"Świteź" Awarded in Las Palmas

The animated film Świteź (The Lost Town of Świteź), directed by Kamil Polak, received the grand prize in the Short Film Competition at the 12th Las Palmas International Film Festival.

The Las Palmas International Film Festival has been organized annually since 2000. The event is divided into fourteen sections. The Main Competition awards include two prizes for best full-length feature films and one for best short film.

This year’s Short Film section featured 15 films from around the world, including two Polish animations. Apart from The Lost Town of Świteź, another contender for the cash prize of 8,000 euros was Paths of Hate by Damian Nenow.

The selection of short films was judged by an international jury presided by Polish film director Jerzy Skolimowski. Other jury members included Armenian actress Arsinée Khanjian, French film critic and writer Pascal Vimenet, promoter of African cinema Michel Ouédraogo, and Spanish director Vicente Molina Foix.

The Lost Town of Świteź, an adaptation of the romantic era ballad by Adam Mickiewicz under the same name, is a 20-minute-long animated film made using a combination of 3D computer animation and classic animation based on traditional oil painting techniques. The film tells the tale of an enchanted medieval town resting at the bottom of a mysterious lake. The story takes place on two time planes: the first being Mickiewicz’s contemporary age, the second being medieval times when, as legend has it, the town of Świteź found itself under water.

The Lost Town of Świteź imports elements of oil painting and tempera into 3D and combines means of classic animation technology with CG animation and visual effects. The unique aesthetic result was achieved using state-of-the-art technology. Work on The Lost Town of Świteź, from idea to finished project, lasted seven years.

The film was produced by the Warsaw-based computer graphic studio Human Ark.

Kamil Polak’s short animated film screened earlier this year in the Short Film Competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.

The Lost Town of Świteź was produced with financial support from the Polish Film Institute.

The official website of the Las Palmas film festival: lpafilmfestival.com

Translated by Karolina Kołtun