The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

A film by Kamil Polak

poland 201020 min.

Production:

Human ArkCzerniakowska 73/7900-718 Warszawat: +48 22 227 77 88f: +48 22 227 77 96e: info@human-ark.comwww.human-ark.com

Sales Contact:

saleswitez@human-ark.com

Europe Sales:New Europe Film SalesJan Naszewskiwww.neweuropefilmsales.com

World Sales:The National Film Board of Canadawww.nfb.ca

Festivals and Promotion:

Anja Sosict: +48 666 525 788e: switez@human-ark.comwww.switez.com

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

A CELEBRATION OF THE ROMANTIC SPIRIT

The animated film THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ is based on the 19th-century epic poem by Poland’s greatest writer, Adam Mickiewicz, about a ghostly town deluged after a bloody massacre in medieval times, which now lies at the bottom of a remote lake. It is an apocalyptic tale of destruction, religious miracles and spectral visitations.The film imports oil paintings into digital 3D combined with both CG animation and visual special effects to create a mesmerizing aesthetic experience, set to a specially-commissioned full choral and orchestral score. It dramatically merges literature, painting, music and animation.

STORY SYNOPSIS

On a tempestuous night a coach battles through the dark forests of 19th-century Poland. The galloping horses stare at something in the darkness, the coach loses control and, after a wild ride, it smashes somewhere deep in the woods. A young traveler emerges from the wreckage, the coachman and the horses having fallen into a deep sleep. Dazed, he staggers further into the woods. From out of the darkness ominous shadows emerge at speed: all around him are warriors on dark steeds. They release a barrage of fiery arrows over his head. He runs for his very life to the edge of a lake, where suddenly all is stillness. He topples into the lake.

The traveler is transported to a medieval world, where he witnesses the last days of the town of Świteź which lies at the bottom of the lake after being plundered by the ghostly warriors that the traveler saw in the forest. As the town is set on fire, the townspeople flee into their church, and pray for salvation. Their prayers are answered by a deluge, which engulfs marauders and innocents alike. But the innocents are transformed into lilies, which to this day cover the entire surface of the lake. The next day our young traveler, stunned but alive, is pulled out of the lake from amongst the lilies.

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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

VISUAL STYLE

THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ was created in an original combination of 3D animation and classic animation painted with oil paints. Specially-commissioned large-scale paintings were composited into a multiple-plane 3D computer generated (CG) environment using state-of-the-art digital animation and compositing techniques. This unique artistic way creates a quality in itself and an extraordinary means of expression, which is crucial in animation, where strength of content and visual form merge into a striking and meaningful fusion.Two distinct styles of paintings were used: 19th-century Slavonic paintings (such as the work of Józef Chełmoński and Aleksander Gierymski), which give the illusion of perspective and use a realistic palette, combined with the much more stylized, brightly-colored and iconic 2D paintings of the Middle Ages.

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The middle part of the film, which presents the story of the village called Świteź relates to the medieval style. All characters are made of flat elements referring to the classic cut-out animation. All of the works were specially created by a team of fine artists using various techniques. The finished paintings were put into the production computers and split into layers in order to achieve depth and dynamism. The compositing software then allowed the artists to seamlessly integrate the imported 2D elements with the CG elements, so that they appeared to exist in the same three-dimensional space.

One of the most difficult artistic effects to create was a visual impression of an image inspired by the nineteenth century realistic painting. That is the aesthetics in which the film begins and ends. The main character of the Traveler who mystically arrives to the village and discovers its fascinating history is always presented in the nineteenth-century-style. In the beginning, the Traveler was a very

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

rough and raw 3D character, but after using an innovative tool called Brush Shader developed by the Human Ark team especially for the film, it gained a unique look which is both classically beautiful and intriguingly modern.

In addition to real-life paintings, the ŚWITEŹ team also imported real-life textures, such as textiles, which were then grafted on to the 3D CG animation to give it a stylized, hyper-real aesthetic. Next, the lighting and environmental particle effects, such as mist, were added to enhance the mood, look and depth of the film.

The creative interaction of artists and production process has given the film an exciting energy and sense of mystery. By mixing very different techniques, a new quality rare to a CGI production has been created, making the film a dramatic and emotional experience.

MUSIC

From the beginning, THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ has been conceived without dialogue - the music is its voice and delivers the emotional impact of the film. As a starting point for composer Irina Bogdanovich, director Kamil Polak designed a two-meter-long visual narrative of the rise and fall of the dramatic action of the film, and pasted on references to paintings as the inspiration for particular scenes. Irina had to compose music which reflected the two periods of the film, and which was suitably epic and mysterious for a tale of destruction, religious miracles and spectral visitations. Her composition is in the Romantic Russian tradition, to which she brings a modern feel. Also important to the film is choral music in the medieval Eastern Orthodox Church tradition. The score has been recorded for several of the key sections of the film using a full orchestra and choir, which imparts a very encompassing and epic sound.

ADAM MICKIEWICZ

The National Poet of Poland, the Romantic writer and visionary, Adam Mickiewicz (1798 –1865), is to the Poles what Homer is to the Greek or Shakespeare to the English. One of the greatest Slavic poets, Mickiewicz encountered the likes of Goethe, George Sand and Pushkin on his extensive European travels. One of his best-known works, the mysterious ballad “Świteź” is suffused with romanticism and poetic mysticism, demonstrating the rich influence of Polish folk tales and popular beliefs. Mickiewicz has had a strong and enduring impact on Eastern European thought and creative imagination, inspiring artists, writers and composers (including Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov), and continues to do so to this day. In 2000 the renowned Polish film-maker Andrzej Wajda

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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

filmed Mickiewicz’s great epic, “Pan Tadeusz”.

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CREATIVE TEAM

KAMIL POLAK

Director Kamil Polak studied classical music, ballet and painting at the College of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and excelled in all these disciplines. His love of story-telling brought him to film-making, and in animation he has found the opportunity to combine his classical training in drawing and painting with his love of music and rhythm, and to bring these together in one dramatic narrative. He studied directing at the world-renowned Łódź Film School. His film “Inside” is on the all-time great films reel of the School, and his film “Birth of a Nation” won the 2nd prize at the Wiesbaden International Festival and has been widely sold to international television. He developed THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ during his graduation year. Kamil was the Visual Effects Supervisor on “Peter & the Wolf”, a £ 2.5 million stop-frame animation for Channel 4 and for the big screen accompanied by live orchestra

k.polak@human-ark.com

Filmography:„The Lost Town of Świteź”, 2010, (Director), 20 min„In”, 2003, (Director), 3min„Birth of a Nation”, 2001, (Director), 4min

„Splinter”, 2007, (Compositing Artist)„Peter and the wolf”, 2006, (Visual Effects Supervisor)„Mokra bajeczka”, 2005, (Visual Effects Supervisor)„Letter”, 2004, (Animator)„Dybuk”, 2003, (Video Projection)„Penguin”, 2002, (Animator)

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

Director’s Statement

„At the very beginning there were emotions: anger, happiness, sadness, melancholy, fear and a sense of being lost when facing the enormity of the universe. All this was accompanied by the hope that good, consolation and happiness in its purest, shapeless form truly exist.The combination of these words might seem over the top and can make some people feel unease but for me it is a simplified description of the energy and the state, which I wanted to share with everybody, while believing in the purifying strength of that energy.When I accidentally read the ballad „Świteź” by Adam Mickiewicz, describing the last day of existence of a medieval town, where the mysterious lake Świteź lies these days, the same type of emotions ran through me. I felt that I found a way to channel that state of mind to the outside. Surprisingly, a romantic text, written almost 200 years ago, became the main inspiration to make the animated film THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ.Together with my team, I started to create this non-existent world. We built landscapes, a wooden town with a brick church inside it. We animated a XIX century hero, who would experience the most incredible night in his life, we created choreography for thousands of extras, we controlled the elements of fire and water so that they would face each other in a battle for human life. Good against evil. Life against death. The struggle of faith for the purest happiness and inner peace.In the visual sphere, I looked up to great painters (Rublow, Gierymski, Szyszkin, Uccello), filmmakers (Griffith, Eisenstein) and creators of amazing ballet spectacles (Tchaykovsky, Prokofiev) – that’s why everything in this film lives with music.And although the whole visual word is borrowed, put together from images seen in museums and present in different cultures, still there is blood flowing through the film – it’s the blood of my emotions and how I experience the world.Let multiplicity, complexity, rhythm, good, love, happiness, peace and hope win over simplicity, hopelessness, death, war and evil in this 20 minute animated film. And let the catharsis experienced by the protagonist when diving in the lake of Świteź be given to every member of the audience.”

Kamil Polak

IRINA BOGDANOVICH

Composer Irina Bogdanovich is a striking new talent from Russia. She graduated with honors from the Choral Conducting Department at Moscow University and then from the Piano Department at the University of Yekaterinburg. As a student she twice won the 1st Prize at the Russian National Student Piano Competition. Currently she is the Conductor and Artistic Director of the Warsaw University Choir, which won the 3rd Prize in the International Choral Music Festival in Randers. Under her stewardship the Choir has developed a very high profile. At the 6. ERA New Horizons IFF in 2006 Irina conducted a 60-piece orchestra and 80-person choir to accompany Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky at an open-air concert performed to an audience of 12,000 in Wrocław.

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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

PRODUCTION

Delegate producer Human Ark is an Animation Studio based in Warsaw, which specialises in 3D Animation and Special Effects. It is fast gaining a reputation as one of the most innovative and best-resourced producers of internationally-coproduced animated features and series. Human Ark has a strong team of top graphic artists, animators and specialist technicians, all well-versed both in the rich traditions of Polish animation and in the latest technological advances.

www.human-ark.com

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AUDIO POST-PRODUCTION

THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, which has post-produced the soundtrack for THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ, is the doyen of animated film production, having produced over 13,000 films and won over 5,000 international awards, including 12 Oscars®

www.nfb.ca

SALES AND PROMOTION

International promotion of THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ is handled by New Europe Film Sales – the only sales agent in Poland. The company handles world sales of numerous short films (incl. Berlinale 2010 winner “Incident by a Bank” by Ruben Östlund).

www.neweuropefilmsales.com

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

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Piotr Dumała about THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ

„If Mickiewicz lived today, he could be a film maker. The way he describes reality and consequences of different events is very much fit for a film. (…) [Watching ŚWITEŹ] at the very beginning, I am impressed with the carriage. I can see trees as if they were in a stereoscopic camera. It is a bit like a childlike joy at seeing something impossible, that all of a sudden someone is sailing in the air, levitating. This is like watching something through telescopic glasses for the first time, and we can experience such a WOW effect; something incredible has happened. And this moment when the carriage is speeding, the camera suddenly stops and we can see that these trees move against each other, but they do not cease to be flat, yet it is not just a common cut-out, and this is when you feel delighted. (…) These waves are wet, but they are not just water. They are also a mass of indefinite matter that performs a kind of a dance around the cathedral before it is ravaged. We do not even actually see the moment of the ravage itself. It is because it is not about this. It is more of a change from a realistic and film vision to a kind of an ornamental abstraction that transforms in front of our eyes and is beautiful in itself.” „It is a new statement in animation that has something from 2D, 3D, painting, computer film, but actually none of these can I discern in this film separately. Just like Kamil told me that for him this film is an experience that the character undergoes, that is purifying, and it would be ideal for him if the spectator could experience the same, that this film is just a kind of immersion into something that leaves us changed as we go out.”

Piotr Dumała is a Polish film director and animator. The fragments are taken from a statement for a documentary about the making of THE LOST TOWN OF ŚWITEŹ.

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

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CREDITS

Production:Human Ark, Poland

Producers:Stanisław DziedzicZbigniew ŻmudzkiKamil PolakEliza Oczkowska

Co-Producers:Luc ToutounghiDenis FriedmanPaweł PartykaMarcin Łunkiewicz

Co-Production:Se-Ma-For Produkcja Filmowa, PolandArchangel SA, SwitzerlandDenis Friedman Productions, FranceNational Film Board of CanadaTelewizja Polska SA, PolandPaństwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa Telewizyjna i Teatralna im. L. Schillera, PolandPartyflex System, DenmarkKamil PolakZielony Pomidor, Poland

Executive Producers:René ChénierViviana Queirolo - BortoglioFranc MalminNeil Mundy

In Association with:Riforma FilmFilm ProdukcjaLa Cour des MiraclesSBSETVTV Unam

Director:Kamil Polak

Script:Kamil Polak

Animation Supervisor:Wojciech Wawszczyk

Editor:Kamil PolakJacek RokoszAlexei Panvilov

Sound: Luigi Allemano

Music:Irina Bogdanovich

Film co-financed by the Polish Film Institute

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET

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TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Category:Short animation film

Duration20 min 38 sec (film / 24 fps)19 min 48 sec (video / 25 fps)

Length:505 m

Picture:Colour

Format:Scope 1:2,35

Sound:Dolby Digital 5.1

Completion Date: December 2010

Available for TV broadcast: 1st March 2011

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Production:

Human ArkCzerniakowska 73/7900-718 Warszawat: +48 22 227 77 88f: +48 22 227 77 96e: info@human-ark.comwww.human-ark.com

Sales Contact:

saleswitez@human-ark.com

Europe Sales:New Europe Film SalesJan Naszewskiwww.neweuropefilmsales.com

World Sales:The National Film Board of Canadawww.nfb.ca

Festivals and Promotion:

Anja Sosict: +48 666 525 788e: switez@human-ark.comwww.switez.com