Animation Celebration

II Kracow Summer
Animation Days
Krakow, Old Town, Poland

This weekend in Kracow at Mały Rynek there are outdoor open animation presentations:

II Kracow Summer Animation Days. It is the 2nd year they are organised. They start at 21:30 and end around 01:00. They are for free. This night is dedicated to Japanese animations, tomorrow's - to Brasilian. It's really worth comming. I help a bit during the shows and have a VIP label! Cool, isn't it? ;-D But I have to carry chairs and pick up empty plastic bottles after all ;-D. Fame comes with a prize!

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WORLD BEST ANIMATIONS

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It is about time to sum up Etiuda&Anima Festival which ended last week in Krakow, Poland. I assume there are still some events connected with the festival in Nowy Sacz, however the results of the short film and animation competition are already known. The official awarding ceremony took place last Thursday. Well. I am not a huge fan of the films which were selected and awarded. In my opinion there were better shorts in the program. But I like the films which got the 3rd place prize both in the animation and a feature film cathegory- feature film Arsy-Versy by Miro Remo (which I noticed and described earlier on my weblog - I have this intuition!) and "This Way Up" by Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes, which was also in Sundance Film Festival 2009 official selection and was nominated to Oscar award for best animated short.

"This Way Up" tells of a father and a son who are in mourning after their wife/mother who just died. They want to make a nice funeral, however there are many obstacles. The film is full of dark humour.

Animated short film fairly awarded at festivals in the world, however not at this one - Skhizein by Jeremy Clapin, France

portrays a story of a man who got hit by a mysterious meteoryt. There are no visible effects of the accident apart from the fact that the man's body moved 71 or so centimeters from the place where his aura stayed. If he wants to move a chair, he has to stand 71 centimeters from it, put a hand in the air and try to move the object. He goes to a doctor who is not helpful and gives him a feeling that he is crazy. He stayes all alone with his problem of being 71 cm away from himself. He comes up with an idea that if a meteorite hits him again, his body and aura will surely get united again. He starts looking for a meteoryt in the sky and runs to a desert to meet it. The result of another collision are surprising. The film is available on YouTube /LINK HERE/, but only in French, with no subtitles, which is bad. You can however buy the film for 10 Euros on a DVD on the film's official site, which is a fair prize for a fair film.

Skhizein's official site
Skhizein in French on YouTube

"Big Man" by a Danish artist Cav Bogelund is a story of a giant whose mother is a tiny little woman. The huge man is big and scarry, but his heart is pure and gentle. When his mother dies, he goes to a city for the first time in his life. He holds her coffin in a had like match-box and wants to bury her in a local cemetary. It turnes out that the people in the town are against him.

"DIX" = "TEN" by The Bif, France/United Kingdom also impressed me strongly.

It is about a young man who goes to a therapist. The doctor helps him reverse the bed effects of his childhood. The story ends up well, but there is a lot of blood here!!! Hard stuff.

There were other good films at the festival including

Mother by Geza M. Toth, Hugary
The Black Dog's Progress - by Stephen Irwin, Great Britain
Kitchen Dimensions - by Priit Tender, Estonia
I Am So Proud Of You - by Don Hertzfeldt, USA
"Jancita" - by Karla Castaneda, Mexico which was also awarded at world festivals.

It is a story about being old and dying in fact. The subject might not be too cheerful, but the animation is very nostalgic, funny at points and original.

Animation and short films celebration

Yesterday International Film Festival "Etiuda&Anima" began in Kraków, Poland. I was a bit late, to I'm not any professional snobbish judge. I will tell you of films which impressed me in yesterday's selection.

Arsy-Versy- Miro Remo, Slovakia, 2009

Unfortunately there is just a trailer of this Slovakian short available online. It's a stroy of a 50 year old man who lives in a village with his mother. He doesn't work, doesn't have a wife or a girlfriend, but he is very fascinated with bats and is actually a great photographer. People think he is crazy and he is undoubtely different. But in another surrounding he could as well have been a great artist. It is a funny, but warm story.






Treasure Seakers - Agnieszka Bak, Poland, 2009

It is a stroy of 2 men from Poland who take their old car and go to Lvov - the capital of Ukraine. One of the men used to live there as a child. His father told him he hid a treasure there. After many years he wants to find the treasure. The guys buy a metal detector and take a long journey to experience an exciting and funny adventure. It is a documental story, like Arsy-Versy.

Schautag - Marvin Kren, Germany, 2008

It is a spooky and thrilling sory in which you get really surprised and shocked by the end. I can't tell you anything more.

Animation! Celebrate!

Photos: Maja Persson 2009

Krakow Summer Animation Days

was a 4-days open show of the world best animated films. It was based in the middle of the Krakow old town and took place last month. I worked there as a volunteer. I also documented the event and took pictures. The films were very good, intriguing and innovative. They were produced in all kinds of animation forms: 3-D, puppet, cartoon, photography and mixed. I was very impressed. Each day there were animations from a different world animation festival selection. I haven't had an opportunity to watch such a huge amount of good films in quite a while. It was a pleasure to be there.

NORAH JONES in SESAME STREET

As I have already mentioned it, I was born in Poland when it was still a Communist country. I think it inflicted my childhood a lot, because we did not have colorful toys, there were just a couple of designs and they were rather basic and not friendly. When I was 7, Communism chose to be overthrown. In result nice toys started to appear in shops, however they were insanely expensive. Barbie doll was an extreme expense. I had my first Barbie when I was about 12, because my mother could not afford it that easily. The things which came from America and Western Europe seemed to be colourful and friendly. So it was with TV programs for children.

I was a big fan of Sesame Street and I still am. When you do not get to be a child at the age of 8, you stay a child in your heart forever. It is interesting that history may inflict your childhood. Then you have twisted memories.

Sesame Street was broadcasted at 8 o'clock on Saturdays on Polish TV Channel 2 (because we had only 2 TV channels in Poland until recently). In my opinion the program was created by a genius and people who knew children hearts very well. It was nice to discover that very often famous singers appear on Sesame Street and perform their songs. It is great that they feel connected to the world of kids.

I was glad to have found Norah Jones singing on Sesame Street. It is a precious video for me. There was also Ray Charles and Johnny Cash singing in the program in the past.