A film by Kamil Polak - Polnisches Institut Berlin

The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET
Production:
Human Ark
Czerniakowska 73/79
00-718 Warszawa
t: +48 22 227 77 88
f: +48 22 227 77 96
e: info@human-ark.com
www.human-ark.com
A film by Kamil Polak
poland 2010
20 min.
Sales Contact:
saleswitez@human-ark.com
Europe Sales:
New Europe Film Sales
Jan Naszewski
www.neweuropefilmsales.com
World Sales:
The National Film Board of
Canada
www.nfb.ca
Festivals and Promotion:
Anja Sosic
t: +48 666 525 788
e: switez@human-ark.com
www.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.
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
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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”.
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)
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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 bestresourced
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
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
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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET
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.
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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET
CREDITS
Production:
Human Ark, Poland
Producers:
Stanisław Dziedzic
Zbigniew Żmudzki
Kamil Polak
Eliza Oczkowska
Co-Producers:
Luc Toutounghi
Denis Friedman
Paweł Partyka
Marcin Łunkiewicz
Co-Production:
Se-Ma-For Produkcja Filmowa, Poland
Archangel SA, Switzerland
Denis Friedman Productions, France
National Film Board of Canada
Telewizja Polska SA, Poland
Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa Telewizyjna
i Teatralna im. L. Schillera, Poland
Partyflex System, Denmark
Kamil Polak
Zielony Pomidor, Poland
Executive Producers:
René Chénier
Viviana Queirolo - Bortoglio
Franc Malmin
Neil Mundy
In Association with:
Riforma Film
Film Produkcja
La Cour des Miracles
SBS
ETV
TV Unam
Director:
Kamil Polak
Script:
Kamil Polak
Animation Supervisor:
Wojciech Wawszczyk
Editor:
Kamil Polak
Jacek Rokosz
Alexei Panvilov
Sound:
Luigi Allemano
Music:
Irina Bogdanovich
Film co-financed
by the Polish Film Institute
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The lost town of Świteź PRESSBOOKLET
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Category:
Short animation film
Duration
20 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 Ark
Czerniakowska 73/79
00-718 Warszawa
t: +48 22 227 77 88
f: +48 22 227 77 96
e: info@human-ark.com
www.human-ark.com
Sales Contact:
saleswitez@human-ark.com
Europe Sales:
New Europe Film Sales
Jan Naszewski
www.neweuropefilmsales.com
World Sales:
The National Film Board of
Canada
www.nfb.ca
Festivals and Promotion:
Anja Sosic
t: +48 666 525 788
e: switez@human-ark.com
www.switez.com
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