Witold giersz biography examples

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Of the great traditions of Eastern European animation, the Polish school rivals that of the former Czechoslovakia for pre-eminence.

Witold Giersz was among its earliest animators, his work both subsidised and scrutinised by the country’s Communist government. While contemporaries such as Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica created darkly absurd and grotesque films in response to life under authoritarianism, Giersz stood out for the relative optimism and humanism of his work.

From his café romance Awaiting (Oczekiwanie, 1962) to his political dystopia The Star (Gwiazda, 1984), Giersz shows that women may be fickle and big brother a bully, yet he maintains an undercurrent of hope through a good-humoured portrayal of universally recognisable feelings and foibles.

Kinoteka 2013 – the 11th Polish Film Festival runs 7-17 March at venues around London.

‘The Painterly Animations of Witold Giersz’ + Q&A screens 16