Polish animation with an award at the festival in Paris
The animation „Impossible Figures and Other Stories I”, the last part of Marta Pajek’s trilogy, received the award for the best artistic concept at the PIAFF – Paris International Animation Film Festival. The three-day event (January 19-23, 2022), taking place in the French capital, is entirely devoted to animation, and its program includes short films from around the world. The image was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
The film’s world premiere took place at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). The picture has already received a distinction from the Balkanima festival, as well as the Golden Pigeon for the best animation in the International Short Film Competition DOK Leipzig and the Grand Prix of the Slovenian International Animated Film Festival. „Impossible Figures and Other Stories I”, although opening the trilogy, were made last. The previous parts: „Impossible Figures and Other Stories II” (2016) and „III” (2018) were shown at the largest international festivals (including Cannes, Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand) and won 48 awards and distinctions.
The producers of the triptych are Piotr Szczepanowicz and Grzegorz Wacławek from Animoon in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada. The festival distribution and film sales are handled by MIYU Distribution and the National Film Board of Canada.
Film plot
The first part of Marta Pajek’s triptych is a post-apocalyptic vision of a world in which a man and his existence do not matter more than a fraction of a second. Marta Pajek’s triptych is based on the concept of impossible figures – that is, figures that can be drawn, but in fact impossible to appear. Each of the films tells about the pursuit of excellence and fulfillment in a reality full of pitfalls. The latest part is distinguished by the appearance of dialogue, and the voice of the main character was given by the outstanding actress Anna Polony.
After the big bang, only a few old people remained in the deserted city. The protagonist of the film, an old woman, walks the streets of a deserted city with difficulty. It is surrounded by facades of empty houses with geometrically divided planes, monuments reminiscent of old victories, completely irrelevant today, and dead mannequins in shop windows. In short flashes the memories of those who will never come back to the city come back.
About the director
Marta Pajek is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where she specialized in animated film in the studio of the legendary animator Jerzy Kucia. Her previous film „Impossible Figures and Other Stories II” was screened and awarded at almost 80 film festivals in Poland and abroad. It has received a total of 25 awards, including the Grand Prix of the ITFS festival in Stuttgart. The later „III” began its festival path with a premiere in the main short film competition of the Cannes festival.
– I felt that I needed more time and experience to be able to deal with the topic of the fall of civilization and the end of humanity. While working, I had the opportunity to spend time in cities closely related to history – Warsaw, Vienna and Moscow. All these places with their impressive architecture became the inspiration for a film in which the city is one of the heroes – the director and screenwriter tells about the backstage of the film „Impossible Figures and Other Stories I”.