Opening: 17-07-2022 20:00
O!PLA FOCUS ON POLAND 2022 is a unique program presenting the winners of the 10th O!PLA Animation Festival (2022). As always the only Jury at O!PLA was the audience. O!PLA FOCUS ON POLAND 2022 is an amazing mix of techniques, styles, and emotions showing what in modern Polish animation (O!PLA means „Oh! Polish Animation”, but also: “Oh! People Love Animation”) is the best. Starting off 2013 O!PLA consequently grows in strength, but one thing remains the same - independence and passion, which stand behind the O!PLA. Fifteen shorts with no dialogues, or in English or with permanent English subtitles.
The Movies (78')
01. AIRBORNE, 07:36
Poland 2021
Directed by: Andrzej Jobczyk
Screenplay: Andrzej Jobczyk
Technique: 2D Computer animation
Music: Jakub Slomkowski, Rafal Smolinski
Production/School: Letko
Dialogue language: No, Only a song in English
Subtitles: No
Airborne is a surreal animation that connects the world of flying machines with the kingdom of flora and fauna. Engrossed in the fight, the pilot loses his target which leads to tragedy. The plane crashes into the crown of a tree. The tragedy that seems to be the end opens a new stage in history. In the place of the accident, a new life is awakened and now it has to solve the mystery of its origin. Airborne is a story about passion, and its roots and tells us what we have to lose to be born again. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
02. ALL AT SEA / Odplyw, 09:23
Poland 2021
Directed by: Kasia Nalewajka
Screenplay: Kasia Nalewajka
Technique: Puppet animation
Music: Filip Sijanec
Production/School: Joanna Wendorff- Ostergaard / Animapol, Kasia Nalewajka, CeTa
Dialogue language: English
Subtitles: No
Cornelius is a happy-go-lucky crab bachelor. A night spent drinking with his friends turns awry when the parasitic barnacle, Sacculina, spikes his drink and has his wicked way with him. In the days that follow, Cornelius experiences physiological and mental changes that transform his life. O!PLA SILVER AWARD
03. BREATH / Oddech, 01:20
Poland 2019
Directed by: Aneta Siurnicka
Screenplay: Aneta Siurnicka
Technique: Painting animation
Music: Kacper Krupa
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
The moment of respite or agitation? Letting mind free or fighting with thoughts? The animation film was created in a traditional way by painting under the camera. O!PLA BRONZE AWARD
04. C’EST LA VIE, 12:51
Poland 2021
Directed by: Ferajna Filmowa KaPoK
Screenplay: Ferajna Filmowa KaPoK
Technique: Puppet animation
Music: Rafal Sankiewicz
Production/School: Ferajna Filmowa KaPoK
Dialogue language: Polish
Subtitles: English
How do you keep your life upright and level when things turn upside down? What option should you choose when there are no good views? What role to play in the most difficult of arts - the Art of Life? Some of our daily resolutions seem to be meaningless, while others - while apparently innocent - later echo deeply for many years, turning our entire world upside down in an instant. The latest film by KaPoK Film Ferajna is a short story about a man who has found himself in the most peculiar moment of this art of balancing, the art of choice, and the art of living. C’est la vie! O!PLA SILVER AWARD
05. DESPERA, 01:55
Poland 2021
Directed by: Alicja Liss
Screenplay: Alicja Liss
Technique: Clay animation
Music: Kacper Krupa
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No Dialogues
Subtitles: No
The film is a reflection of loneliness, isolation, and powerlessness. The author began working on it during the lockdown, during the subsequent strikes of women in Poland, at the beginning of 2021. O!PLA SILVER AWARD
06. DISTANCE / Dystans, 03:17
Poland 2021
Directed by: Katarzyna Orlowska
Screenplay: Katarzyna Orlowska
Technique: Traditional (drawing on paper) animation
Music: Kacper Krupa
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
Two people are staring at the flashing lights outside their windows, thinking about walking the distance between themselves. The calm of the empty station and the passing views from the train deepen their loneliness. O!PLA SILVER AWARD
07. I DREAMED OF / Sniło mi sie, 07:38
Poland 2021
Directed by: Piotr Tokarz
Screenplay: Piotr Tokarz
Technique: 2D Computer animation
Music: Mateusz Lizinski
Production/School: The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław
Dialogue language: Polish
Subtitles: English
Since the dawn of time, dreams are an inspiration for reflections on the subconscious and work as a gateway to the world of abstract images created based on our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. In 'I DREAMED OF' the author decided to interpret the dreams of people dear to him and present them in the form of an animated short. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
08. ON-TIME, 05:30
Poland 2021
Directed by: Zbigniew Czapla
Screenplay: Zbigniew Czapla
Technique: Traditional painting + 2D Computer animation
Music: Zbigniew Czapla
Production/School: Zbigniew Czapla
Dialogue language: Japanese and English
Subtitles: English
An intense travel experience that has become almost impossible. Japanese trains. Random meetings. From Matsuo Basho's haiku to the pictures of the dying world created by Hokusai in the Manga catalogs. O!PLA BRONZE AWARD
09. PURE, 04:21
Poland 2021
Directed by: Olga Przytula
Screenplay: Olga Przytula
Technique: 2D Computer animation
Music: Virtual Agony
Production/School: Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw
Dialogue language: Lyrics in Engish
Subtitles: No
PURE is a story that each of us knows from our dreams. The mysterious land changes as soon as we try to get a closer look at it, inviting us to go deeper. It is a nod to our sensitivities. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
10. SHOW(er), 01:46
Poland 2021
Directed by: Julia Hazuka
Screenplay: Julia Hazuka
Technique: 2D Computer animation
Music: Kacper Krupa
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
A real star awakens in the shower! O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
11. THE MIDNIGHT MEATLESS TRAIN / Nocny pociag bez miesa, 01:35
Poland 2021
Directed by: Kamil Wójcik
Screenplay: Kamil Wójcik
Technique: 2D Computer animation
Music: Piotr Kowalik
Production/School: Kamil Wójcik
Dialogue language: Polish
Subtitles: English
Few things make people as happy as an empty compartment on an overnight train. Then you know that you can spend all night only with your own thoughts in the transient neon light that pierces the darkness violently. A rhythmic clatter helps to enter a trance. Time melts away. The darkness of the night floods the compartment. Let no one sit down. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
12. THE RIVER / Rzeka, 05:11
Poland 2021
Directed by: Robert Kuzniewski
Screenplay: Robert Kuzniewski
Technique: Clay animation + Pixilation
Music: Aleksy Domke
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No (There is a poem in English at the end)
“This is not the river, the portico is swollen with wet shadow and sand. It is a leafy memory that stands against all the remains, everything that gives meaning to our massacred constructions ”… An abstract pixilated etude based on the poem by TJ DEMA“ Lethe ”. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
13. THREE LITTLE STORIES / Trzy małe historie, 04:47
Poland 2021
Directed by: Zuzanna Michalska
Screenplay: Zuzanna Michalska
Technique: Painting animation
Music: KWASNY DESZCZ
Production/School: University of the Arts in Poznan
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
Saxophone, Double Bass, Drums. Three little stories are told through the medium of movement. A painterly visualization of the music of the band KWASNY DESZCZ (sour rain). O!PLA SILVER AWARD
14. UNDONE, 04:42
Poland 2021
Directed by: Konrad Kulczynski & Grazyna Rigall
Screenplay: Konrad Kulczynski & Grazyna Rigall
Technique: Traditional cut-out animation
Music: Olo Walicki & Jacek Proscinski
Production/School: Konrad Kulczynski & Grazyna Rigall
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
"Undone" is a short animation made in the cut-out technique. The film tells the story of a dream that allows you to break free from life in captivity. A surreal journey into the mind of the main character is a utopian vision of a world in which all organisms are interconnected. Inspired by the Gaia Hypothesis, the film combines original visuals with music and sound created by jazz musicians Olo Walicki and Jacek Prościński. O!PLA MENTION NO.4
15. WALL UNIT / Mebloscianka, 09:47
Poland 2021
Directed by: Joanna Polak
Screenplay: Joanna Polak
Technique: Puppet animation
Music: Mariusz Ostański
Production/School: Joanna Polak
Dialogue language: No
Subtitles: No
A ramshackle wall unit is a symbol of the monotonous life of a certain 40-year-old man living in a grey, dirty post-communist block of flats district. Right after his birthday, suffering from a midlife crisis, the man decides to change his dull and routine-based existence. Alas, his wife stands in the way. O!PLA GOLDEN AWARD
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