The winner of the first edition of Animator wins an Oscar!

During the Oscars ceremony we were rooting for the film “The Girl Who Cried Pearls,” co-directed by Maciek Szczerbowski, originally from Poznań and a well-known figure to the Animator festival audience. The film won the award in the Best Animated Short Film category, confirming the extraordinary strength and timelessness of stop-motion animation.

Maciek Szczerbowski and Chris Lavis have appeared at the Oscars before. Their first joint production, “Madame Tutli-Putli,” was nominated for an Academy Award in 2008. The film had previously been recognized at several festivals, including the first edition of the Animator International Animated Film Festival, where it won the festival’s Grand Prix - the Golden Pegasus. Its recognition at Animator went down in the festival’s history as one of its most important early successes.

Maciek Szczerbowski has returned to Poznań many times, including in 2012 when he served as a jury member for the Feature Film Competition, in 2017 when the festival organized a special screening of “Madame Tutli-Putli” with live music, and in 2018 when he served on the jury of the first-ever Polish Animated Film Competition, continually sharing his experience with new animators.

“The Girl Who Cried Pearls” was screened in 2025 during the Animator Festival as part of the International Short Film Competition. After the festival, it was also shown at screenings organized by Animator across Poland, including during the events held in cooperation with the National Museum in Warsaw and the Kościan Culture Center. The film will also be screened on March 27 at the Metropolis cinema in Hamburg as part of a program of Polish animated films during the European Animated Film Days ZACK!, curated by the Animator Festival.

“The Girl Who Cried Pearls” is a story set in Montreal at the beginning of the 20th century about a poor boy who falls in love with a girl whose sadness turns into pearls. It is a timeless tale of greed and love that demonstrates the wide range of possibilities offered by animated film.