PROGRAM

17. KRAKOW SUMMER ANIMATION DAYS

Open-air screenings of the best animations of the last season

18-20 July 2025

Plac wielkiej armii Napoleona,
Powiśle 9, Krakow

During three evenings, the most interesting animated films of the last year will be presented. We will present short films awarded and distinguished with awards from the Polish Filmmakers Association for 2024, as well as during the 31st IFF Etiuda&Anima. Additionally, we will feature animations by the renowned Swedish artist Niki Lindroth von Bahr.

The program will also include the latest full-length animations that have been very successful at the most important festivals in the world. We will start with the Oscar winner "Flow", directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, 2024), then we will present Kristina Dufkova's brilliant animation "Ben nie ma lekko / Living Large" (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, 2024). The last full-length animation will be the fact-based family story of director Signe Baumane, "Kamienie w moich kieszeniach/Rocks in my pocket" (Latvia 2014).

ADMISSION TO ALL SCREENINGS IS FREE

invites you

18th July 2025 (Friday)

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

9:30 PM

Flow | Straume

10+

Director: Gints Zilbalodis, Country: France, Latvia, Belgium, Year: 2024, family movie
/ 84 min. /
In an enchanted, wordless world of lost civilisations, only animals survive. This new world is the creation of Latvian wunderkind Gints Zilbalodis, who not only directed the film, but also drew, wrote and co-scored it. Following his brilliant solo debut “Away”, Zilbalodis returns with a bold, human-like cat on a mystical quest. After a catastrophic flood, the lone cat must rescue a group of naive lemurs, a lazy capybara, mischievous storks, a majestic orca and a less-than-trustworthy Labrador from a forsaken, post-apocalyptic jungle.

Oscar winner. Meow.

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

11 PM

The Best of ANIMA 2024


International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima presents awarded animations
/  107 min. /
The Etiuda&Anima International Film Festival presents in its programme the achievements of students of film and art schools from around the world, as well as the works of creators of artistic animation – professionals, students and independent producers.

Extremely Short | Bardzo krótki

Director: Koji Yamamura, Screenplay: Hideo Furukawa, Production: Yamamura Animation, inc., Country: Japan, Year: 2024, Running time: 5 min. 18 sec.
A man sets out in search of the shortest thing in Tokyo, which turns out to be a single syllable uttered by a dying man. . . . The first installment in a series of animated shorts called "Bungaku Bideo" (Literature Videos), Koji Yamamura's Extremely Short translates into film a powerful story by Hideo Furukawa, read by the author himself.

Potatoes | Ziemniaki

Director: Marcin Podolec, Screenplay: Marcin Podolec, Wiktoria Podolec, Production: Yellow Tapir Films, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 4 min.
Drawn by a trembling hand, a story about an intergenerational relationship. Sometimes it is worth letting go – for yourself and others. A new animation by Marcin Podolec, the author of “A Documenary”.

Beautiful Men | Piękni mężczyźni

Director: Nicolas Keppens, Sceenplay: Nicolas Keppens, Production: Animal Tank & Miyu Productions & Ka-Ching Cartoons, Year:Belgium, France, Netherlands, Year: 2023, Running time: 18 min. 35 sec.
Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.

Nun or Never! | Zakonnica albo nigdy!

Director: Heta Jäälinoja, Sceenplay: Heta Jäälinoja, Production: Böhle Studios, Country: Finland, Year: 2023, Running time: 10 min. 49 sec.
The nuns live in the monastery in contentment and harmony, fused together. One of the nuns finds a man underground while digging potatoes. The nun begins to dream of a man, goes mad and loses a common rhythm with others.

JOKO

Director: Izabela Plucińska, Screenplay: Izabela Plucińska, Justyna Celeda, Production: Animoon, Country: Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Year: 2024, Running time: 15 min. 45 sec.
Joko is a young man supporting his entire family on a dead end factory job. One day on his way to work, someone jumps on his back, and orders him to transport them around the city. At first, he rebels against this humiliation, but relents under peer pressure and the promise of money. This new work slowly dominates him, mentally and literally, physically overcomes him. „JOKO” is a grotesque vision of the eternal exploitation and domination of man over man, full of absurd and macabre humor.

In Between City | Miasto pomiędzy

Director: Ilya Kreines, Screenplay: Ilya Kreines, Production: UMPRUM - Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague, Country: Czech Republic, Israel, Year: 2023, Running time: 8 min. 50 sec.
A poetic wandering through the Central European city and its memory, through different time periods and places, blurring reality and fiction. The film is constructed from a collection of fragments, stories, images and impressions. In the flux of images shaping the non-existing city, the film accentuates the footprints of the vanished Communist and Jewish worlds it once contained. In parallel, the film focuses on technical exploration, as it is entirely made out of stamps, carved from erasers.

Horse portrait | Portret konia

Director: Witold Giersz, Screenplay: Witold Giersz, Production: FUMI Studio, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 5 min. 46 sec.
Painting impressions on the silhouette of the horse, its springy moves, the shape of its head, stallions` fights. Apart from the original animation, the director presents his studies on Leonardo da Vinci`s horse, the drawings by Pablo Picasso, Saul Steinberg and others, but also mythological characters such as a centaur and Pegasus. He also shows how Japanese, Chinese and Paleolithic artists painted horses.

There are people in the forest | W lesie są ludzie

Director: Szymon Ruczyński, Screenplay: Szymon Ruczyński, Production: Szkoła Filmowa w Łodzi, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 9 min. 53 sec.
A lonely man limps down the road. A truck drives up to him. Several armed men jump out of it. They capture the limping man and transport him to the forest. The only witnesses of the scene are people from a nearby village. Since 2021, situations like these are commonplace on the Polish-Belarussian border of the EU, which is the scene of an ongoing refugee crisis. An animated documentary whose creator happens to live in a town by the border.

The Miracle | Cud

Director: Ewa Borysewicz, Screenplay: Ewa Borysewicz (based on THE MIRACLE by Ignacy Karpowicz), Production: Letko, Country: Poland, Year: 2024, Running time: 30 min.
Adaptation of a bestselling novel by Ignacy Karpowicz – a perverse interpretation of Mary and Joseph`s life, combining the biblical style with absurd humour. Chaos enters the life of a man – a hedonist and sinner – when his wife becomes pregnant. Terrified by the prospect of fatherhood, he escapes into alcohol and love affairs. However, as a result of a divine intervention, he must grow into the role of husband and father. The film combines animation and live action.

19th July 2025 (Saturday)

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

9:30 PM

Living Large | Život k sežrání | Ben nie ma lekko

10+

Director: Kristina Dufková, Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Year: 2024
/ 80 min. /
The life of 12-year-old Ben, who sings in a rock band, is full of good humour and a love for cooking, but a revolution is coming. Not only does he fall in love with a classmate, but he also decides to lose weight. It's hard for someone who feels at home in the kitchen to go on a diet. Despite this, Ben decides to take up the challenge, not just at the urging of the school nurse. He wants to start a new chapter in his life. This stop-motion animation, full of catchy music, is not just a story about losing weight. It also reminds us that sometimes it's worth shedding the weight on our hearts and learning to embrace ourselves.

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

11 PM

Polish Animation - The Best of the Best in 2023

/  94 min. /

We present Polish animations awarded with industry awards for 2023. The purpose of granting industry AWARDS is primarily to distinguish creators in individual professional categories, which result from, among others, the stages and process of creating animated films. The originator and initiator of granting the Awards is the Board of the Animated Film Section of the Polish Filmmakers Association

She Cat Him

Director: Marta Chyła-Janicka, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 22 min.
A comedy-drama showing three stories from the life of a frustrated married couple of intellectuals – Anna and Dawid. The film is intended only for adults because of the sharp humor that emphasizes the impotence and emotional problems of the characters.

Lack | Brak

Director: Paweł Prewencki, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 11 min.
The film tells a story about struggling with pain and suffering. It touches on a very personal experience. It is a story of loneliness, anger and grief experienced by parents who lose a child. It is an intimate and emotional visualization of the world in which bereaved people live

Sheep Out

Director: Zofia Klamka, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 8 min. 08 sec.
SHEEP OUT is a story about pedantic animator that lives a routine life, only moving between home and work. Slowly sinking into apathy, she began separating herself from the outside world. Her life turns upside down when she discovers a picture of sheep, that in a series of absurd events, eventually draws her out of stagnation. It’s a symbolic story about facing your fears and getting out of comfort zone, loosely inspired by Haruki Murakami’s book Wild Sheep Chase.

Cosmic Routine

DIrector: Agnieszka Kotulska, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 6 min. 37 sec.
Tired of everyday monotony, a simple girl finds herself in an alternative universe. In the urban setting of a music video from the 1980s, she will try to breathe life into a world mired in routine.

Wait for me in a Dream | Czekaj na mnie we śnie

Director: Natalia Durszewicz, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 14 min. 54 sec.
A poetic story about an elderly married couple shown with the use of painterly animation. Isolated from the world and condemned to loneliness, Bronka and Zygfryd experience a slow defragmentation of their reality caused by the woman's illness and the adversities associated with it. On their final journey, they experience moments of regret, pain and even repulsion. However, for all their worth they try to remember the love that used to last between them.

Composition of Existing Experiences | Kompozycja z przeżyć istniejących

Director: Joanna Szlembarska, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 7 min.
The couple spends the night together. The woman moves freely around the apartment, the only interior inaccessible to her is her partner's painting studio. The clean monochromatic interior of the apartment, the abstract blood-colored paintings and the soft morning light are at once filled with calm and uncertainty.

Nutcracker Girl | Dziewczynka do orzechów

DIrector: Michalina Musialik, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 14 min.
Christmas is the magic time when snow falls, the family gets together and toys become alive. On this special evening, a little girl sees her doll embark on a great adventure. The magic is gone the moment a wooden soldier puts his hand under the doll’s dress while they are dancing together. This incident reveals a completely unknown sphere of life to the girl, the one encompassing violence and sexuality. The fairy-tale mood gives way to an unpleasant atmosphere and the child-like drawing animation turns into realistic images. A story about growing up and discovering carnality to the tune of Tchaikovsky’s ballet.

Martyr’s Guidebook | Jak być męczennikiem

Director: Maksymilian Rzontkowski, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 8 min. 59 sec.
The hero of the film is Antoni, who experiences pressure to do good deeds from an early age. In one scene, he celebrates his teacher's birthday, surrounded by his classmates. Everyone throws themselves at the carrot cake, and Antoni takes the smallest piece, which earns him praise from the teacher. Although it might seem like a touching scene, this is when his internal struggle begins. Antoni falls into the trap of needing to maintain a positive image in the eyes of others.

Cohesion | Kohezja

Director: Sara Sawicka, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 5 min. 05 sec.
The film depicts a journey of the protagonist across her subconscious, the events are surreal interpretations of hidden fears. Her ego – terrified of a breakdown – rebels against her.

Opening Night | Premiera

Director: Sara Szymańska, Country: Poland, Year: 2023, Running time: 12 min. 20 sec.
The reunion of a young couple, recently split, stirs up intense emotion as they relive their relationship's troubled past during a theatre afterparty. The deeper they delve into their past, the harder it becomes to resurface back into reality.

20th July 2025 (Sunday)

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

9:30 PM

Dancing on the Table with Niki Lindoth von Bahr

/  45 min. /

In each of her short films, Niki Lindroth von Bahr shares a vision of the world tinged with humour and melancholy. Stop-motion, the technique she has used since she started, sets in motion figurines representing little animals with human attributes and behaviour. These characters move around in familiar spaces brimming with details: a supermarket, a hotel, a fast food joint, a petrol station, a nuclear power station, a swimming pool… Like us, they worry, suffer, and wait for a better life; their need to connect with others is palpable.

Bath House | Łaźnia | Simhall

Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Country: Sweden, Year: 2014, Running time: 15 min.
Six animals meet at the swimming pool. The horse, the pool’s manager, is a dedicated, conscientious friend of order. Over the years the premises have become her whole world. Two wolves come to the pool to bathe. Their relationship is hard to define.

Something to Remember | Coś do zapamiętania | Något att minnas

Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Country: Sweden, Year: 2019, Running time: 5 min.
A lullaby before the great disaster. Two pigeons visit a zoo without animals; a snail has a doctor measure his blood pressure; and something goes terribly wrong at the CERN laboratory. Six moments from our age, like memories of a world we leave behind.

The Burden | Brzemię | Min börda

Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Country: Sweden, Year: 2017, Running time: 15 min.
A dark musical enacted in a modern market place next to a large freeway. The employees of the various commercial venues, portrayed as animals, deal with boredom and existential anxiety by cheerfully singing and dancing. To them, the apocalypse is temptingly liberating.

Tord and Tord | Tord i Tord | Tord och Tord

Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Country: Sweden, Year: 2010, Running time: 10 min.
One day Tord accidently enters the apartment next to his own. A man, also named Tord, has just moved in. Tord and Tord start hanging out together.

Napoleon's Grand Army Square

Powiśle 9, Krakow

10:20 PM

Rocks in My Pockets | Kamienie w mojej kieszeni

14+

Director: Signe Baumane, Country: Latvia, Year: 2014
/ 88 min. /
It is a story of mystery and redemption. The film is based on true events involving five women of Signe Baumane's family, including herself, and their battles with depression and suicide. It raises questions of how much family genetics determines who we are and if it is possible to outsmart one's DNA. The film is packed with visual metaphors, surreal images and a twisted sense of humour. It is an animated tale full of art, women, strange daring stories, Latvian accents, history, nature, adventure and more.

ANIMATION WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN

FREE ENTRY

ASP Kraków, animation studio

ul. Karmelicka 16, Kraków

Workshop leader: 

Tomek Ducki

Part 1

Age of participans: 7 - 11 years

19th July 2025 (Saturday)

10 AM - 1 PM

Part 2

Age of participans: 12 - 16 years

19th July 2025 (Saturday)

2 PM - 6 PM

Tomek Ducki

Animation film director, born in Budapest - based in Krakow / Bielsko-Biała
He is a Hungarian-Polish animation director, designer, and free-spirited artist. His unmistakable style fuses diverse animation techniques, mesmerizing color palettes, and subtle narratives that invite viewers to discover hidden stories and meaning behind the film. In addition to directing several multi-award-winning shorts and animated music videos, Tomek passionately explores the interplay between music and animation, and actively engaging in events that introduce new audiences to the transformative power of art.

Media Patrons

About Krakow Summer Animation Days

Every year during summer evenings, the citizens and visitors of Krakow can experience the wealth of the art of animation in the heart of the historic city. It is all thanks to Krakow Summer Animation Days – an outdoor event organised by the Foundation for the Promotion of Artistic, Film and Audiovisual Culture Etiuda&Anima.

The event features free outdoor screenings of animated films from around the world, as well as film workshops addressed to both adults and younger enthusiasts of the art of animation. The aim of Krakow Summer Animation Days is to promote various forms of this unique artistic expression.

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