Polish animation awarded in Cannes

Animation co-financed by the Polish Film Institute „My fat arse and I” directed by Yelyzaveta Pysmak won the second prize in the Cannes section – Cinéfondation 2020. Earlier this picture by student from the Film School in Łódź, received the Audience Award at the 36th Warsaw Film Festival.

First prize of the 23rd Cannes Cinéfondation goes to „Catdog” directed by Ashmita Guha Neogi from India and joint third prize go to „Contraindications” directed by Lucia Chicos from Romania and „I want to return return return” directed by Elsa Rosengren from Germany. The winners will receive a €15,000 grant for the First Prize, €11,250 for the Second and €7,500 for the Third. The prizes have been awarded on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière as part of „Cannes 2020 Special” by the members of jury comprised of Damien Bonnard, Rachid Bouchareb, Claire Burger, Charles Gillibert, Dea Kulumbegashvili and Céline Sallette.

The Cinéfondation section since 1998 has been presenting short films from film schools from around the world. This year, the selection committee picked 17 films (13 stories and 4 animations) from 1952 entries. The entrants came from countries such as Israel, Great Britain, Argentina, Hungary, Romania, India, Switzerland, the United States, South Korea, France, Poland, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia.

Animation plot

One morning a girl tries on a pair of new pants, yet they don’t quite fit her. More precisely, they are impossible to zip.The girl is bewildered. In the mirror she sees herself as the fattest piglet the world has seen. She decides to go on a strict diet as quickly as possible. No sweets, no sodas, just water with an occasional lemon. The plan goes quite well, draining all of fat away, but with that goes all the joy of life. Even though now extremely thin, the girl doesn’t stop. She is now is more of a zombie, coming blindly to the fridge, that haunts her at night. In the moment of the last seduction by the fridge the Angel of United Bitches of Slimbuttlandia comes to her with a royal invitation to visit the Kingdom and to participate in a royal ceremony. What is this ceremony? Are the Skinny Buttangels that lovely and harmless as they try to appear? Which God do they praise? Is there a way back from The United Bitches of Slimbuttlandia if anything goes slightly off track?

Yelyzaveta Pysmak is the director, author of the screenplay and cinematography for the film „My fat arse and I”. She was born in Czernichów, Ukraine in 1997 and studies Animated Film and Special Effects at the Film School in Łódź (PWSFTviT). Natalia Jastrzębska has edited the picture, and Szymon Kucharski and Michał Lejczak, who is also the author of the music, for the sound.