Αφιερώματα

O!PLA ACROSS THE BORDERS 2014 is a cross-section of contemporary (2012-2014) Polish animation for audience in age 16+.

 

O!PLA ACROSS THE BORDERS 2014 include:

1. “film made in professional studio”

2. fully independent animations

3. school (graduation films)

4. animated music videos

5. “animated epigrams” (very short movies).

 

From the very beginning, the main aim of O!PLA is (re)build relations between audience and artists, and reaching out with the art of animation especially to smaller  centers  in  the country. Moreover, O!PLA - thanks to special screenings for viewers of all ages, lectures, meetings with artists and animation workshops - has a significant educational dimension. And thanks to O!PLA ACROSS THE BORDERS project can promote the art of Polish animation also abroad. The initiator and main organizer of O!PLA is Animation Across Borders (Piotr Kardas).

 

 

The Movies (95’)

 

01. STEVEN AND THE BETTLE / Stefan i Żuczek, 12’ 20”

Poland 2012

Directed by Piotr Loc Hoang Ngoc

Screenplay: Piotr Loc Hoang Ngoc

Animation: Piotr Loc Hoang Ngoc

Technique: cut-out 2D

Music: Kacper Zamarło, Włodzimierz Antoniv

Production: PWSFTviT ŁÓDŹ (Film School Lodz)

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Is there a place for friendship in the world dominated by callous health rules? For a friendship that is a misalliance. Stefan is a successful swim coach loved by women. His life is turned upside down when he meets Beetle. Beetle embodies everything that is forbidden in the Stefan's world. Will their friendship last? Will Stefan be able to kill qualms of consience in the same way as he kills the smell of his friend with scented trees? A film by animation and special effect student from Lodz film school does not give clear answers but it makes an accurate diagnosis of human relationships. The animation about Stefan and Beetle should not be called surrealistic. On the contrary, in Piotr Hoang Ngoc's animation real reflection about loyality and alienation of an individual is hidden under the guise of grotesque realities.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 3rd Award ("Brown Bundle") in the category “school/graduation”

 

 

 

02. ORAWUS, 9’ 15”

Poland 2013

Directed by Wojciech M. Sławuski

Screenplay: Wojciech M. Sławuski

Animation: Wojciech M. Sławuski

Technique: painting 2D

Music: Wojciech Kilar

Production: Wojciech M. Sławuski

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Experimental music video created to the famous composition under the title "Orawa" by Wojciech Kilar, the great Polish contemporary composer.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 3rd Award ("Brown Bundle") in the category “animated music video".

 

 

 

03. HUMAN PARASITE / Glista Lucka, 7’ 29’’

Poland 2014

Directed by Tomasz Pawlak

Screenplay: Tomasz Pawlak

Animation: Tomasz Pawlak

Technique: cut-out 2D / drawn

Music: Doktor Metafor

Production: Tomasz Pawlak

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: Yes (intertitle)

 

Lucjan Poluśkiewicz, as a newly minted graduate of the Biology Department, starts independent life. His plans, however, collide with harsh reality: he is attacked by the parasite... Is the knowledge gained in college is enough to defeat him?

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 3rd Award ("Brown Bundle") in the category “fully independent”.

 

 

 

04. LOST SENSES / Zmysły prysły, 6’ 05’’

Poland 2013, 6’05”)

Directed by Marcin Wasilewski

Screenplay: Robert Jaszczurowski, Łukasz Kacprowicz, Based on the original idea by:

Marcin Wasilewski

Animation: Jakub Szczęśniak, Tomasz Wyrąbkiewicz, Grzegorz Zarębski, Artur Huk

Technique: CGI

Music: Michał Jacaszek

Production: Grupa Smacznego (GS Animation)

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

A short story about an encounter in an abstract world, á la Giorgio De Chrico. A Man is about to meet a Woman in an abstract flying city. Excited, running like a parkour practitioner, he is climbing up on the buildings. But one unguarded moment is enough to make him lose his senses. And his chance.

- O!PLA AWARD: 3rd Award ("Brown Bundle") in the category “film made in professional studio”.

 

 

 

05. BLACK ON WHITE / Czarne Na Białym, 1’ 10’’

Poland 2013

Directed by Mateusz Gudel

Screenplay: Mateusz Gudel

Animation: Mateusz Gudel

Technique: drawn

Music: Mateusz Gudel

Production: UA POZNAŃ (School)

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Whether these eyes can lie? Animated epigram about the power of the human gaze.

- O!PLA AWARD: 3rd Award ("Brown Bundle") in the category “animated epigrams”.

 

 

 

06. WIRE MAN / Druciak, 11’ 29”

Poland 2013

Directed by Anna Rękas

Screenplay: Anna Rękas

Animation: Anna Rękas

Technique: stop motion

Music: Alan Kyne Perry

Production: ZSMC WA UMCS LUBLIN (School)

Dialogues: Yes

Subtitles: Yes

 

Attempts to mask our true selves, do not help us in life and in relationships with others.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 2nd Award ("Silver Bundle") in the category “school/graduation”

 

 

 

07. THE LAW OF THE FIRST NIGHT / Ius Primae Noctis – Prawo Pierwszej Nocy, 4’ 15’’

Poland 2012

Directed by Łukasz Rusinek

Screenplay: Łukasz Rusinek

Animation: Łukasz Rusinek

Technique: drawn 2D

Music: R.U.T.A.

Production: NCK, ESK, KARROT KOMMANDO

Dialogues: Old Polish lyrics

Subtitles: No

 

Music video for Polish folk/hardcore punk project R.U.T.A.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 2nd Award ("Silver Bundle") in the category “animated music video".

 

 

 

08. ON / OFF, 6’ 27”

Poland 2013

Directed by Piotr Ludwik

Screenplay: Piotr Ludwik

Animation: Piotr Ludwik

Technique: stop motion

Music: Piotr Kubiak

Production: Se-ma-for Film Foundation

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Mr Potato lives in typical, Grandma's, stuffed flat. Green, awful wallpaper on the walls, TV in each room and a few mechanical improvements made not to waste time for shaving, cooking, washing up, going to buy beer. Why should you lose time if you can spend it on watching TV? So Mr Potato has everything organise, lives peacefully and devotes himself to his new passion- staring at the box. But one day...

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 2nd Award ("Silver Bundle") in the category “film made in professional studio”.

 

 

 

09. SPIDER AND FLIES / Pajak i Muchy, 3’ 30”

Poland 2013

Directed by Tessa Moult-Milewska

Screenplay: Tessa Moult-Milewska, based on the motives of a poem by Jan Brzechwa

Animation: Tessa Moult-Milewska

Technique: cut-out 2D, mixed

Music: Krzysztof A. Janczak

Production: Tessa Moult-Milewska

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Adaptation of the popular Polish fairy tale about the consequences of some deal between the spider and the flies.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 2nd Award ("Silver Bundle") in the category “fully independent”.

 

 

 

10. SALT AND PEPPER / Sól I Pierz, 2’ 02”

Poland 2012

Directed by Alicja Adamkiewicz

Screenplay: Alicja Adamkiewicz

Animation: Alicja Adamkiewicz

Technique: salt and pepper

Music: Carlos Gardel

Production: UMK TORUŃ (School)

Dialogues: Spanish lyrics

Subtitles: No

 

Animated epigram to the composition "Por una Cabeza" by Carlos Gardel.

- O!PLA'14 AWARD: 2nd Award ("Silver Bundle") in the category “animated epigrams”.

 

 

 

11. THE GOVERNANCE OF LOVE / O Rządach Miłości, 13’ 15’’

Poland 2013

Directed by Adela Kaczmarek

Screenplay: Adela Kaczmarek

Animation: Adela Kaczmarek, based on the original drawings by main character

Technique: drawn

Music: Mikołaj Majkusiak

Production: Towarzystwo Inicjatyw Twórczych „ę”

Dialogues: Yes

Subtitles: Yes

 

It is an animated documentary about imagination. The protagonist lives in several realities at the same time. Real people and events intertwine with those created by his imagination. He looks for a place for himself in this world and does it in his own unique way. He spins a tale while dreaming about the rule of love in Poland. Despite its naivety, his world ignites thought about the existential notions of good and evil. The author uses animation to show the inner life of the mentally ill patient and for the visual value of the film uses images created spontaneously by the protagonist.

- O!PLA AWARD: 1st Award ("Golden Bundle") in the category “film made in professional studio”.

 

 

 

12. WHAT IF... / A Gdyby…, 4’ 57’’

Poland 2013

Directed by Kamil Wójcik

Screenplay: Kamil Wójcik

Animation: Kamil Wójcik

Technique: drawn / cut-out 2D

Music: Kamil Wójcik

Production: Kamil Wójcik

Dialogues: Yes

Subtitles: Yes

 

What would happen if ...

- O!PLA AWARD: 1st Award ("Golden Bundle") in the category "fully independent".

 

 

 

 

13. THREE KINGS - PASTORALE / Trzej Królowie – Pastorałka, 3’ 20”

Poland 2014

Directed by Anna Błaszczyk

Screenplay: Anna Błaszczyk, based on the carol #93 from the collection “Pastorals and Christmas carols with melodies” published in Cracow in 1843.

Animation: Anna Błaszczyk, Agata Droga-Bazan

Technique: cut-out 2D

Music: Jan Duszyński

Production: WJTeam

Dialogues: Old Polish lyrics

Subtitles: No

 

Music video on the basis of old Polish carol.

- O!PLA AWARD: 1st Award ("Golden Bundle") in the category "animated music video".

 

 

 

 

14. ARS MORIENDI, 7’ 22”

Poland 2013

Directed by Miłosz Margański

Screenplay: Miłosz Margański

Animation: Miłosz Margański

Technique: 3D, mixed

Music: Miłosz Margański

Production: UA POZNAŃ (school)

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

To what extend can our live be planned? Do we ever let the coincidence influence our plans? "Ars moriendi" seeks to answer these questions. The main protagonist's struggles with the surrounding reality are performed in the context of the Art of Dying - a medieval manual on the procedures of reaching the salvation through "dignified" death. All set in quite austere, cardboard scenery.

O!PLA AWARD: 1st Award ("Golden Bundle") in the category “school/graduation”.

 

 

 

15. PAC!, 1’ 19”

Poland 2012

Directed by Alicja Błaszczyńska

Screenplay: Alicja Błaszczyńska

Animation: Alicja Błaszczyńska

Technique: drawn 2D

Music: Alicja Błaszczyńska

Production: PWSFTviT ŁÓDŹ (Film School Lodz)

Dialogues: No

Subtitles: No

 

Animated epigram about some unexpected meeting in the bathroom...

- O!PLA AWARD: 1st Award ("Golden Bundle") in the category “animated epigrams”.