Kinoblog

This (downloadable Word document) hints at some very exciting news. Apparently the Polish government-backed PWA (Polskie Wydawnictwo Audiowizualne, or Polish Audiovisual Publishers), which has already released some highly acclaimed DVD surveys of classic Polish documentaries, is turning its curatorial attentions to Poland’s rich animation heritage, though I can’t find any formal announcements on its own site as yet.

But this is what appears to be included:

DISC ONE (118 mins 40 secs)

• House (Dom, Walerian Borowczyk/Jan Lenica, 1958, 10:55)
• Changing of the Guard (Zmiana warty, Włodzimierz Haupe/Halina Bielińska, 1958, 8:06)
• The School (Szkoła, Walerian Borowczyk, 1958, 7:42)
• Labyrinth (Labirynt, Jan Lenica, 1961, 15:30)
• Playthings (Igraszki, Kazimierz Urbański, 1962, 7:22)
• The Armchair (Fotel, Daniel Szczechura, 1963, 6:15)
• Red and Black (Czerwone i czarne, Witold Giersz, 1963, 6:58)
• Cages (Klatki, Mirosław Kijowicz, 1966, 8:06)
• Everything is a Number (Wszystko jest liczbą, Stefan Schabenbeck, 7:30)
• The Horse (Koń, Witold Giersz, 1967, 6:38)
• Stairs (Schody, Stefan Schabenbeck, 1968, 7:18)
• Journey (Podróż, Daniel Szczechura, 1970, 6:22)
• The Son (Syn, Ryszard Czekała, 1970, 10:08)
• Road (Droga, Mirosław Kijowicz, 1971, 4:35)
• The Roll-Call (Apel, Ryszard Czekała, 1970, 7:55)

DISC TWO (94 mins 54 secs)

• Banquet (Bankiet, Zofia Oraczewska, 1976, 8:55)
• Soup (Zupa, Zbigniew Rybczyński, 1974, 8:22)
• Reflections (Refleksy, Jerzy Kucia, 1979, 6:20)
• A Sharp, Engaged Movie (Ostry film zaangażowany, Julian Antonisz, 1979, 8:03)
• Tango (Zbigniew Rybczyński, 1980, 8:10)
• Unfaithful Portrait (Portret niewierny, Ewa Bibańska, 1981, 8:00)
• Little Black Riding Hood (Czarny Kapturek, Piotr Dumała, 1983, 5:16)
• Gentle Spirit (Łagodna, Piotr Dumała, 1985, 11:33)
• Solo on the Follow (Solo na ugorze, Jerzy Kalina, 7:15)
• Race (Wyścig, Marek Serafiński, 1989, 7:20)
• Tuning the Instruments (Strojenie instrumentów, Jerzy Kucia, 2000, 16:20)

If I find out any more, I’ll post it here a.s.a.p. – but they’ve definitely sold at least one copy. Even if it doesn’t have English subtitles, I suspect this won’t be a major handicap – of the half-dozen titles I’ve seen, none has any spoken dialogue.

(The links, incidentally, are to entries on the Polish-language but attractively illustrated 55 lat polskiej animacji site, which at least gives a passing idea of what some of the films are like.)