Polish animation in the Cannes Cinéfondation

The animation „Beasts among us” by Natalia Durszewicz, co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, has been selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation. It will be presented among 17 short films (13 live-action and 4 animated) from film schools all over the world.

Cinéfondation is the competition section of the Festival de Cannes since 1998, which will take place on July, 6-17. The jury will hand over the prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday, July 15th, in the Buñuel Theatre. For its 24th edition, 1,835 films were submitted, among which only 17 were selected (13 live-action and 4 animated shorts). The full list of selected productions is available here: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/communique/articles/the-jury-and-the-selection-for-short-films-and-the- cinefondation-2021

The plot and the filmmakers

Set in a surreal scenery, the film tells about the role reversal of victims and predators. It shows the world we live in from the perspective of the most vulnerable. Every day, they are being killed, eaten, exploited for entertainment, doomed to be stuck in the lower social class, abused. A world full of inequality, division, brutality and a constant struggle for survival. In such a reality, it is difficult to remain innocent. Prey turns into predator, predator turns into prey.

The picture was made at the Film School in Łódź. Natalia Durszewicz is responsible for the script, directing, cinematography, editing and animation of the film. She created the music together with Julia Owczarek, Rafał Nowak is responsible for the sound of the animation. The artistic supervision of the project was provided by Mariusz Wilczyński and Joanna Jasińska-Koronkiewicz.