2. Se-Ma-For Film Festival

 

22 – 25 September 2011, Łódź, Polska

12 January 2012, Lugano, Switzerland

In 2010, on the anniversary of Wladyslaw Starewicz's (1882-1965) groundbreaking experiment whose result was the birth of  puppet animation, the Se-Ma-For Film Foundation (functioning alongside the most famous polish animation studio), decided to organise a great celebration of animation. The success of the first edition only  confirmed the rightness of this decision. That's how Se-Ma-For Film Festival was born.

 

Se-Ma-For Film Festival, an international festival of puppet movies and three-dimensional techniques is the second in the world and the first in Europe event dedicated especially to stop motion animation (both puppetry and three-dimensional). One of the fundamental aims of the festival - besides contests and accompanying screenings - is to create an international forum devoted to issues of co-production and ways of gathering European funds on film culture, and an international forum devoted to the issues of child cinema and stop motion animation.

 

2. Se-Ma-For Film Festival is an event in two senses international. Firstly, because of two contests: an international contest for best stop motion animation produced after 1 January 2009 and a national contest for the best polish animation produced in any animation technique. Secondly because of the location: movies from both of the contests and the prize-winners from the national contests will be revealed in Łódź (22-25 September 2011), where we'll also get to know the nominations for the international contest, whose prize-winners we'll get to know in the Swiss city of Lugano (12 January 2012).

 

2. Se-Ma-For Film Festival means also numerous accompanying screenings, which this year are arranged largely according to the key of presidency. That's why a special spot will be owned by Hungarian and Danish animation, that is, the countries that hand over to Poland (Hungary) and take over (Denmark) the presidency in the Council of the European Union. Switzerland will also play an important role in this year's festival.

 

ACCOMPANYING SCREENINGS

Everyday - next to the screenings of consecutive contestants' movies - we'll be able to take part in animated journeys (thematic, historical and monographic) presenting the limitless possibilities of this unusual technique that is a combination of the plastic arts, film and music. Each day will be finished by a polish premiere of a puppet movie: crazy adventures of a Cowboy, and Indian and a Horse, i.e 'A Town Called Panic' (Belgium/Luxembourg 2009, 76'),Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar, and an alternative history of II World War, i.e the „Jackboots on Whitehall” (UK 2010, 91’), Edward McHenry & Rory McHenry.

 

This year we'll be presenting retrospectives of prize-winners of SPECJALNY PIOTRUS 2011: Nag Ansorge, Ferenc Cakó, Jerzy Kucia i Marek Skrobecki; presentation of stop motion animations of students and graduates of the most famous Hungarian artistic university, The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest; retrospectives of classic Hungarian(Ottó Foky, Zoltán Olcsai Kiss, Gyula Varsányi) and Swiss stop motion animations; presentations of the most talented young creators of stop motion from Denmark(Tor Fruergaard, Tobias Gundorff Boesen, Alex Brüel Flagstad/porkfish), the Łódź premiere of the marionette movie  „Strings” (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, 2004, 88’), with participation and a special presentation of a puppet master, Bernd Ogrodnik (the chairman of the International Contest jury).

 

All the lovers of all kinds of movie abstraction can take part in an overwiev of Len Lay's experimental movies on the 110 anniversary of the artist's birthday and see a set of collages of Jodie Mack, an unusually talented animator from the US and an overview of unpretentious production of Ded Flay Prodakszynz from Łódź. Thrill-seekers will be lured by the SCARRY PUPPETS (2) MEET SEXY DOLLS program, an overview of puppet horrors and animations with strong erotic subtexts, and PLAY SOUND / STOP MOTION – a night with stop motion video clips.

 

We won't forget about the young and the youngest recipients of the art of animation. On everyday movie-mornings they'll be able to participate in  the polish premiere of a Danish movie „Prop og Berta” (2000, 77’),overview 'ANDERSEN'S DOLLS', i.e animated adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen's tales, Pingu vs Pik Pok, a comparative overview of the  Polish and Swiss penguins, full-length version of PROSZĘ SŁONIA, cult bed-time cartoons from the Se-Ma-For studio (KOLOROWY ŚWIAT PACYKA, MAURYCY I HAWRANEK, MORDZIAKI).

 

ANIMATION WORKSHOP

For all those who already tried to create a puppet animation there will be a workshop conducted by Krzysztof Brzozowski, one of the most distinguished animators in Europe. For the youngest there will be artistic workshop of Se-Ma-For's Museum of Tales.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS

Se-ma-for Film Festiwal is not only screenings, workshops and meetngs with curious guests but also music events and the so-called 'permanent-footsteps'. During the first edition those footsteps were the star of Wladyslaw Starewicz and the monument of Little Penguin Pik-Pok. This year next to Miś Uszatek, Pok and Filemon and Bonifacy a statue of Zaczarowany Ołówek will join.

 

The musical event will be the premiere of the SzaZa Na Dobranoc project, where the genius warsaw duo (Paweł Szamburski/Patryk Zakrocki)  will commemorate the hundtredth birthday of Karol Baraniecki (a drawer, the creator of Zaczarowany Ołówek) and Czesław Janczarski (creator of the literary character of Miś Uszatek), and reminisce over Piotr Hertl, the author of the music for children's tv shows:"Miś Uszatek", "Mały Pingwin Pik-Pok", "Trzy misie"and "Plastusiowy Pamiętnik", and Marian Kiełbaszczak, and outstanding animator and director of animated movies, co-creator of tv shows such as „Kolorowy Świat Pacyka”, „Przygody Misia Uszatka”, „Maurycy i Hawranek”, „Przygody Misia Colargola”, who passed away last year. After last year's Starewicz / SzaZa concert we can expect a thrilling evening!

 

GUESTS

Next to the program, the most important 'ingredient' of the international festival are the eminent guests. This year, among others:Ferenc Cakó - a master of real-time sand animation, one of most outstanding contemporary artists in Hungary ;Bernd Ogrodnik - master of puppet animation from Iceland, co-creator of the gamous 'Strings'; Ferenc Mikulás - the director of Kecskemét Animation Studio (Hungary's biggest animation studio) and KAFF (Kecskeméti Animáció Filmfesytival, i.e Hungary's first animation festival; Anita Killi – author of acclaimed ANGRY MAN, the winner of The Golden Pegasus and of The Audience Award at the 4^th International Animated Film Festival Animator in Poznań.Christophe Gautry – one of the more promising modern puppet animation creators from France; Michele Jannuzzi – the co-founder of the famous London Jannuzzi Smith studio; Alex Brüel Flagstad – z leading plasticine animation artist  from Denmark; Witold Giersz, Jerzy Kucia, and Marek Skrobecki - some of the most important creators in the history of Polish animation; Tomek Ducki – independent creator from Hungary; Wioletta Sowa – the chairman of the polish ASIFA section; Denis Viren – film expert in the Polish Institute in Moscow; Catya Plate – American multimedial artist, and also Mariusz Wilczyński and Jerzy Armata who will present in the Film Museum a new book about Mariusz Wilczyński’s work.

 

Festival screenings will take place in SFP Polonia cinema and the MuBa SeMaFor cinema.

The partners of 2. Se-Ma-For Film Festival are: UMŁ Pomotional Bureau, Polish Filmmakers' Association, Danish Film Institute, Swiss Film, Hungarian National Film Library, Polish National Film Library, The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, Miniature Movie Studio, TV Animated MovieStudio, Motion Picture Studio.