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Masters of Polish animation 2

Sunday 26 Aug 3pm

See also Masters of Polish animation 1
Saturday 25 August 3pm

Polish animation holds a very special position in the hearts of all fans of classic animation. Put simply, Polish animation is superb. Any list of ‘best ever’ animators is going to have a strong contingent from Poland embedded in it. Indeed, animation has been created in Poland from the earliest days of cinema with the examples dating back to pre-1920s. Poles were also among the first to utilise animation for making commercials with examples of those works to be found in the 1930s.

Animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi describes the themes of Polish as animation as a “sense of absurdity, surrealism and anguished settings”. All true but to this could also be added a love of complex, adult fairytales and a willingness to take the best from western and eastern visual influences.
The names of the finest Polish animators stand high on any list of master animators. Zofia Oraczewska, Jan Lenica, Jerzy Kucia, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Piotr Dumala. Walerian Borowczyk and Ladislaw Starewicz produced some of the finest animated films ever screened.

Recently, the Pompidou Centre in Paris curated an enormous collection of Polish Masters and these two programs owe a great deal to that fine inspiration. We also owe a very large “Thank You” to Marlena Lukasiak of the Polish Cultural Institute in London and Helena Dametka of Filmoteka Narodowa in Warsaw. This collection is but a glimpse of an incredible community of animators creating a strong, robust, challenging, superb body of truly original work – but what a glimpse.

Tango
Zbigniew Rybczynski
1980, 8'25


The appeal / apel
Ryszard Czekala
1970, 7'00


Reflections / refleksy
Jerzy Kucia
1979, 7'00


Everything is a number / wszystko jest liczba
Stefan Schabenbeck
1966, 8'00


The stairs / schody
Stefan Schabenbeck
1968, 8'00


The armchair / fotel
Daniel Szczechura
1963, 5'00


Diptych – Morgana The Fairy 1 and 11
Daniel Szczechura
1983, 16'00


The Wait/Oczekkiwanie
Witold Giersz
1962, 9'00