"BLACK" AND "DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD" AT THE FESTIVAL ENCOUNTERS

Today started the film festival Encounters, at which two Polish animated films will be shown.

The festival Encounters is the largest British review of short and animated films, during which films made by film-makers from around the world are shown. For beginner film-makers, this festival is a chance to reach a wider audience, as well as to attract the attention of the juries of the most important film events, such as BAFTA and Academy Awards.

This year, during the festival edition, the viewers will have the opportunity to watch two animated films in the competition: "Don't Lose Your Head" by Karolina Specht and "Black" by Tomasz Popakul.

"Don't Lose Your Head" is a short film made using the traditional and computer animation techniques. It is a visual story about how easy it is to lose one's head. A white head rolls to the middle of a black screen. One event starts an avalanche of subsequent accidents. The visual side of the film develops together with the plot. From simple compositions, through subsequent dividing of the screen and condensing of forms, until the last scenes, resembling a colourful kaleidoscope. The excess of thoughts, relationships and connections has tragic consequences.

"Black" ( "黒") tells the story of a pair of astronauts trapped on a space station as a result of a nuclear war which is going on very quickly below them. They have lost contact with Earth, and all attempts at establishing communication remained unanswered.  All they can do now is to watch mushroom clouds on the surface of the Earth and try to survive together somehow.

The festival lasts until September 25.