March is a great month for both enthusiasts and creators of animated films. The festival season is taking off and the number of screenings is increasing. Quite a few Polish animated films have received invitations to major international film events. Be sure to check out which of our productions have a chance of capturing the hearts of cinema fans around the world.

The first half of the month belongs to two important festivals – the Tampere Film Festival in Finland and the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Animation Festival in Austria. The programs of both events will feature a large number of Polish animated films. The audience of the former festival will get the chance to see a retrospective of Tomek Popakul's films as well as “Leather” by Karolina Borgiasz. In Austria, on the other hand, there are seven Polish animations waiting for the audience. The following are competing for awards: Julia Orlik's “I'm Here”, Anastazja Naumenko's “We Hope You Won't Need To Come Back”, and Daria Kopiec's “Your Own Bullshit”, while the non-competition sections feature Katarzyna Warzecha's “We Have One Heart”, Natalia Durszewicz's “Portrait of a Woman”, Renata Gąsiorowska's “Pussy”, and Marta Pajek's “III”.

Mid-March will see the launch of the Prague Short Film Festival, where Tomek Popakul's “Acid Rain” was invited to the competition. A day later, the American festival of independent cinema is slated to begin. “Your Own Bullshit” by Daria Kopiec and “My Fat Arse and I” by Yelyzaveta Pysmak both have a shot at winning at the SXSW festival. The latter will also be screened at Mecal Pro in Spain. Marta Koch's “Such a Beautiful Town” and Julia Orlik's “I'm Here” were also invited.

“Plantarium” by Tomek Ducki will be screened twice in March. First, the animated film will be shown at Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival in Hungary, and at the Kaboom Animation Festival later in the month. It is during the Dutch festival that Betina Bożek's “The Land of Whim”, Katarzyna Warzecha's “We Have One Heart”, Yelyzaveta Pysmak's “My Fat Arse and I”, Natalia Spychała's "Marbles" and Julia Orlik's “I'm Here” are all going to compete for awards.

The films by Katarzyna Warzecha and Julia Orlik will also visit the Ukrainian Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. Simultaneously, at the end of March, the Cinedans Fest will be held, where you can watch Marta Szymańska's “Tango of Longing” during one of the competition sections.

A complete list of festival screenings is available here.

MARCH 2021