“Animation is cinema, animationis not a genre,” said Guillermo del Toro while receiving 2023 Academy Award (Oscar) for the best feature-length animated film.
One can hardly disagree with the director, especially when watching animated horrors, family films, musicals or experimental works which reach far beyond traditional storytelling. Animated film, regardless of its definition, is not a genre, not even a type of film. Animation can be a documentary film, an instructional video shown at the airport, a mapping at the cathedral’s facade. We can not only follow an animated character which is drawn but also control animated characters in computer games or express emotions with the use of emoticons in motion.
“Courageous Form for Courageous Audiences” is a set of films presenting the wide spectrum of this medium. It shows possibilities which are non-existent in the live-action filmmaking -thanks to authors’ courage, we can cross the borders between the storytelling modes or focus on formal experiments examining our sensual experiences.
During the screening you will watch a film scratched directly on a film reel which was made for dancing. You will dive into the dark corners of the Internet from a decade ago, this film uses aesthetics of the Internet's interface to tell the character’s story. You will encounter ephemera monsters who might remind you of retro games and who came to life with the use of self-designed software, and you will see thousands of images adding up to film of a trans and time-wrapping character that resembles a mythical fresco.
Narratives will not be delineated only by the traditionally understood linear temporality - we will experience a feeling of "circular" time as the viewers will immerse in the repetitions. There will be no lack of emotions as the final film (WHEN THE DAYBREAKS) shows a story which is sensitive, humorous, and avoids pathos in the way of how it attests to what is important in life.
Each of the presented films is an intense and original form, governed only and exclusively by its own rules.
Mateusz Jarmulski
Play Boys, dir. Vincent Lynen, Belgium, 2018, 7’19”
Tyll the Giant, dir. Rein Raamat, ZSRR (Estonia), 1980, 13’44”
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Lizard Ladder, dir. Ted Wiggin, USA, 2020, 5’21”
The Fall, dir. Boris Labbé, France, 2018, 14’22”
Monkey, dir. Shen Jie, China, 2015, 5’10”
Blank Page, dir. Jake Fried,USA, 2020, 1’
Guy 101, dir. Ian Gouldstone, UK, 2005, 10’
“4:3”, dir. Ross Hogg, UK, 2019, 4’47”
When the Day Breaks, dir. Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis, Canada, 1999, 9’
Curator Mateusz Jarmulski
Mateusz Jarmulski is a director of animated films, screenwriter and animator. He graduated in animation from the National Film School in Łódź. He worked at the Se-Ma-For studio, where he handled special effects for the film “Peter and the Wolf” (Oscar 2008). He also collaborated on the production of Kamil Polak’s film “The Lost Town of Switez”. He was a member of the creative team responsible for the creation of multimedia projections for the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. His films have been screened and awarded at numerous festivals, including Stuttgart, Seoul, Belgrade and Hiroshima. He currently teaches animation for English speaking students at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, at the Faculty of New Media Arts. Jarmulski’s series for pre-school children “Hug Me” was positively received by television and festival audiences. “Visit” and “Hunt”are his latest original productions, currently presented at festivals.
