POLISH ANIMATED FILMS AWARDED LAST WEEKEND
Last weekend brought three awards for Polish animated films. Animated films by Tomek Ducki and Katarzyna Melnyk were appreciated by the juries of the festivals: Tabor Film Festival, Indie Lisboa and Newport Beach Film Festival.
The weekend definitely belonged to Tomek Ducki and his "Baths". The animation, which for almost two years has been winning numerous awards and special mentions at tens of films festivals, was honoured two times in recent days. The first festival, whose jury appreciated the film by Ducki, was the Croatian Tabor Film Festival. “Baths" got special mention in the animated film category. The jury justified their choice in the following way: the film, by cleverly using the language of animation, in just a few minutes reminds us that life is only a short moment. The animated film by Ducki was the only Polish film in the competition. 13th edition of the Tabor festival was held from April 30 to May 2 in the Croatian city of Zabok.
The second festival, at which "Baths" won an award, was the American Newport Beach Film Festival. The film by Ducki was awarded by the jury as the best short animated film in the competition. The festival in Newport Beach, which was held for the first time in 1999, attracts the audience amounting to 53 000 viewers. Every year, during the eight days of the festival, the audience has a chance to see about 300 short and feature-length films. This year, apart from the award-winning "Baths" the festival programme included also "Ziegenort" by Tomasz Popakul. This year's edition was held from April 23 to April 30.
So far, "Baths" has won over 20 awards at international film festivals. The animated film was made as a Polish-English co-production, and its producers are Studio Miniatur Filmowych and Peek and Boo.
Last weekend, Katarzyna Melnyk, the author of the student film "Of A Forest", was also awarded. The animated film by Melnyk was given the Special Mention in the animated film category. This is the first award of the young author, who is still a student of Lodz Film School. The film "Of A Forest" is a portrait of a dog who lives among humans. Its everyday life is ordered by the rhythm of human life, which determines the time of feeding or training. At night, when the lights in nearby households go out, the forest speaks - swelling with sounds. The animal's suppressed instincts gradually make themselves heard. 12th edition of the Indielisboa festival was held from April 23 to 3 May. In addition to the film by Melnyk, in the animated film competition there was also the diploma film by Sylwia Gaweł "Domestication".