Polish animation films on display in New York
A retrospective on 70 years of Polish animated movies opened on Friday in New York's Anthology Film Archives (AFA).
Organised into three thematic groups, "Realpolitik of Cinema", "Symmetries and Colors" and "The Adventure of Otherness", the showcase features mainly auteur films, influenced by such motifs as Polish jazz, abstract art, poster art and collage works of visual artists such as Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk.
The three-day display provides an overview of Polish animated movies ever since 1937's legendary "The Adventure of a Good Citizen" by Franciszka Themerson and Stefan Themerson. It also celebrates the contribution of female film-makers, from Franciszka Themerson to Lucja Mroz Raynoch to Zofia Oraczewska.
"Polish animation has long been celebrated for its dark, black humor and courage in exploring the human psyche," the authors of the exhibition wrote.
"Under communism, it mastered the art of the metaphor, in order to elude censorship. Social satire has always been a Polish specialty," AFA noted.
Describing the showcased works, the curators pointed out that "abstraction and a minimalistic language of political satire are the main elements unifying these films, as well as a focus on the drama of everyday routine – its repetitive rhythm veiling the mystery of the human condition."
AFA's film programmer Jed Rapfogel told PAP the institution jumped at the chance to co-organise the event with New York's Institute of Polish Culture (IKP).
This is because Poland has a deserved reputation for making innovative, provocative and inspiring animation-movies, which rank among the most important in the history of cinema, Rapfogel underlined. (PAP)
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