The young artist is the author of only three animations, but they have been awarded and praised at dozens of international film and art festivals.
Film allows me to express my feelings and show reality.
– said Borysewicz in an interview with Julita Januszkiewicz.
The reality represented by Borysewicz is well-known to all of us. These are overheard and suspicious backyard stories, which the artist recreates in a poetic and humorous way using a pencil and paper, paying attention to every detail. She traditionally draws on paper and does not use modern computer animation technology, which emphasises the atmosphere of credibility in her films, additionally boosted by a specially prepared sound layer. The hand-made sketches highlight imperfections, which the reality portrayed by Borysewicz is full of.
Two of her animated films were made while she was still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts. The first of them, No dobra (Alright, 3 mins 44 ., 2007), presents everyday situations in a Polish suburb – a woman talking to herself at a table, people waiting at a bus stop or an old woman chewing crisps. The triviality and repetitiveness of this behaviour is emphasised by the incomprehensible babble coming out from the characters’ mouths. And the only recognisable phrase is: alright.
Who Would Have Thought (11 min., 2009) is a pastiche of a reportage and a documentary film, in which a journalist talks with residents of a housing estate about a man who went missing. They all have something to say, but no one really knows the man. And no one knows what happened to him. For the purpose of this video over two thousand black-and-white drawings were created, which the artist photographed and edited on a computer.
My character is not well-defined. I wanted viewers to use their own imagination to tell the rest of the story.
– explained Borysewicz later.
Her latest animation To Thy Heart (10 min., 2013) is an ironic and humorous tale of unrequited love in a block of flats. The young heroine, whose past experience have made her resent the opposite sex, incessantly criticises the whole male species. Yet she has erotic fantasies, and her frustration shows that she is secretly dreaming of a true and great feeling.
My film uses language which is rarely seen in Polish animated films. I think that poetic language is rarely used abroad too. The combination of love and religious themes is also quite peculiar. I think that this is what stands out.
– said Ewa Borysewicz in an interview with Gabriela Bogaczyk at the 53rd Kraków Film Festival.
To Thy Heart is the artist’s film debut (completed after her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts). It was the only short film from Poland competing for the prestigious Berlinale awards.
Borysewicz is also the author of numerous drawings, which she publishes in Zeszyt Kolejowy (Railway Notebook, 2011), in her blog and in the press. She is also the author of short and humorous social animations for the Arsenał Gallery in Białystok and TVP Kultura – Euro Fun#1 and Euro Fun#2.
Author: Agnieszka Sural, transl. Bozhana Nikolova, April 2015