Marta Pajek's professional debut follows her highly acclaimed student shorts Po jabłkach (2004) and Za ścianą (2005). In Sleepincord she takes viewers on a remarkable, surprising and disturbing journey through a number of worlds – both real and invented.
As in her earlier animations, Pajek delves into a number of subjects, and gives viewers full freedom in the interpretation of events and relationships presented within. The title of the film is a pun of the Polish words for "dream" and "umbilical cord", suggesting that the subject is taken by the director as a link between sleep and spiritual reality, and based on the mechanical repetition of the daily rituals of the corporeal world.
Wind noise and ambient music by Wojciech Lemański open the dark and metaphorical film. The film's titular "dream umbilical cord", first appears as a knot in the story's twisting narrative. This quickly expands into a number of spirals, initially abstract, and after a while, turns into human and animal shapes. It seems like the title's "snępowina" is a mysterious transmission channel, squeezing the extraordinary world of which the viewer is not able to join and understand.
At the beginning of this film, several women cry – both figuratively and literally – in the thicket of images and emotions within the film.
The ritualistic treatments performed on the sleeping heroine – her feeding, dressing, putting her into the arms of a man – may symbolise the inertia of some women's attitudes towards life. It is impossible. However, it is unfair to reduce Pajek's multi-dimensional film into an unambiguous feminist statement and slogan. Therefore, it is more reasonable to interpret these scenes as a symbolic symbol of the separation of worlds – both physical and spiritual. This is especially evident in the final two scenes: the first observing a chess game between the corporeal and spiritual world of women, in recent terms, we see the triple face of the heroine – a live person falling asleep, lying in her carnal "shell" and constantly watchful of the spiritual realm.
Marta Pajek graduated from the Graphic Design Studio at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 2005, studying under Jerzy Kucia. She also sudied in Finland under the Estonian filmmaker Priita Pärn. Pajek's cinema style is shaped by an interest in the arts, graphic design and also theatre, psychology, spirtuality and human experiences. Music plays a significant role in her productions, cooperating with Darek Makaruk and Tomasz Chołoniewski on her films to create a unique sound. Her films have been recognised in Kraków, Belgrade and Łódź. In 2011 she won the Se-ma-for Film Festival in Łódź for the film Sleepincord.
In Sleepincord / Snępowina, Marta Pajek returns to the classical drawn animation with which she won awards in the film Po jabłkach. Once again, she has built a monochromatic film, supplemented by just a few colourful accents of the world, line drawn – in Pajek's characteristic childlike-style. The film's non-linear narrative structure, as well as the disturbing atmosphere of film is boosted by Wojciech Lemański's music forcing viewers to reflect on this unusually mature debut, and encourage viewers to penetrate "Snępowina's" mysterious world.
Snępowina, Poland 2011. Screenplay, directing, art direction: Marta Pajek; Music: Wojciech Lemański; Producer: Zbigniew Żmudzki; Visual editing and postproduction: Marta Pajek; Artistic supervision: Jerzy Kucia; Production manager; Ewa Wierzbowska; Production: Fundacja Se-Ma-For; Co-production: Se-Ma-For Produkcja Filmowa, Zbigniew Żmudzki, Marta Pajek. Running time: 14 minutes.
In March 2012 the film was awarded the top prize at Vienna's Tricky Women Festival out of 28 other films from around the world. The jury said the film too them to "a dream world that felt oddly familiar. The powerful Graphic Design and soundscape created a film that was original and memorable".
Author Mariusz Frukacz, June 2011