiction.

We were impressed by the puppet animation creating a world filled with insecurity and threat in Ucieczka by Jarosław Konopka; by the tense story of life and death evoked in Wcielenie by Barbara Rupik; by the picture of everyday life, typical to many Polish block estates, painted by Karolina Borgiasz in Na językach.

Animations selected for the competition – created by students, independent artists as well as professional filmmakers – touched a broad spectrum of themes. Films addressed to the youngest audience had a moralistic undertone, presented very skilfully, without infantilization. We feel that, thanks to the talented artists of young and middle generation, Polish children animation slowly regains its former glory.

Using a simple line, Karolina Specht in Wyjdę z siebie explores our sometimes desperate need to see somebody else in another human. We are also witnesses to a relationship between mother and son (O Matko!), son and father (W tramwaju), emotional partnership (Wieczór), journey into the counciousness of the main character (Dziwny przypadek), story set in the outer space (Czerń) animated adaptation of Lem's novel (Doradcy Króla Hydropsa), horror-inspired animation (Sklep z rybami), black comedy (Bankiet) and a road story of a dead Viking (Droga do Nilfheim). There is an outstanding section of films on women directed by women: Figury niemożliwe i inne historie II, XOXO pocałunki i uściski, Cipka, Locus, Ucieczki. We cannot omit two animated videoclips: Odessa and Ponura tresura. Personally, I keep my fingers crossed for the animation Zjazd (by Jerzy Tabor), which is very sophisticated in its simplicity and refers to the best traditions of the Polish School of Animation.

We hope that the animated feast, prepared by the Polish artists, and the menu, composed by the selection panel of the 24^th IFF Etiuda&Anima, will taste delightful to our dear jury and invaluable viewers, who are our best critics, attending our festival for years. Bon appétit!
 

Agnieszka Zając (selector)

Tłumaczenie: Kinga Ostapińska

1^st Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
23rd November (Thursday), 03.30 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room

2^nd Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
23rd November (Thursday), 05.00 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room

3^rd Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
24th November (Friday), 02.30 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room

4^th Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
24th November (Friday), 04.00 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room

5^th Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
25th November (Saturday), 03.00 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room

6^th Screening of ANIMA.PL Competition
25th November (Saturday), 04.30 pm.
Malopolska Garden of Arts – Large Screening Room