In the ranking according to film genres, the most frequently shown short films in 2014 were animated films. On the basis of aggregated data, Polish animated films were shown abroad almost 340 times. It is even more joyous that Polish animated films were awarded 64 times.

2014 was an exceptional year for Polish animated film. In February, Polish animation "To Thy Heart" (E. Borysewicz) represented Poland in the short film section at the Berlinale festival. In March, three Polish films – the aforementioned "To Thy Heart", "Toto" (Z. Czapla) and "FF1" (M. Giżycki) participated in the competition of the prestigious experimental film festival Ann Arbor. In May, the latest film by Tomasz Siwiński – "A Blue Room" – had its premiere in the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. A month later, five Polish animated films were shown at the festival in Annecy. In June four Polish films ("Ziegenort" by T. Popakul, "Hippos" by P. Dumała, "Baths" by T. Ducki and "Shape" by Kijek/Adamski) were awarded at Animafest Zagreb in Croatia. In September, Piotr Dumała was given the Award for the Best Animated Short at the animated film festival in Ottawa for his film "Hippos". August brought new awards for "Fugue For Cello, Trumpet and Landscape" by Jerzy Kucia and "Baths" by Tomek Ducki at the festival in Hiroshima. The year's crown was the nomination for the European Film Award in the short film category, given to Wojciech Sobczyk for his film "Summer 2014".

It was also the year when the masters of Polish animated film returned. Thirteen years after "Tuning the Instruments", Jerzy Kucia showed his latest film to the festival audience. His "Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and Landscape" was awarded, among others, at the festival in Hiroshima and at Canadian Les Sommets du Cinema d'Animation. This year, also the latest film by Piotr Dumała, "Hippos", was very successful at film festivals. The film won 8 awards at international festivals and screened more than 30 times.

The most frequently shown animated film last year was "Baths" by Tomek Ducki, produced by Studio Miniatur Filmowych in co-production with the British Peek and Boo. The four-minute long animation by Ducki was shown at 60 international film festivals, including such prestigious ones as the Animated Film Festival in Ottawa, the festival in Annecy and the Spanish ZINEBI. "Baths" is also the animated film which won the largest number of awards – in 2014, there were 17 of them. The film was awarded, among others, at the festivals Short Shorts, Leeds, ZINEBI and Hiroshima IAFF.

On the second place, after the film by Ducki, there is the latest film by Piotr Dumała, shown at 34 festival screenings. The result exceeding 20 international festival screenings was achieved by: "Darling" by Izabela Plucińska (28 screenings), "To Thy Heart" by Ewa Borysewicz and "Ab Ovo" by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi (26 screenings), "Ex Animo" by Wojciech Wojtkowski (23 screenings), "An Incredibly Elastic Man" by Karolina Specht and "A Blue Room" by Tomasz Siwiński (21 screenings). The list of the most popular films of the year is not complete without the film "Ziegenort", which in 2013 went to the programmes of over 85 international festival. In 2014, the film by Tomasz Popakul, produced by the studio NoLabel, was shown at 28 international festivals.

The producer, whose films were most frequently shown and awarded, was FUMI STUDIO from Warsaw. Though "Hippos" by Piotr Dumała was the most popular of the films produced by Fumi, the summary of the year cannot omit films such as "Ex Animo" by Wojciech Wojtkowski, "Fat and Skinny" by Aleksandra Brożyna, "The Tenement Building" by Agnieszka Burszewska and "Endemit’s Greed" by Natalia Dziedzic.

2014 was not only the year of competition screenings and awards. In February, Polish animated films were promoted at Polish national stand Polish Shorts, organised by Krakow Film Foundation at the film market in Clermont Ferrand. As every year, the stand enjoyed a huge interest of visitors, who could also participate in the market screening "Polish shorts presents", organised by the Foundation. In May, the visitors of Short Film Corner in Cannes could watch the special screening of Polish short films, including animations, selected by Krakow Film Foundation. In June, the Polish stand organised by KFF for the fourth time, was visited by the guests of animated film market MIFA in Annecy, France. Last year's edition of the film market, which was held from 11 to 13 June, attracted film industry from around the world. Polish presence at the film market was additionally emphasised by the cocktail party organised in co-operation with Polish Animated Film Producers Association (SPPA), supported by Polish Film Institute. Animated films were also shown within the frames of special screenings co-ordinated by KFF, which were held throughout the year at the festivals Friss Hus (Hungary), Kingbonn New Media SFF (China), In the palace SFF (Bulgaria), Curtas Vila do Conde ISFF (Portugal), Lago IFF (Italy), Guanajuato IFF (Mexico), Drama ISFF (Greece), Cork IFF (Ireland), Play Poland (England), and Court c'est Court (France).

All events received the financial support of Polish Film Institute and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The partners are: Krakow Festival Office, Krakow Film Commission and Polish Embassy in Mexico.

THE LIST OF AWARDS FOR POLISH ANIMATED FILMS IN 2014*

Ab ovo, dir. Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi
Best Animated Film – StudentCuts Film Festival, Slovenia
Best Clay Animation – 7th Banjaluka International Animated Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Special Mention – Les Sommets du cinéma d'animation, Canada
Special Mention – MONSTRA – Lisbon Animated Film Festival 2014, Portugal

After all, dir. Bogna Kowalczyk
Best Artistic Approach – TV Festival Bar, Montenegro
Yellow Oscar Award – Uranium Film Festival, Brazil

What happens when children don't eat soup, dir. Paweł Prewencki
Best International Short – 5th International Animation Festival Chilemonos, Chile

Darling, dir. Izabela Plucinska
Best Animation – 20th Drama Internatioanl Short Film Festival, Greece
Special Award – 11th European Animated Film Festival BALKANIMA, Serbia
Special Mention – 12th Anilogue International Animation Festival, Hungary

To Thy Heart, dir. Ewa Borysewicz
Grand Prix – 11th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATEKA, Slovenia
Special Mention – Fest Anca International Animation Festival 2014, Slovakia

Ex animo, dir. Wojciech Wojtkowski
Best Music for Film Award – Be there! Corfu Animation Festival 2014, Greece
First Prize in the European competition – 14th Un festival c'est trop court, France

FFF1, dir. Marcin Giżycki
Best Experimental Short – Independent Filmmakers Showcase, Los Angeles/Beverly Hills/Santa Monica, USA

Fugue for Cello, Trumpet and a Landscape, dir. Jerzy Kucia
Audience Award – Les Sommets du cinéma d'animation, Canada
Special Award – 15th International Animation Festival Hiroshima, Japan
Special Mention – 11th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATEKA, Slovenia

Fat and Skinny, dir. Aleksandra Brożyna
Best Scenography – 15th Lucania Film Festival, Italy

Hippos, dir. Piotr Dumała
Best 2D Animation, 7th Banjaluka International Animated Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Best Animation, Cinefiesta 2014, Puerto Rico
Best Independent Short – Ottawa International Animation Festival 2014, Canada
Cine Club Fas Award – 56th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao ZINEBI, Spain
Grand Prix – Les Sommets du cinéma d'animation, Canada
Grand Prix – 13th Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World, Cyprus
KLIK! Award for the Best Animated Short – KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, The Netherlands
Special Mention – 10th World Festival of Animated Film in Varna, Bulgaria
Special Mention – 24th Animafest World Festival of Animated Film, Croatia

The Tenement Building, dir. Agnieszka Burszewska
Special Mention – 9th Athens Animfest, Greece

Katachi, dir, Kijek/Adamski
Best commisioned film – 24th Animafest World Festival of Animated Film, Croatia

Baths, dir. Tomek Ducki
Audience Award – 7th Central and Eastern European Film Festival, Luxembourg
Best Animated Film – 11th Be Film the Underground Film Festival, USA
Best Animation – 30th interfilm International Short Film Festival, Germany
Best Art – 6th Animage International Animation Festival of Pernambuco, Brazil
Best Film – Animatricks Animation Festival of Helsinki, Finland
Best International Animation – Animasivo – Forum of Contemporary Animation, Mexico
Golden Mikeldi for the Best Animation – 56th International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao ZINEBI, Spain
Grand Prix – Anibar International Animation Festival 2014, Kosovo
Jury's Special Award – 15th International Animation Festival Hiroshima, Japan
Special Award – 11th European Animated Film Festival BALKANIMA, Serbia
Special Mention – 12th Anilogue International Animation Festival, Hungary
Special Mention – 28th Leeds International Film Festival, UK
Special Mention – Primanima World Festival of First Animations 2014, Hungary
Special Mention – 7thBanjaluka International Animated Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Special Mention – 13th Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World, Cyprus
Special Mention – 24th Animafest World Festival of Animated Film, Croatia

Moonshine, dir, Michał Poniedzielski
Best Animated Film – Tampere Film Festival 2014, Finland

A Blue Room, dir. Tomasz Siwiński
Best Animated Film – 22nd Curtas vila do Conde International Short Film Festival, Portugal
Best Narrative Short Animation – Cutout Fest 2014, Mexico
Special Mention – 11th International Animated Film Festival ANIMATEKA, Slovenia
Special Mention – 17th Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico
Nieprawdopodobnie elastyczny człowiek, reż. Karolina Specht
Best Student Film – Fest Anca International Animation Festival 2014, Slovakia
Special Mention – 6th Reanimania International Animation Film Festival, Armenia
Special Mention – 33rd Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden
Special Mention for a Student Film – 9th Anim'est Animation Film Festival, Romania

The Governance of love, dir. Adela Kaczmarek
Special Mention – Documentary Film Festival Doxa, Canada

Beach, dir. Paweł Prewencki
Special Award for Student Film – 11th European Animated Film Festival BALKANIMA, Serbia

Toto, dir. Zbigniew Czapla
Audience Award – 52nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, USA
Best Film in the 10-45 min cathegory – 5th Golden Kuker International Animation Film Fest, Bulgaria

Ziegenort, dir. Tomasz Popakul
Best Sound Award – Primanima World Festival of First Animations 2014, Hungary
Grand Prix – New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival, Japan
Special Jury Prize – 37th Poitiers Film Festival, France
Special Mention – 21st International Film Festival FEBIOFEST, Slovakia
Visegrad Fund Award – 55th International Short Film Festival Brno 16, Czech Republic
Zlatko Grgić Award – 24th Animafest World Festival of Animated Film, Croatia

*data collected on the basis of the information received from producers, filmmakers and festivals by Polish Animations. If you happen to know about any foreign awards for Polish animated films which are not included in this summary, please drop us a line at info@polishanimations.pl

FEBRUARY 2015