Polish Competition of the 18th Animator

This year, the selection team has chosen 24 films that will compete in the Polish Competition. It’s a showcase of the rich, creative, and dynamic work of Polish animators!

At the 18th Animator IFF, held from July 5–13, 2025, one more animation will join the lineup — selected by the audience. Everyone can become a juror and help expand the competition section on June 5, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Kino Muza in Poznań.

Discover the full list of competition films:

Can you hear me? / Czy Ty mnie słyszysz?, reż. Anastazja Naumenko, Polska, 2024 

Nastia’s Zoom lessons on using a laptop for her mom are disrupted by unstable internet—and resurfacing family traumas.

Anastazja Naumenko is a visual artist and director, whose main investigation focuses on intertwinement and co-relations between real and fictional worlds, hence most of their works are mix of documentary and fiction. They are currently studying at die Angewandte in Vienna. Their first film “We hope you won’t need to come back” was shown on more than 25 festivals around the world.

Cold Home / Zimny Dom, reż. Alicja Liss, Polska, 2025

A mother and daughter live together in a house that feels colder than the world outside. Their daily life changes when the daughter lets in a bit of light. The film is a portrait of a complex family relationship, where emotions are hidden between gestures and silence.

I was born in the seaside city of Gdynia in 2000. In 2023, I completed my Bachelor's degree at the University of Arts in Poznań, creating puppet animation. I am currently a Master's student at the Animation Department of FAMU in Prague.
Animation is a medium that allows me to express thoughts and feelings that are often difficult to convey with words. I enjoy working with my hands, like painting, sculpting, and drawing, and one of the biggest advantages of animation is that it allows me to combine all these different forms of art into one cinematic work.

Dear Leo Sokolosky, reż. Weronika Szyma, Polska, 2024

This poetic dialogue unfolds between a young girl and her deceased great-grandfather, intertwining images from a German town where he was sent to a work camp during World War II with a delicate narrative as the girl pens a letter. The past seamlessly blends with the present, and flashes of memory mix with moments of oblivion. Leo Sokolosky, the letter's intended recipient, is the ghost of her great-grandfather’s friend from the camp, serving as a mystical link between her world and his. The film explores questions about ideals in today’s world and expresses the longing for someone close who is no longer around.

Animation director. Born in 1996 in Warsaw, Poland. A graduate of Masters degree in Animation at The Polish National Film School in Łódź. Author of short films, including "Blue" (2023), “Once upon a time in Israel” (2021) and “Lushfulness” (2020). Her films were selected and awarded at numerous film festivals around the world. Working mostly in analog media. Her works concentrate on feminism, body, lingustics, cultures and world conflicts.

Four walls of memory / Cztery ściany pamięci, reż. Joanna Płatek, Polska, 2024

A story about a girl who wanted to escape her own fear, but accidentally traps herself together with it in a small cabin in the woods. Locked inside four walls, with no way out, she has to deal with hunger, cold and the fear of something that once wanted to hurt her... but now lies dead beside her.

Joanna Płatek was born in 2001 in Poznań. In 2021, she graduated from the High School of Fine Arts in Poznań, after which she began studying animation at the University of Arts in Poznań. In particular, she is interested in the technique of animating sand under a camera and traditional drawing on paper.

Hairytale / złoTOwłosy, reż. Maciej Żuk, Polska, 2024

In the Wrocław Museum of Forensic Medicine You can find a peculiar exhibit, namely a hangman's noose made of locks of hair. The material for this macabre object was obtained by a series of assaults on a number of random women in a city's public transport. The animated short - ""Hairytale" is an attempt to tell the story of the creator (as well as a user of) this "work".

Maciej Żuk graduated Fine Arts Academy in Wrocław in 2015. Since 2014 he works in the film industry as a 2d, and 3d animator, as well as compositing artist. When he has some time to spare, he delves in creating music, and 2d animated shorts.

Hello, Headquarters / Halo, Centrala, reż. Zuzanna Zofia Heller, Polska, 2025

Elder man is looking for his wife, the Big Orange.

Born in 1998, in Kraków, Poland. Got bachelor's degree in graphic design at Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Right now studying animation at Film School in Łódź. Works as an illustrator and graphic designer.

Kiki and Bouba: A Peachy Story/Kiki i Bouba: Brzoskwiniowa historia, reż. Julia Wiereńko, Adrian Krzych, Kinga Chłodek, Leon Bugajski, Barbara Szczerbanowska, Polska, 2024

In “Peachy Story”, we witness the meeting of two farmers, who have different ideas of what it means to grow the perfect peach. The first farmer, Kiki, is a small creature who believes that the smaller the seed is, the better the fruit. Kiki is very lively, neurotic, and stubborn. The second farmer, Bouba, is chill and easy-going. He grows peaches with large seeds, and moves very slowly… that is, until someone tries to mess with his trees.

We met through our University students club. Not long after that, we got an amazing opportunity to create our first project for internship in COLA Animation; " Kiki&Bouba a Peachy Story ". We weren’t expecting how far this journey would take us. Our group decided to keep working together, as a collective called Studio Mufka to take on new challenges and projects.

Man of the Sun and a Body in the Snow, reż. Marta Michalik, Polska, 2024

A sunray gains consciousness and descends to a frozen planet, where it discovers a stiff body buried in the snow. It decides to do its best to bring the corpse back to life. 

Born in 2001 in Warsaw, she is a student of Animated Film and Special Effects at the Faculty of Cinematography and Television Production at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. She works with animation, illustration, and comics. She is a co-creator of „Paszcza Komiksowa”.

My Mom / Moja Mama, reż. Agnieszka Popińska, Polska, 2024

This is going to be a film about my mom...or rather what I would like to tell her
A short humorous story about arguments, growing up and the relationship between mother and daughter.

Agnieszka Popińska- Animator and short film director, born in 2001 in Wroclaw, Poland, currently student at polish national film school at animation department.

Nonbinaries / Niebinarki, reż. Niko Płaczek, Polska, 2025

Sugar, spice, and everything nice.
These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect girls. But the professor accidentally added another ingredient to the mix – Chemical X!
And thus, the Nonbinaries were born. Aware of their extraordinary powers, Butterfly, Beezy, and Lady Popular decided to dedicate their lives to fighting binary divisions and restoring the nonbinary order of the world.

Niko Płaczek (b. 1999) – performer, filmmaker, director, and writer. Graduate student at the Łódź Film School, specializing in animated film and special effects. Since 2019, she has co-organized events and performed for the queer community in Poland. In collaboration with designer Yasia Khomenko, she created a performance for the exhibition "Helena Bohle-Szacka. Interpenetration" (2021, CMW in Łódź). In 2023-24, she choreographed performances combining film and movement for the ANIMATOR festivals in Poznań. Her performances have been showcased in clubs and galleries, including Kannski Gallery in Reykjavik, the Municipal Arsenal Gallery in Poznań, and Club Milonga during the Dragan Bar by the KEM collective (with Kamil Wesołowski and Wojciech Grzegorzek). As a performer, she appears in the works of Marta Ziółek and Kacper Szalecki. Her latest film, Niebinarki (2024), was featured in the exhibition "Get over it" (2024) at the CSW Kronika in Bytom. She lives in Warsaw.

Packed Up / Zapakowany, reż., Polska, 2024

When one box’s dreams of becoming a parcel are ruined, an unruly cat appears in his life, trying to make a new home inside of him.

Damian Tchórzewski is a 3D animator and modeller residing in Poland. He obtained a master's degree in graphics, specializing in 3D animated film in 2024, at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. He was selected for the best graduate of MCSU's Faculty of Arts, and his film was chosen as the best diploma of the academic year 2023/2024. While studying, he was also working as a freelance 3D and 2D animator. His passion lies in animation and design of characters and environments, sometimes also sculpting (digitally or with modelling clay) and amateur voice acting. "Packed Up" is his graduation film.

Panta rhei, reż. Helena Stańczyk, Polska, 2024

A young girl grapples with unexplained nosebleeds that hinder her normal functioning. Filled with frustration and helplessness, the protagonist begins to slowly uncover the source of the problem. This poignant film blends realism with metaphor, exploring themes of vulnerability, change, and the inexorable passage of time.

Helena Stańczyk is a 4th-year student of Animation and Special Effects at the Łódź Film School and a graduate of the State Secondary School of Fine Arts in Warsaw, specializing in Intermedia Production. As the author of the comic „Ni pies, ni wydra”, published in 2024 by Dwie Siostry publishing house, she combines various forms of visual storytelling in her work. Her first-year film „49385” gained recognition at numerous festivals, receiving a special mention at the Etiuda&Anima Festival and a nomination for the Jan Machulski Award.

Singing machine / Machina do śpiewania, reż. Wanda Nejman, Polska, 2025

Fantastical machinery, warmed up and boiling from hard work, due to temperature it
evolves into an organism, then multiple organisms, which then build an ecosystem. Fauna and flora dances to the sound of liveliness.

Wanda Nejman is a fifth-year student in Animated Film at the Łódź Film School. She is the author of short films such as „Tyle słów ile znam” (2024) and „Nie chcę więcej grać w twoją głupią grę” (2022). Previously, she was a student at the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts and a character designer for the series „Jak zostałem superłotrem” directed by Krzysztof Ostrowski.

Sparkle, reż. Agata Mikina, Polska, 2024

A short film by Agata Mikina and Kacper Porczyk tells a coming of age story of a girl driven by passion. A dreamlike tale told without words, takes you on a journey through woods and swamps with imagery inspired by the beautiful Polish landscape. The viewer is drawn into a fantastic world of amazing depth through the water coloured hand painted characters, backgrounds and decorations in this cut out animation. Piotr Kubiak composed the musical score that is performed by a chamber orchestra and soprano to perfectly compliment the eerie atmosphere.

Director - animated film, 2D and 3D animator, layoutwoman, author of character designs and set designs for animated films (drawing, puppet). Author of book illustrations, painter.

The angelic touch / un tocco angelico, reż. Niki, Polska, 2025

A silent, sandy impression of a secret affair between two Catholic priests. Their affection blooms between one bed of strawberries and another, in a garden next to an Italian rectory. The animation in this film is done entirely in sand. The backgrounds are painted with black tea and ink.

Niki is an animation student from Poland who makes films in digital hand-drawn and sand techniques. She writes her own stories and adapts them into animated impressions and comics.

THE DOOR / DRZWI, reż. Paulina Woźniak, Polska, 2024

It’s the middle of the night, and the protagonist wakes up, disturbed by sounds coming from behind her bedroom door. In the darkness, she tries to make sense of the unsettling situation, observing the light seeping through the door and listening intently to the noises. Unable to see what is happening, she realizes that, while she is observing the unseen, something is also watching her.
The film was created as a form of art therapy, based on the personal experience of losing someone in a shared space. It serves as a sensory analysis of those events, examining feelings of fear and uncertainty.

Paulina Woźniak is a young artist currently studying animation at the University of the Arts in Poznań. Her passion for art flourishes in various forms, blending her experiences in expressive drawing, sculpture, graphic design, and illustration, all of which influence her storytelling approach. Rarely using dialogue in her works, her filmic creations focus on exploring emotions.

The Nature of the River / Natura Rzeki, reż. Agnieszka Waszczeniuk, Polska, 2024

“The Nature of the River” is about the similarities between a woman's mental state and the states/life cycles of the river. This is a movie about a human relationship with nature, about the wiseness of its cyclicality, about instinct and wildness that each of us carries within us. We are part of Pure Wild Nature.

Born in 1989 in Białystok, Poland. A 2016 graduate of the University of Fine Arts in Poznań at the Faculty of Animation. Animated film director, visual artist, screenwriter, animator, cutouts maker. She specializes in animation techniques under camera animation with the usage of ground coffee. She exhibited her works at over 80 animated film festivals in Poland and abroad, and received a number of awards and distinctions. The artist received multiple scholarships from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the President of Białystok. She creates her own animated films as well as opening credits for festivals and multimedia theater scenography. She cooperates with art galleries, theaters, cultural centers and musicians, as well as conducts workshops for children and adults in animation, cutouts and other visual arts. Together with her partner, she runs the Handicraft Gallery – Kombajnat Artystyczny. She enjoys making cutouts with a scalpel, which is a hobby that takes up more and more of her time.

The Pool or Death of a Goldfish / Basen albo śmierć złotej rybki, reż. Daria Kopiec, Polska, 2025

"The Pool or Death of a Goldfish” is a story about a possessive relationship between a mother and her daughter. The main character, through unexpressed anger and rebellion against her mother, transforms into a titular goldfish. Unspoken words, gestures, and repressed childhood emotions manifest in harsh treatment of both herself and others. The film is framed by a compositional structure in which the main character finally allows herself to feel grief, thereby entering a process of self-acceptance and forgiveness.

Daria Wiktoria Kopiec. Film and theater director. A graduate of the Directing Department of the Theatre Academy in Warsaw and the Film School in Łódź at the Cinematography Department, specialisation: Animation and Special Effects. Trainee at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels – La Cambre in Brussels. Member of the Polish Filmmakers Association. Participant of the Berlinale Talent Campus 2017 program. She made internationally acclaimed animated films "Cosmos" 2016 (Annecy, main competition) and “Your Own Bullshit” 2019 (USA Austin, SXSW, jury special mention). She gained recognition in the theatre community with her play “The Daughters of Lear”, appreciated by audiences in many countries, and the television theatre „The Rita G. Affair” 2018 (Grand Prix at the TEATROTEKA FEST festival). Currently, she has finished work on the plasticine animation “The Swimming Pool or Death of a Goldfish” and is finishing the live-action short “It's All Because of Her”.

There is plenty of fish in the sea / Wszystkie rybki śpią w jeziorze, reż. Joanna Szlembarska, Polska, 2025

During the Christmas Eve dinner, the girl is confronted with criticism from her family, who doesn’t hold back in commenting on her personal life and diet. In response to societal pressure and the fear of loneliness, she forms an unusual bond with a peculiar companion, who becomes a part of her daily life. Soon, she meets a man who struggles with similar issues, and their relationship develops in an unexpected way.

Joanna Szlembarska, a graduate of the Łódź Film School, specializes in stop-motion animation. The themes of her work revolve around anxiety and fear associated with relationships, presented in a minimalist, monochromatic aesthetic.
Her film "Composition of Existing Experiences" gained recognition at international festivals such as ZINEBI in Spain, StopTrik in Slovenia, and Imaginaria in Italy, and
was awarded the Animated Film Section Award of the Polish Filmmakers Association for Best Animation in Film. Her next film was created using the cut-out animation technique, broadening the spectrum of her artistic expression.

There once was-There is no more-There is / Było-nie ma-jest, reż. Karina Paciorkowska, Łukasz Kamil Kamiński, Polska, 2024

The film deals with the topic of experiencing difficult emotions related to the loss of loved ones and coping with it. Together with the 12-year old heroine Krysia, we go on a journey through places and times that were, which are not, and which we want to remember. The film, based on a story by Katarzyna Jackowska-Enemuo, supports young viewers in meeting their own emotional "black holes" and brings relief. The film is intended for children aged 10-12, but its profound meaning and contexts allow people over 12 years old to experience a journey within themselves and history.

Karina Paciorkowska - was born in 1994 in Warsaw, where she graduated from secondary school of fine arts. She graduated in Animation and Special Effects from Polish National Film School in Łódź. She raises social issues in her films, and also takes care of the visual aspects of several social campaigns.

Łukasz Kamil Kamiński - was born in 1986 in Warsaw. Graduated from Film and Television Academy in Warsaw (directing and editing) and Warsaw University (Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology). Author of short documentaries, reports, animations, commercials and video art.

Underneath the Mountaintop / U Wierzchu Gór, reż. Irina Karapetyan, Polska, 2025

The film tells a story of a farewell between two close sisters, with a focus on the elder sister and her final moments before departure, capturing her reflections and deep connection to her sister and the homeland she is about to leave behind.

Irina Karapetyan - An aspiring animator and film director, originally from Yerevan, now studying at Polish Lodz Film School. Passionate about storytelling and animation since early childhood.

Void Spaces, reż. Marta Koch, Polska, 2024

Therapy session opens memories from five different places and times. Traumatic experiences come back in expressive and suggestive images. Slowly, chaos becomes calmer and changes into peace. It shows new horizons and perspectives which is helpful to talk about the painful past. The film is a story about loss thanks to which is opportunity to find power and hop.

Marta Koch – in 2023, she graduated from the Film Animation and Special Effects Department at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. In her films, she explores various psychological themes such as loneliness, complicated interpersonal relationships, difficulties in trusting oneself and the world, and the duality of human nature. Her latest film, “Such a Beautiful Town,” was screened at almost 30 festivals around the globe.

Where wildflowers grow / Gdzie rosną dzikie kwiaty, reż. Milena Danowska, Polska, 2024

Where Wildflowers Grow is an animated short that follows two young girls engrossed by a classic fairytale of a princess waiting to be saved by a brave knight. When one girl playfully asks her friend what she would do if she were trapped like the princess, her friend declares she would rescue her, no matter what. The story then shifts to an older version of the friend, now a knight, navigating through the palace in search of the princess. In the climactic final fight, the knight finds the princess but is overpowered by a mage controlling a beast. In a twist, the princess steps in to save her, leading to their heartfelt reunion and a happy-ever-after. In the end, we’re left wondering if their journey was real or just the vivid imagination of two friends inspired by the fairytale they read. 

Animator and creator of animated films, a graduate of animation at the University of the Arts in Poznań. Her work focuses on women—their relationships, emotions, and connections. Her film „Where Wildflowers Grow” combines the classic 2D animation aesthetic with an attempt to confront heteronormative narrative forms by introducing queer characters into them. She creates with young women and teenagers in mind, offering stories where they can find closeness, acceptance, and space for their own emotions. She draws particular inspiration from classic Disney films and the visual aesthetics of anime, building original worlds that balance between nostalgia and modernity. Beyond animation, she passionately works in illustration, comics, and character design, treating them as a space for personal exploration of style, color, and character. The focus of her work remains on femininity—she often focuses on creating female characters and telling their stories.

Who Did You Want to Be? / Kim chciałeś być?, reż. Martyna Cisińska, Polska, 2024

The animation is a documentary and interview-based film about the question, "Who did you want to be?" It showcases people's dreams of the professions they aspired to pursue as children. Based on conducted interviews, ten professions were selected, each requiring the use of different animation techniques. Thus, the animation combines various forms of stop-motion animation into a single composition, including puppet animation, cut-out animation, and pixilation. The animation presents a mosaic of childhood dreams—each scene reflects a different profession, symbolizing the diversity of aspirations while reminding us that we all shared the common experience of childhood imagination. The central character is a mermaid, representing the director's dream. Surrounding her are other professions depicted within frames. These include a cashier, created as a puppet with movable arms set against a collage-like store background, and a pathologist, portrayed solely as gloved hands.

Martyna Cisińska (b. 1999 in Opole) is an animator, painter, and graduate of the Opole High School of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, where she studied animation. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Animation at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań. She is the creator of short stop-motion animations, showcased at events and festivals. She has also participated in the Animator Student Act Festival and the O!PLA Live Festival. Her work often explores autobiographical and documentary themes, wrapped in satire and symbolism.

This is where the film selected during ANIMATOR WITHOUT SELECTION will be announced, following the screenings on June 5, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Kino Muza in Poznań.