Film Still
This unusual epic tale is based on themes drawn from the romantic ballad by Adam Mickiewicz of the same title. The film had its premiere at the Berlinale 2011 festival. Work on Świteź lasted seven years and 130 people took part in the production process. In that time the project evolved from a modest student film into a huge international co-production with a budget of 3 million złoty. However these figures don't characterise this venture, which had many hiatuses and plenty of twists of action.
The film tells the story of a mysterious lake with an enchanted medieval town resting at its bottom. The plot takes place during two time frames, in the modern era of Mickiewicz and in the Middle Ages, when according to legend the city of Świteź was flooded. This is the apocalyptic tale of destruction, the wonders of the eternal struggle between good and evil, faith and hope. The film's director Kamil Polak on his work,
I started Świteź as a student, drawing different frames for a year on my own. Then, thanks to my tutor Marian Kiełbaszczak, I found my way to Se-ma-for and I was also granted a minimum donation from the Film Production Agency. By then it all still looked pretty much amateurish. I asked friends and colleagues for help. They came for a few weeks or months and we worked after school, after work, in our spare time. After a few years of work and finding equipment a longer hiatus occurred and the whole team commenced computer post-production of the Oscar-winning Peter & Wolf. These experiences as well as new contacts cleared the film a path to foreign co-producers from France, Switzerland, Canada and Denmark.
When asked about the reason for reaching for Mickiewcz's ballad in an interview for Kino magazine, the director replied, "I imagined a film with open spaces, details, emotion. I wanted to use my painting skills, fulfill myself aesthetically. (…) Already when I read them for the first time, their epic dash made a big impression on me. It’s the essence of chills and horror and very concrete at the same time (…). I remember reading "Świteź" for the first time – I felt as if I was watching a costume-action movie of the caliber of the Lord of the Rings.
Polak made many alterations and changes to Mickiewicz's ballad, abandoning among other things the three-part composition of the poem. Introducing the character of a young man, which can be understood either as an alter ego of the director or the writer, who later gives an account of experiences dreamed or real, is a key difference. The director also changed the ballad's meaning – romantic elements of folk beliefs, the power of nature's forces and the gothic atmosphere of Mickiewcz's poem were replaced by a spectacular illustration of the eternal fight between good and evil, in which Jesus Pantocrator reigning in the central part of the iconostasis is supreme judge.
The film starts with a shot from a camera gliding over the surface of a lake covered with water lilies. Dangerous sounds of a thunderstorm coming from afar announce the impending attack and influence the life of the young man riding a coach through the forest. After a series of mysterious incidents the film's main character finds himself right in the middle of a Russian army passing through the woods. Running away from them he falls into the lake's waters which take him a few centuries back in time to the picturesque title castle located on tree-covered mountains. There, together with women, children and old people he bids an army leaving for battle farewell and later finds refuge from invaders pillaging the castle in an orthodox church, where he dedicates his fate to God, who floods the settlement and changes its inhabitants into water lilies. In the final shot, which binds the whole narration together, we see the young man being taken from the water covered by thousands of water lilies.
Kamil Polak, painter and animation creator, in his debut merged sophisticated oil paintings with computer animation in 2D and 3D, achieving an effect of "living canvases" dancing to the rhythm of thrilling old Orthodox church music by Irina Bogdanovich. The two time settings of the movie correspond with different painting styles: the time contemporary to the main character, the opening and ending sequences, are made in 3D technology in a spirit evoking realistic 19th century painting, the medieval events in Świteź castle are portrayed by means of a flat icon painting style, which imitates a space cut-out. The director skillfully blends pathos with tenderness, sometimes straddling the border of kitsch, and at the same time plays a game with the romantic conventions and clichés. Polak's Świteź makes a big impression with its dash. It’s an unforgettable spectacle with incredible battle scenes and a moving myth.
- Świteź, Poland 2010. Directed and written by Kamil Polak; supervisor of animation: Wojciech Wawszczyk; editing: Kamil Polak, Jacek Rokosz, Alexei Panfilov; sound: Luigi Allemano; music: Irina Bogdanovich; production: Human Ark; co-production: Se-ma-for Film Production, Archangel SA, Denis Friedman Production, National Film Board of Canada, Polish Television SA, PWSFTviT Łódź, Partyflex System, Kamil Polak, Green Tomato; producers: Stanisław Dziedzic, Zbigniew Żmudzki, Kamil Polak, Eliza Oczkowska. Running time: 21 minutes.
Film awards:
- Main Prize at the short film competition at the 12th International Film Festival in Las Palmas in 2011;
- Pulcinella Award for best short film at the Cartoons on the Bay Festival 2011;
- Silver Lajkonik for the director of the best animated movie at the 51st Cracow Film Festival in 2011;
- Best short animated movie at the Palm Springs International Film Festival 2011;
- Jean-Luc Xiberras' Prize for best debut at the 35th Festival International du Film d'Animation, Annecy 2011;
- Grand Prix at the 28th Cartoon Club Festival 2012 in Rimini, Italy
Author: Mariusz Frukacz, June 2011
Official website of the movie: www.switez.pl