"BLACK" WINS AT ANIMATEKA
On Saturday, December 10, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the 13th edition of the festival Animateka came to an end. The jury decided to award the Grand Prix of the festival to the Polish film by Tomek Popakul, entitled "Black."
This is the third year in a row when a Polish film wins the Grand Prix award at the festival Animateka. A year ago, it was "Summer 2014" by Wojciech Sobczyk, and two years ago - "To Thy Heart" by Ewa Borysewicz. This year, Tomasz Popakul had the honour of winning the award for his film "Black." The jurors were impressed how such a surprisingly emotional story can be made out of a black-and-white computer animation.
"Black" 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.
Tomasz Popakul is a graduate of Lodz Film School (the faculty of animation and special effects), where he also studied screenwriting for a year. He participated in the programme Animation Artist in Residence Tokyo 2014, organised by Japan Image Council (JAPIC). His graduation film "Ziegenort" was shown at many international festivals and won numerous awards around the world.
In addition, at this year's festival Animateka, every member of the jury selected one film, to which they decided to award the Special Mention. The Iranian director Sarah Saidan appreciated the way in which Marta Pajek in "Impossible Figures and Other Stories II" reminds us about the power of animated film to tell personal stories.
Animateka is one of the most interesting animated film festivals held in Central Europe. Every year, the festival shows the most important animated films made by film-makers from around the world. Polish films are shown annually in the programme of the festival, both in competition sections and in special screenings, which accompany them. During this year's edition, as many as 11 Polish films were shown, including 6 in competition screenings, among others: "Locus" by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi, "Foreign Body" by Marta Magnuska and "Super Film" by Piotr Kabat.
The full list of award-winning films at this year's edition of the festival Animateka can be found here.