In a simple but powerful way, director Ryszard Czekala presents the horror that happened in Nazi concentration camps: prisoners’ dread, humiliation and lost humanity. Its directness and style is sometimes interpreted as a response to the trend of allegorical and philosophical filmmaking that dominated Polish animation in the 1960s.
An allegory of the hopeless relationship between a prisoner and his jailer, representing the dependence of mankind upon authoritarianism.
Tomek Milkowski is an comic-books' illustrator. But his chef doesn't like his drawings. He tells Tomek to make up something really cool, if the boy doesn't want to loose his job. The illustrator has a guest. It's a bird Tri-Tri from stories about Mr. Kleks. Tomek takes the book and decides to illustrate it as a comic book.
A self-consciously Kafkaesque tale of a winged lonely man literally devoured by totalitarian rule.
Kalina links traditional animation with a re-projection. To the rhythm of the popular folk song Ukochany kraj, umiłowany kraj (Beloved country, dear country) he creates an anti-ballade about the farmer’s hard life and difficult work. Monotonous and mechanical activities degrade a man.
From cowboys to cannons, diving to racing, perhaps nothing can stop this stuntman
Polish animated short film that uses unconventional film techniques such as cut-out, drawing, filming miscible fluids and scratched images. Also uses non-camera technique such as drawing directly on film. The film is a humorous lecture on the internal structure of a dachshund. Parodying popular lectures at the same time, it contains a message about the superiority of the products of living organisms' techniques and calls for respect for the environment.
Two shades of paint are pitted against each other in a bullfight that spills self-reflexively from the page into the animator’s studio
It is still one of the most popular Polish animated films. Servants prepare the table for a luxurious dinner party in a beautiful palace. Guests are gathering slowly. Suddenly they are surprised by an unexpected change of roles between the eater and the one who is eaten.
A man seated next to the body of his young wife thinks about their brief life together. Suicide has been the only escape for her... Dumala's technique creates a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere, entirely suitable for Dostoyevski's novel "A Gentle Spirit" on which it is based.
Ijon Tichy arrives on a new planet in a single-person spacecraft. His habits and fantasies are with him. The aliens recreate the sex bomb from the poster that could be found in the cabin of his spacecraft. Then, they present him a live dummy. A male-female evening in space with some pre-war music hits becomes possible.
Short animation by Alina Maliszewska about two lovers trying to kill themselves
In the modern village of the future, everything is mechanized, but the dreams of the village musician remain the same. He wants to become an artist. Thanks to the fact that an Art Nouveau goddess gave him a helping hand, Janko Muzykant saves his life and escapes from the village on a Pegasus.
Prole 514 dreams about winning the Great Lottery. The lottery winner is transformed and allowed admission into the elite White society, where everyone is beautiful, young and happy and people spend their carefree lives solely on fun and partying. One day, 514's wish comes true... but was this what he really wanted?
Kajetan, a dog and famous detective, and his assistant, Cat Makawity, try to solve the mystery of the director's disappearance and the problems of other creatures from the neighbourhood. Only the Secret of Marabou’s Code can stop Chameleon, a dangerous criminal.
A fantasy biography of Franz Kafka, bringing to life the writer's diaries and photographs.
The story of a duel between a knight who, at a certain point, is fighting against himself.
A magic flower with its cup shaped like a bell grows in a market square of the small town. A jealous villain steals the flower, but two fearless children and a cow, chase after him.
An experimental animation by Kazimierz Urbański about transportation. Combines various techniques: traditional cartoon film, cut-out, documentary photos, animation of objects, and effects caused directly on the tape.
