Etude, Anima and...

Etiude, Anima and...

Interview with Bogusław Zmudziński – Artistic Director of the Etiuda&Anima Festival.

Etiuda&Anima is the oldest Polish festival for animations and student studies from around the world. Let’s go back in time: what was the idea behind its foundation?
It began with the simple observation at the beginning of the 90s that the student films created in film schools were brushed off, almost like amateur works. They were rarely allowed into competitions, such as the Kraków Festival of Short Films; it was argued that the true professional start for young artists arrived only after graduation. And these studies were often real gems... I thought they should be put before an audience in a festival competition. From the beginning they included animations, and so finally the event evolved with the extended name Etiuda&Anima, based on two foundations: a competition for fictional and documentary shorts and an animation competition, not just for students, but also for professionals and independents. Extending the formula in the latter case is due to the specifics of the animators’ community, who are much more likely than other filmmakers to acknowledge the work of their students as equal artistic expressions.

It’s not without reason that the festival – as one of few film events – was included in the cultural programme for the Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union 2011. Let’s talk about your project, Polish School of Animation, Its Satellites and Followers...
There’s never enough promotion of Polish films abroad. We decided to promote the greatest achievements in Polish animation in several capitals around the world, comparing them with films from the last decade, when there was a clear revival of the form in Poland. Following the premises of the Polish Presidency 2011 we’re showing the Polish School of Animation in London, Beijing, Berlin, Kiev, and Tokyo. The project is so popular that we’re getting requests from a number of countries to repeat it next year. We'll see whether the Ministry of Culture and the Polish Film Institute will find the money to do so. We’ll also be alluding to the project during this year's Etiuda&Anima, and I think the presentation at the festival will be permanently associated with this year’s event.

Kazimierz Karabasz, Paul Driessen, Wojciech Marczewski, Priit Pärn, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jacek Bławut, Marcel Łoziński and Martin Šulík are just a few of the winners of the Special Golden Dinosaur, a prize for artists who have achieved success as creators as well as being outstanding teachers. Who will win the award this time?
I attach great importance to this prize. In spite of all the various transformations taking place before our eyes, nothing in the educational process can replace the master-student relationship, especially in artistic schooling. This year, the winner is the British artist Barry Purves, the great advocate of classic methods for making animations – including puppet animation – which he has been making for decades with great success. He also teaches it in British and Italian schools, and on other occasions in workshops all around the world. He’ll be a participant in our series Animators’ Self-Portraits, where he’ll reveal the secrets of his techniques and his two latest films, Tchaikovsky and Plume, will be participating in the Anima competition. Who knows? Perhaps he’ll be leaving our festival with another award.

The Etiuda and Anima competitions are especially attractive to both audiences and artists, but the festival is also well known for its rich programme of accompanying events. What’s unmissable? What might especially intrigue the viewers?
As well as the Self-Portraits... cycle, which will also include the Canadians Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis and the American Suzan Pitt, keep an eye out for the Ten Best Belgian Animations chosen by that great authority in world animation – Raoul Servais – and screenings of classic European animations by Raimund Krumme and Nedeljko Dragić, premieres of the latest feature-length animations The Rabbi’s Cat by Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux, The Ugly Duckling by Garri Bardin, and Mati Kütt’s Sky Song, as well as the festival opener, one of the most famous films in cinema history, A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès, which will be screened from a recently rediscovered copy restored to the original colour! It’s very difficult for me to stop there, because the festival has a multitude of attractions.

The festival has a long tradition of promoting young artists. It is here that the youngsters learn from the best and meet their first audience. In a similar fashion, there’s something new for us this year – a review of diploma films made in Polish film schools.
It was with us – I think I can say this without exaggeration – that Marcin Wrona, Leszek Dawid, Janez Lapajne, and Oscar winner Florian Gallenberger took their first steps. Their feature films will be screened during this year’s festival. I could mention the names of others who started with us, including Saša Gedeon, Bohdan Sláma, Maciej Pieprzyca, Marek Najbrt, Roman Vávra, Tomáš Bařina, Iwona Siekierczyńska, Bartek Konopka, Anna Kazejak, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Bálint Kenyeres, Diana Groo and György Pálfi. From this year on, despite the fact that our festival is an international event, we’ve decided to look even more carefully at future Polish filmmakers. Hence the project Polish Diplomas, which will in the next few years – hopefully in the form of a contest – allow us to closely monitor the next generation of cinema artists emerging from Polish film schools.

Now let’s turn to the future: what will Etiuda&Anima have in store for us in future?
A searching attitude and creative character in programming decisions. The event is still evolving, and I foresee further movement in the direction of those new forms of audiovisual communication which are ever more present in our lives. If we need to change the festival’s name again, I’m quite sure it will be Etiuda, Anima&New Media...