Anima. Masters of Polish Animation

After-screening Q&A with Jerzy Armata, author of Anima. Masters of Polish Animation (EGoFILM, 2025).

Polish animation has always held a strong position on the international stage, as evidenced by numerous awards at the most prestigious festivals. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, the leading figures in Polish animation included Jan Lenica, Walerian Borowczyk, Witold Giersz, Daniel Szczechura, Mirosław Kijowicz, Kazimierz Urbański, Ryszard Czekała, Julian Józef Antonisz, Jerzy Kucia, and Zbigniew Rybczyński, followed in later years by Piotr Dumała, Tomasz Bagiński, Dorota Kobiela, and Mariusz Wilczyński. The Polish School of Animation has been – and continues to be – valued around the world just as highly as the “proper” Polish School of Film represented by Andrzej Wajda, Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and their successors, such as Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, and Paweł Pawlikowski.

Anima. Masters of Polish Animation is a publication that comprehensively covers the achievements of Polish auteur animation – both from a historical perspective and through the lens of different forms – by discussing the work of its most outstanding representatives. It spans from the time of Lenica and Borowczyk to the youngest generation of artists who have already established themselves on the global animation map, with Marta Pajek being the best example.

At the beginning of this century, I produced a 36-episode documentary series for Polish Television, titled Anima, dedicated to the work of the greatest Polish animation artists. This album, which presents the work of the “Top 50” (to be precise – there are 52 artists), supplemented by a selection of the “Top 50” films (to be precise – there are 53 films), is a book-length extension of that project.

Jerzy Armata

P.S. During last year’s edition of the Timeless Film Festival Warsaw, I presented two curated lists of the best Polish animated films — one compiled by the late Marcin Giżycki, an outstanding art historian, critic, director, and educator, and the other selected by myself. This year, the book launch is accompanied by a screening of a “third top ten”, featuring films just as remarkable as those in the previous two lists.