Unsound Festival New York: ANIMATORS

Part of BAMcinématek

Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 7pm

60min

Unsound Festival New York is well-established as an essential contributor to New York’s cultural landscape, embracing a range of genres from contemporary classical music to post-industrial sounds to black metal to new directions in bass. Co-presented by Polish Cultural Institute New York. 

This year’s BAMcinématek entry features Warsaw-based underground supergroup Baaba performing a live score to an exquisite selection of classic Polish animated films, incorporating graphic arts, painting, puppetry, and experimental theater. The lineup includes Academy Award winner Zbigniew Rybczynski’s New Book, auteur Walerian Borowczyk’s Banner of Youth, and Mirosław Kijowicz’s Cages, as well as Stairs by Stanislaw Schanbeck and Chair by Daniel Szczechura.

Once Upon a Time There Was… (1957) 9min
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk & Jan Lenica
In this trailblazing work that helped initiate the “Polish School of Animation,” one of the most refreshing and interesting phenomena of Polish postwar culture, the artists playfully use simple geometrical shapes, collages, and paper cutouts to “freely associate” abstract meanings.

The Banner of Youth (1958) 2min
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Deeply rooted in the tradition of Polish surrealism, Borowczyk – known mostly for his arthouse erotic features filmed later in France – created this fiddly, whimsical ad for a popular Polish magazine. 

New Book (1975) 10min
Directed by Zbigniew Rybczynski
Always innovative, Oscar winner Rybczynski (Tango, 1983), uses the progressive split-screen technique and sophisticated narration to depict time and space in a simple, everyday occurrence.

Changing the Guard (1958) 8min
Directed by Wlodzimierz Haupe, Halina Bielinska
This Cannes ‘59 short film award winner (for the best concept), is a love story told entirely with matches and matchboxes, the shadows they cast, and the sound effects they produce. 

Stairs (1968) 7min
Directed by Stefan Schabenbeck
This award-winning metaphorical, doll animation depicts a character climbing up almost infinite flights of steps, only to become one of them at the (sad) end.

Cages (1966) 7min
Directed by Miroslaw Kijowicz
The Grand Prix winner at the Annecy Film Festival in ‘67 as well as the recipient of many international awards, Cages examines the relationship between the system and an imprisoned individual, which teasingly questions the definition of freedom. 

Chair, (1963) 6min
Directed by Daniel Szczechura
Szczechura uses a clean, graphic style to create a poignant parable about a struggle for power. Inside an anonymous monumental building, tiny characters move up and about like pawns on a chessboard to reach to the chair of their desires. 

The Cat and the Mouse (1958) 9min
Directed by Wladyslaw Nehrebecki
Beautifully drawn, two animal characters in a perpetual chase morph into different shapes and constantly switch places.