Photo: press materials
The project "Polish School of Animation, its Observers and Continuators" aspires to bring international recognition to the sixty-year history of Polish animation.
The Barbican Polish animation season featured four screenings, aiming to showcase the school's most valuable achievements, starting from the films that made it into the mainstream, as well as other, lesser known works. The season also introduced the most interesting and, at times, controversial achievements of young Polish animation.
The program was divided into four screenings: two films reflected Polish animation classics, followed by two other productions, which came as recent debuts from the youngest generation of working filmmakers. The screenings were accompanied by informational bulletins on films and filmmakers, as well as press and Internet publications. There was also a panel discussion about polish animation featuring director Wiola Sowa, whose film "Refrains" was shown as part of the programme.
The "Polish School of Animation" came into being in the second half of the 1950s as one of the most interesting artistic phenomenas of Polish post-war culture. It was strongly connected with the "polską szkołą plakatu" / "Polish Poster School" and its emergence coincided with the "national schools" animation movement, which was particularly intense in the late 1950s- early 1960s. The movement was initiated by Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk. Their jointly made films "Był sobie raz" / "Once Upon a Time" (1957), "Nagrodzone uczucia" / "Love Requited" (1957), "Dom" / "The House" (1958), and "Sztandar Młodych" / "The Colours of Youth" (1958) contributed to the breakthrough in Polish animated film which thereafter became imbued with allusions to complex contemporary issues. Despite the fact that both founding artists moved to the West, a diverse, multi-generational group, known abroad as "the Polish School", has developed in the country thanks to the work of Witold Giersz, Mirosław Kijowicz, Daniel Szczechura, Kazimierz Urbański, and younger arists, such as Stefan Schabenbeck, Ryszard Czekała, Julian Antonisz, Jerzy Kucia, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Jerzy Kalina, and Piotr Dumała. Their artistic output, appreciated world-wide, has influenced a subsequent generation of filmmakers, currently studying and making their film debuts in Poland. Outside of Poland, the school has been named one of the most interesting in world animation of the last fifty years.
The Barbican is Europe's largest multi-arts and conference venue, which hosts a diverse range of art, music, theatre, dance, film and education events.
The Centre houses the Barbican Hall, Barbican Theatre, and the Pit theatre, as well as a cinema, the Barbican Art Gallery, The Curve gallery, the Lakeside Terrace, among smaller venues.
Full Programme:
i
Kineformy/ Cineforms, real. Andrzej Pawłowski (1957, 6’45’’)
Zmiana warty/ The Changing of the Guard, real. Włodzimierz Haupe, Halina Bielińska (1958, 7’30’’)
Dom/House, real. Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica (1958, 11’)
Szkoła/The School, real. Walerian Borowczyk (1958, 6’30’’)
Labirynt/Labyrinth, real. Jan Lenica (1961, 14’15’’)
Igraszki/ Playthings, real. Kazimierz Urbański (1962, 7’)
Czerwone i czarne/Red and Black, real. Witold Giersz (1963, 6’30’’)
Słodkie rytmy/Sweet Rhythms, real. Kazimierz Urbański (1965, 6’30’’)
Wszystko jest liczbą/ Everything Is a Number, real. Stefan Schabenbeck (1966, 7’30’’)
Koń/The Horse, real. Witold Giersz (1967, 6’)
Worek/ The Sack, real. Tadeusz Wilkosz (1967, 8’)
Hobby, real. Daniel Szczechura (1968, 7’)
ii
Podróż/ A Trip, real. Daniel Szczechura (1970, 6’30’’)
Syn/The Son, real. Ryszard Czekała (1970, 9’45’’)
Apel/The Roll-Call, real. Ryszard Czekała (1970,7’15”)
Test I, real. Józef Robakowski (1971, 5’15’’)
Bankiet/ The Banquet, real. Zofia Oraczewska (1976, 8’15’’)
Portret/Portrait, real. Stanisław Lenartowicz (1977, 7’45’’)
Droga/Road, real. Mirosław Kijowicz (1971, 4’30’’)
Pierwszy film/The First Film, real. Józef Piwkowski (1981, 9’30’’)
Refleksy/Reflection, real. Jerzy Kucia (1979, 6’)
Tango, real. Zbigniew Rybczyński (1980, 8’)
Solo na ugorze/ Solo in a fallow Field, real. Jerzy Kalina (1981, 7’)
Łagodna/ Gentle Spirit, real. Piotr Dumała (1985, 11’)
iii
Franz Kafka, real. Piotr Dumała (1991, 16’)
Drgająca struna – Chordofon z IV suity s-dur., real. Rafał Bartkowicz (1995, 5’30’’)
Maski/The Mask, real. Piotr Karwas (1998, 5’)
Romans dżentelmena/ Gentleman's Romance, real. Tomasz Kozak (2000, 10’)
Strojenie instrumentów/ Tuning the Instruments, real. Jerzy Kucia (2000, 15’15’’)
Śmierć na 5/A- Grade Death, Real. Mariusz Wilczyński (2002, 3’40’’)
Katedra/ The Cathedral, real. Tomasz Bagiński (2002, 6’30’’)
Po jabłkach/After Apples, real. Marta Pajek (2004, 5’30’’)
Niestety/Unfortunately, real. Mariusz Wilczyński, (2004, 13’)
Sztuka spadania/Fallen Art, real. Tomasz Bagiński (2004, 6’)
Zoopraxiscope, real. Hieronim Neumann (2005, 11’45’’)
Ichthys, real. Marek Skrobecki (2005, 15’)
IV
Śniadanie/The Breakfast, real. Izabela Plucińska (2006, 2’20’’)
Wiek kamienia/The Age of Stone, real. Marta Skrocka (2007, 8’)
Dokumanimo, real. Małgorzata Bosek (2007, 10’)
Sekwens/Sequence, real. Robert Sowa (2007, 8’)
Refreny/ Refrains, real. Wiola Sowa (2007, 13’15’’)
Wywijas/Inside Out, real. Andrzej Jobczyk (2008, 5’30)
Laska/Stick, real. Michał Socha (2008, 5’)
Ukryte/Hidden, real. Piotr Szczepanowicz (2009, 7’)
Kto by pomyślał?/Who Would Have Though?, real. Ewa Borysewicz, (2009, 10’41’’)
Esterhazy, real. Izabela Plucińska (2009, 25’)
Rytuał/Ritual, real. Zbigniew Czapla (2010, 5’30’’)
Date: 14th of July, 2011
Venue: Barbican Centre, London
Organised by: Stowarzyszenie Rotunda, Barbican Centre, London
Project cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.
Source: Adam Mickiewicz Institute
See trailers online:
Barbican trailer
For more information on the film series, see:
www.etiudaandanima.com
www.barbican.org.uk