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