A feature animation for adult viewers based of the life of Robert Wyatt, known as a member of such bands as Soft Machine, Matching Mole, The Wilde Flowers as well as his solo career (he was also Jimi Hendrix`s session musician). It is a sort of a long oneiric music video for the works of the British artist, specially remastered for production. It depicts a moving love story of a young couple of artists, and at the same time it is a universal tale about the great power of art and music. Apart from the dominating love plot, the film depicts social and political transformations of the 1970s, when young people questioned conservative values and were looking for a new identity. Immersed in the creative vortex of post hippie culture, the protagonists set off on a journey full of rises and falls, resounding with music, drowning in drugs and in personal tragedies.

The film was made in the rotoscoping technique consisting in painting frames on ready-made footage. For the director and film creators it was very important to draw inspiration from real locations; that is why during the development of the project they used the real streets of New York in the 1970s or the Spanish Mallorca of the time as models.

Responsibility for the Polish part of the production was shared by the GS Animation studio from Gdansk, specializing in the production of animations and known for such projects as Basia, Mami Fatale or Grand Banda. It was founded in 2004 and has been acting dynamically and successfully for two decades. It has many times won the sympathy of critics and viewers both in Poland and abroad – in 2016 it was nominated for the prestigious European Producent of the Year Award by the community of 900 European animation producers from 30 countries – the Cartoon Forum. What is more, the films and series produced by GS Animation have won numerous awards from audiences and the international animation industry.

Rock Bottom

Directed by: María Trénor, Zbigniew Czapla (oniryczne sceny/oniric scenes)
Cast: René Del Carmen, Pierre Simmons, Walter Martínez, Eugene Gadsden, Ana Martínez De Luco & Sure We Can
Music: Robert Wyatt
Production: ALBA SOTORRA, JAIBO FILMS & GS ANIMATION
Country: Hiszpania, Polska
Year: 2024
Running time: 86 min.

WHERE / WHEN

October 25, 2024 (Friday) - 5 PM
ASP Aula, Kraków, plac Jana Matejki 13

María Trénor

Urodziła się w Hiszpanii, studiowała sztuki piękne w Uniwersytecie San Carlos w Walencji. Przez kilkanaście lat pracowała jako dyrektor wydziału grafiki w firmie zajmującej się postprodukcją, a następnie rozpoczęła pracę jako ilustratorka i niezależny grafik. Jej pierwszy krótkometrażowy film animowany Con qué la lavaré zdobył 14 krajowych i międzynarodowych nagród, między innymi na 54. Międzynarodowym Festiwalu Filmowym Berlinale, Animadrid, Indie Lisboa, Cinema Jove czy Medina del Campo. Była również obecna w oficjalnych selekcjach na uznanych festiwalach (Sundance International Independent Film Festival, Guadalajara-México, Alcine, Versión Española), jak również w projekcjach w Instytucie Cervantesa poza Hiszpanią.

Zbigniew Czapla

Scenarzysta, reżyser, animator, malarz i grafik. Studia na Wydziale Grafiki ASP w Krakowie. Autor eksperymentalnych filmów animowanych. Laureat nagród na festiwalach: ANIMATOR, MESSAGE TO MAN, ANN ARBOR, KRAKOWSKI FESTIWAL FILMOWY i wiele innych. Stypendysta Ellizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Kanada), DAAD (Niemcy) oraz Ministerstwa Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego.