Festival Favorites

A journey through contemporary Polish animated cinema presented by Olga Bobrowska and Michael Bobrowski.    

Program:

KATEDRA (THE CATHEDRAL, Tomasz Bagiński, 2002, 6´)
An Oscar nominee, this 3D-CGI film was a breakthrough in Polish animation after a stagnation period of the 1990s. Based on a popular story by Jacek Dukaj, the film explores a fascinating and absorbing sanctuary where humans transform themselves upon encountering the essence of the gods’ spirit.

NIEPRAWDOPODOBNIE ELASTYCZNY CZŁOWIEK (THE INCREDIBLY ELASTIC MAN, Karolina Specht, 2013, 5´)
A man is born without a shape. Given this ephemeral body, he is constrained to deal with the people, things, and places that are constantly shaping him. Can one live completely detached from others, from reality? Who and what decides who we are in the end?

TOTO (Zbigniew Czapla, 2013, 12´)
Film made in the director's distinctive visual style that uses ink and acrylic painting. Horrifying events unfold when a boy loses his way home, and a cynical authority lures him into his place. A strong yet poetic voice condemning the silencing of victims of pedophile crime.

DESZCZ (THE RAIN, Piotr Milczarek, 2019, 5´)
A simple animated film pondering over a strange phenomenon of collective consciousness that appears, functions, malfunctions, and disappears. The film also depicts an individual's struggle with collective hypnosis and its consequences for both the individual and the crowd.

ACID RAIN (Tomasz Papakul, 2019, 26´)
Diving into 1990s rave culture spiced with drugs and general 'whatever-ism,' this film recalls fascinating, dark, and hilarious experiences of transformation seen through the eyes of Young One and Skinny, two outcasts traveling around in a van without much of a plan.

MARBLES (Natalia Spychała, 2019, 5´)
Threads that evolve into contours of body parts, pots or light bulbs that balance on cut-out objects, paper backgrounds and table plans. Each action implies another. Any discord in the overwhelming impression of continuity can be traced back to a state of harmony.

SLOW LIGHT (Kijek/Adamski, Polonia-Portugal, 2022, 10´)
A boy who was born blind suddenly, at the age of seven, sees a light; it turns out it takes seven years for light to reach his retina. An inventive approach to cut-out animation was applied to represent the tactile reality of the present, while 2D animation demonstrates the past.

JAK BYĆ MĘCZENNIKIEM (MARTYR'S GUIDEBOOK, Maks Rzontkowski, 2023, 9´)
Tony is the ultimate good guy, sometimes to a fault. He also lives with an angel. The film's visual style is based on anti-aesthetics that rhyme with nastiness and pettiness ruling this world. Eventually, living through extremes, we all seek love, understanding, and simple kindness.

> Not recomended under 18 years old.