SUCCESSES OF POLISH ANIMATED FILMS - SUMMARY OF 2015
2015 was another good year for Polish animated film. During the last twelve months, Polish animated films were shown abroad almost 600 times. Many of these screenings ended successfully, and the months of festival screenings around the world brought filmmakers over 45 awards.
In the summary of the most popular films, which during last twelve months gained the highest number of festival invitation, "Baths" by Tomek Ducki is the leader for the second time, two years in a row, as in 2015 it was shown at almost 40 festivals and awarded 5 times. Summing up the results of the last two years, "Baths" ends its festival tour with the score of over 100 screenings and 22 awards. The producer of the début film by Ducki is Studio Miniatur Filmowych and Peek and Boo. The second place, just like last year, was kept by Piotr Dumała and his "Hippos", produced by Fumi Studio. In 2015, the film was shown abroad almost 35 times, and awarded five times. Among other films popular at festivals, one has to mention the student film by Karolina Specht, "The Incredibly Elastic Man". The film was successfully shown at last year's festivals, and ends the year with the result of 33 festival invitations. Karolina Specht is a student of Lodz Film School. Another film which enjoyed great popularity at foreign, and as far as awards are concerned, especially at Polish festivals, is the film well-known to festival audience, made by Jerzy Kucia: "Fugue For Cello, Trumpet and Landscape". The film was shown at 21 festivals abroad. Bartek Kędzierski ("Woolen Cogwheels"), Wojciech Sobczyk ("Summer 2014") and Tomasz Pilarski ("But she's nice...") can each boast the result of several festival invitations.
This year, in the festival circulation, for the first time in several year, two Polish feature-length animated films appeared. The first one is the animated documentary film "Magic Mountain" directed by Anca Damian. The film, made in Romanian-Polish-French co-production, had its première screening at the festival in Karlovy Vary, where it was given the Special Mention from the festival jury. The second, totally different feature-length film, which was made in 2015, was "Golden Drops" - an animated film dedicated to children and family audience. The film, directed by Daniel Zduńczyk and Marcin Męczkowski, which won a couple of festival laurels, will be shown in Polish cinemas this year.
Just like last year, in the ranking of the producers whose films are most frequently shown at festivals, the first place went to Fumi Studio from Warsaw. The films produced by Fumi were shown abroad almost 100 times last year. The films which were the most popular ones at festivals include: "Hippos" (P.Dumała), "Home" (A. Borowa) and "Endemit's Greed" (N. Dziedzic).
2015 was not only the year of competition screenings and awards. In February, Polish animated films were promoted at Polish national stall Polish Shorts, organised by Krakow Film Foundation at the film market in Clermont Ferrand. As every year, the stall enjoyed a huge interest of visitors, who could also participate in the film market screening "Polish shorts presents", organised by the foundation. In May, the visitors of Short Film Corner in Cannes could watch the special set of Polish short films, including animations, selected by Krakow Film Foundation. In June, the Polish stall organised by KFF for the fifth time, was visited by the guests of animated film market MIFA in Annecy, France. Last year's edition of the film market, which was held from 15 to 20 June, attracted film industry from around the world. Polish presence at the film market was additionally emphasised by the cocktail party organised in co-operation with Polish Animation Producers Association (SPPA), supported by the Polish Institute in Paris.
A large screening of Polish animated films was held within the frames of the Swiss festival Fantoche. The audience and guests watched over 40 films made in Poland, since 1960s until today. Polish screenings appeared also in the programmes of the festivals "The Fantastic Four" (Turkey), RIFF (Iceland), Carton (Argentina), Animated Dreams (Estonia), Akbank Short Film Festival (Turkey), Ciak Polska Film Festival (Italy) and 3D Wire (Spain).
It is worthwhile to mention also the series of foreign festival replicas, thanks to which viewers around the world could watch Polish animated films. In 2015, the series of screenings abroad O!PLA Across Borders was held for the third time. The screening of the films by the award-winners of O!PLA Nationwide Polish Animated Film Festival was watched by the viewers in 39 cities around the world. Another festival organising replicas abroad is Short Waves from Poznan. In 2015, the final seven films, including two animated ones , were shown in almost a hundred cities on six continents.
All events organised by Krakow Film Foundation received the financial support of Polish Film Institute and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The partners were Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commission.
THE LIST OF AWARDS FOR POLISH SHORT FILMS IN 2015
Magic mountain, dir. Anca Damian
Grand Prix - 35th Amiens Film Festival, France
Special Mention - 50th Karolove Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic
MDR FILM Prize - 58th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany
Ex Animo, dir. Wojciech Wojtkowski
Special Jury Award for the Best Animated Film - 24th DaKino International Film Festival, Romania
Best experimental short - Chilemonos 2015, Chile
Darling, dir. Izabela Plucińska
First Prize in Innovative Trial Competiton, The Best Animation, The Best Design - 8th International Animation Forum, Egipt
Fugue for cello trumpet and a landscape, dir. Jerzy Kucia
Best Overseas Animated Short Film, Best Visual Effects - Sichuan TV Festival - Gold Panda Awards for Animations 2015, Chiny
Special Mention - 8th Banjaluka International Animation Film Festival, Bośnia i Hercegowina
Grand Prize, Best Music - BeThere!2015 Corfu Animation Festival, Grecja
Golden Horeseman - 27th Filmfest Dresden, Niemcy
Best Sound Award, Animated Dreams, Estonia
Fat and skinny, dir. Aleksandra Brożyna
Best Short Film - Monstronale Film Festival 2015, Germany
Hippos, dir. Piotr Dumała
Best International Animation, 23rd Fesancord Festival, Chile
Best Animation - 20th Riga International Film festival 2ANNAS, Lithuania
Best Animated Film - 19th Regard sur le court, Canada
Jury Honorable Mention for Animated Short, Slamdance Film Festival, USA
Best Animated Film, 9th Kinofest International Digital Film Festival, Romania
Tenetant building, dir. Agnieszka Burszewska
Best Animated Film - Toko Film Festival 2015, Italy
Kinki, dir. Izumi Yoshida
Special Award - 20th Split Film Festival, Croatia
Summer 2014, dir. Wojciech Sobczyk
Special Mention - 13th Tindirindis International Animated Film Festival, Lithuania
Jury Special Prize for the Short Films in Competition - 19th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival SICAF2015, Korea
2 Reels Jury Grand Prix - 12th Animateka International Animation Festival, Slovenia
Baths, dir. Tomek Ducki
Best Short - 22nd International Animated Film Festival KROK, Russia
Best Short Film - 12th Kecskemét Animation Film Festival, Italy
Jury Special Mention - 13th International Short Film Festival Tabor, Croatia
Best Animated Short - Newport Beach Film Festival 2015, USA
The Best Scenario, 8th International Animation Forum, Egypt
The Subtenant, dir. Damian Krakowiak
Best Sound - "Amirani" Tbilisi International Student Film Festival, Armenia
A Blue Room, dir. Tomasz Siwiński
Lenzing Award - 43 Festival of Nations, Austria
Méliès d'Argent, 31st IMAGINE Film Festival, The Netherlands
Prix France Télévisions - 37th Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival, France
Prix de Jeunesse - Festival Court Metrage Ciné Poème 2015, France
Jury Prize - 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival, China
Of a forest, dir. Katarzyna Melnyk
Animation Special Mention - 12th IndieLisboa - Lisbon International Independent Film Festival, Portugal
Signum, dir. Witold Giersz
Special Jury Prize - 13th Tindirindis International Animated Film Festival, Lithuania
Lost senses, reż. Marcin Wasilewski
First Prize in Animated Film Competition, The Best Music - 8th International Animation Forum, Egypt
Best Professional CG Animation - The World Animation Celebration 2015, USA
Golden Drops, dir. Daniel Zduńczyk and Marcin Męczkowski
Best Feature Lenght Animation – Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival, India
Best Animated Film - 7th New Media Film Fesival, USA
Under_construction, dir. Marcin Wojciechowski
Golden Unicorn – Alpinale Short Film Festival, Austria