Magical Worlds of Polish Animation
13 March 2010
7.30pm
Price: £4.5 / £3.5 conc.
Black Box, Exeter Phoenix
featuring:
- The Kinematograph, The Cathedral by Tomek Bagiński
- Crime and Punishment, Franz Kafka, Walls, Freedom of the leg by Piotr Dumała.
Discover animated worlds created by Tomek Bagiński, the author of the Oscar-nominated 'Cathedral', and Piotr Dumała, one of the most recognized Polish animators and multitalented creator of ‘Crime and Punishment’, whose characteristic style is based on covering plaster tiles with dark paint and then scratching with surgical precision the images on their surface.
THE KINEMATOGRAPH / KINEMATOGRAF
Dir: Tomasz Bagiński
Poland, 2009, 12 min. 10 sec.
Francis is an inventor. His invention is supposed to change the world. He forgot about one thing: dreams always cost too much. He is focused only on himself and his work and realizes the gravity of the situation only when it is too late.
More info at: www.thekinematograph.com
HOW IT ALL BEGAN:
"The Kinematograph” is an adaptation of a comic with the same title created with a pen and crayon by Mateusz Skutnik. It was included in the album "Rewolucje: Monochrom". It all started with a journalist, Krzysztof Lipka-Chudzik, who introduced the afore-mentioned album to Tomek Bagiński. The idea was simple: it was all about a concept for a new film that the director was also looking for. Bagiński, who is always bombarded with new film projects, was close to dropping the challenge posed by Skutnik's art until he started to read "The Cinematograph”. The comic turned out to be a ready-made film script.
* * *
Francis jest wynalazcą. Jego wynalazek ma zmienić świat. Zapomniał jednak o jednym: marzenia zawsze kosztują zbyt wiele. Skupiony na sobie i swojej pracy dostrzega powagę sytuacji, gdy już jest za późno.
Wiecej informacji: www.kinematograf.pl
Trailer
THE CATHEDRAL / KATEDRA
Dir: Tomasz Bagiński
Poland, 2002, 6 min. 20 sek
Awards: Oscar nominee in the "short animated film" category; Best Animated Short Award at the Siggraph Computer Animation Festival in San Antonio, 2002; First Prize at the Animago Festival in Germany, 2002; Best Short Digital Award at the Bradford Film Festival, 2002; Best of the Show Award at the ArtFutura Festival in Barcelona, 2002; Silver Hobby-Horse [Lajkonik] at the Cracow Film Festival, 2003)
Adaptation of Jacek Dukaj’s story of the same title, ‘The Cathedral’ tells a story of a pilgrim, a lone wanderer on a distant planet, who arrives at the Cathedral situated at the end of the known world. He looks for answers. He finds peace.
* * *
Zrealizowana na podstawie opowiadania Jacka Dukaja o tym samym tytule opowieść o pielgrzymie, który przybywa do Katedry położonej na skraju znanego świata. Pragnie odpowiedzi. Znajduje spokój.
Pełna informacja w języku polskim: http://www.culture.pl/pl/culture/artykuly/dz_katedra_baginski
Trailer
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT / ZBRODNIA I KARA
Dir. Piotr Dumała
Poland, 2000
Awards: 2000 - Złota Kreska at National Animated Film Festival in Cracow; 2001 - Korona Króla Kazimierza Animated Film Audience Award at Lato Filmowe in Kazimierz Dolny; Grand Prix at 2nd Biesiada z Filmem Krótkiego Metrażu DAF in Szczecin.
Dumala's most recent piece is an adaptation of the homonymous novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Thirty-four minutes' long, no dialogues, with music by Janusz Hajdun, is a kind of a dream, as if someone has read 'Crime and Punishment' and then had a dream about it" ("Gazeta Wyborcza", 29 August 2997, interview by Katarzyna Bielas). Piotr Dumała's mastery in conveying the truth about the human mind is worthy of Bergman's. Although not a single word is said, the perfect narration makes the plot, the states of the killer's mind and St Petersburg's scenery into a unity, and the simplest objects, such as a watch or an axe, speak for themselves as well as for Raskolnikov. The result is an accurate account of the states of the killer's mind and a psychological portrait as penetrating as the one which Dostoevsky made with words."
Trailer
FRANZ KAFKA
Dir. Piotr Dumała
Poland, 1991, 16 min
In Franz Kafka, Dumala shows us scenes from Kafka's life, from youth, through the ripening of his creative genius to his eventual isolation. Taking Kafka's diaries, letters and novels themselves as its source, the film includes documentary material - from photos taken by Kafka between 1883 and 1924 to images of Prague at the turn of the century.
Awards: 1992 Grand Prix at the 10th International Animation Film Festival in Zagreb, Best Animated Film at the International Film Festival in Madrid, Grand Prix at the International Animated Film Festival in Espinho, and Best Cartoon Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
WALLS / ŚCIANY
Dir. Piotr Dumała
Poland, 1987
Awards: 1988 - 5 to 10 Minutes Best Film Award at Espinho International Animated Film Festival; mention at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival; 2nd Prize at Mottawa International Animated Film Festival; Spanish Federation of Film Debating Clubs and Silver Dancer for the Best Animated Film at Huesca International Short Film Festival; Golden Dragon Grand Prix at the Cracow 25th International Short Film Festival; Grand Prix at 2nd Animated Film Festival in Zamość; Special Prize at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival; 1989 - Grand Prix for a 5+ Minute Film for Adults at Animated Film Biennial Fazy '89.
Made in 1987, "Ściany / Walls" tells a story of a man locked in a room without an exit and failing to find a way out. Someone drops in a coin through a hole and switches off the bulb. A study of claustrophobia and a gloomy parable interpreted as an allusion to the situation of Poles living within the confines of a communist country. A metaphor of a society living in a totalitarian system. With evocative music by Przemysław Gintrowski.
FREEDOM OF THE LEG / WOLNOŚĆ NOGI
Dir. Piotr Dumała
Poland, 1988
Awards: 1989 - Grand Prix at 1st Animated Film Biennial FAZY'89 in Bielsko-Biała; Brązowy Lajkonik at 19th National Short Film Festival in Cracow; Professional Prize at the Kiev KROK Festival; 1990 - 1st Prize for a 5 to12 Minute Film at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films.
Made in 1988, "Wolność nogi / Freedom of the Leg", is a dream-like story of a sleeping man whose body parts live their own lives at night to return to him in the morning - all except one leg which has chosen freedom. Its owner as well as a crowd of homeless men chase the leg, but it grows feathers and flies away as a bird. A grotesque tale with a poetic ending and with interesting music by Janusz Hajdun.
