This year’s edition of Annecy Animated Film Festival was a remarkable one as Poland was invited to be a guest country. On Monday the Special Crystal went to Jerzy Kucia, whose films were screened at Annecy in frame of two special programmes. Moreover there were nearly sixty titiles included in the panorama programme organized in collaboration with Institute Polonais in Paris.
The record-breaking number of nine Polish films were selected for the competition programmes. Three of them made it to the main, short film selection – "Ziegenort" by Tomek Popakul, "The railway watchman" by Piotr Szczepanowicz and "Darling" – the latest short by Izabela Plucińska, coproduced with Germany. "Casperade" by Wojtek Wawszczyk and "Flapper and Friends" by Krzysztof Brzozowski competed in the Tv Series section. The latest video by duo Kijek/ Adamski – last year’s laureates for their "Pirates’ life" – "Katachi" screened as a part of the videoclips competition. Finally, the above-mentioned, awarded "Ab obo" by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi was screened in Graduation Film competition as well as two animations by graduates of University of Arts in Poznań – "Beach" (dir. Paweł Prewencki) and "Ars moriendi" (dir. Miłosz Margański).
At the yesterday’s closing gala the jury consisting of Phil Davies (UK), Michaela Pavlatova (Czech Republic) and Helika Pikkov (Estonia) announced “Ab Ovo” by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi the laureate of the Crystal Award for the Best Graduation Film. Made in a clay technique, five minutes-long "Ab ovo" depicts the transformation of a women’s body through pregnancy. Kwiatkowska-Naqvi with an outstanding maturity pictures and describes the phisical changes accompanying the birth of a new life. In "Ab ovo" the pregnancy and growing bond between mother and a child is spread between harmony and anxiety.
Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi is a graduate of Psychology at University of Warsaw and is currently studying Animation at Polish National Film School in Łódź. Her previous films – “Protozoa” and "Carnalis" were screened at numerous festivals in Poland and abroad.
The complete verdict can be found at the official website of Annecy’s festival