Sculptor with a Camera

A century of Polish animation unfolds pre-war avant-garde experiments to today’s independent scene. It foregrounds a generation of committed artists who, working amid shifting social and cultural conditions, forged a singular visual language — blending cut-outs, puppets, and experimental techniques with surrealism, philosophy, and dark humour. Drawing on pioneers such as Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, the film explores how animation became a space for artistic exploration, subtle commentary, and formal innovation. A chronicle of artistic triumphs and an intimate portrait of a medium that constantly redefined the boundaries of imagination.

A century of Polish animation unfolds pre-war avant-garde experiments to today’s independent scene. It foregrounds a generation of committed artists who, working amid shifting social and cultural conditions, forged a singular visual language — blending cut-outs, puppets, and experimental techniques with surrealism, philosophy, and dark humour. Drawing on pioneers such as Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, the film explores how animation became a space for artistic exploration, subtle commentary, and formal innovation. A chronicle of artistic triumphs and an intimate portrait of a medium that constantly redefined the boundaries of imagination.

In 1924, Henryk Berlewi, avant-garde artist affiliated with the constructivist group “Blok”, published his theory of “mechanofaktura” – innovative image-building solution based on the replacement of varied canvas texture with two-dimensional visual equivalents such as the rhythm of lines and planes, schematic combination of geometrical forms, and colour range reduced to black, red and white. By mechanising the means of expression Berlewi sought to arrive at the effect of texture variation without departing from the inherent two-dimensionality of painting. The movement generated by adding rhythm to the image was described by Berlewi as if he was describing a film, which prompted Marcin Giżycki to create this moving image reconstruction.

Four men are waiting for a tram. Based on a painting by Zenon Wasilewski, the father of Polish animated film.

Waves wash ashore different objects, which gradually become associated with Roman Polanski's "Two Men and a Wardrobe".

An animated essay on the color blue in 20th century art inspired by, among others, Eadweard Muybridge, Wassily Kandinsky, and Kazimir Malevich.