Gdynia for Children

Gdynia for Children is one of the most popular sections of the Gdynia Film Festival. Organised annually since 2004, it attracts from 8 to 10 thousand young viewers! This year, it will have a special character. The 50th anniversary of the Polish Filmmakers Association – the main organizer of Gdynia for Children – became an occassion for proposing an unusual repertoire to the audience, composed of the greatest achievements of the Polish cinema for children and young people. A special event of this year’s edition of the programme will be the Polish premiere of the animated film “A Drop of Northern Lights” by the master of the genre, Wiesław Zięba.

It is the only occassion to watch during the Festival days the most famous feature or short animations which popularised the Polish cinematography worldwide: from “The Crossbow” – the first episode of the adventures of the most famous animated duo – Bolek and Lolek to the Oscar winner “Peter & the Wolf”, through unusual in their artistic form productions of Telewizyjne Studio Filmów Animowanych and Studio Miniatur Filmowych by the most outstanding artists of animation – Witold Giersz, Julian Józef Antonisz, Zofia Ołdak, Zbigniew Kotecki.

Next to the classics of the genre, the Festival will also present the most recent Polish films for children and young people. In the year of Europe Championships in Football, the audience will see the full length feature by the master of children’s cinema, Stanisław Jędryka – “Paragon gola”. The opening film of the Gdynia for Children programme will be the premiere, not shown before, full length animation by Wiesław Zięba – “A Drop of Northern Lights”. The film will be presented on Monday 19th September in the morning.

The programme of the section also includes other full length films: the animation “How to Save Mom” from 2015 (dir. Daniel Zduńczyk, Marcin Męczkowski) and the feature “Adventurers’ Club” by Tomasz Szafrański. The viewers will also see the most recent short lengths: the doll animation by Natalia Brożyńska “The Advisers of King Hydrops” (an adaptation of Stanisław Lem) and the new episode of the series “Jim and Screw” from Studio Filmów Rysunkowych in Bielsko-Biała – “The Little Knight” by Marek Burda, the film “Confusion with Winter Inventory” (dir. Andrzej Piotr Morawski) from the new series “Viking Tappi” or the new episodes of the series for children “Mr. Toti” (dir. Grzegorz Handzlik, Jaroslav Baran). It is hence also a chance to get to know the new Polish cinema for children and young people as well as to see which means of expression it uses, which topics it touches upon and which film forms it presents.

This year’s Gdynia for Children comprises not only the films of the Polish filmmakers but also of foreign artists, presented in the World Cinema Panorama. The programme will be supplemented with accompanying events, among others, an exhibition of posters from the programme of the Polish Cinema of the Young Viewer in the Gdynia Film Centre. The organizers have also planned workshops from the film shooting location, which will allow the participants to follow the making of a short film, from the screenplay, through the shooting location, to the very editing. Younger children will be able to participate in the workshops on the animated film.

“Gdynia for Children has a special character not only because year by
year I am deeply moved with the view of hundreds of little cinema lovers
coming to screenings in crowds but also because I always start the
Festival Tuesday with welcoming the children and in this moment I always
feel that another Festival has begun and set sail,” says the Artistic
Director of the Festival, Michał Oleszczyk. “I am positive that at those
unusual screenings, another generations of children are enthused with
love to cinema and that in the future, they will take a seat in the
Musical Theatre and follow the Polish cinema as mature recipients.”

All the screenings are held in the Helios cinema. Gdynia for Children is organised by the Polish Filmmakers Association in co-operation of the Pomeranian Film Foundation and with the financial support of the Polish Film Institute.

GDYNIA FOR CHILDREN – PROGRAMME

SET 1 (age group: kindergarten – first grade):
54 min.

1. THE CROSSBOW (series: Bolek and Lolek), dir. Władysław Nehrebecki, 10’ / SFR 1963
2. PLAN ATE FROM OUTER SPACE (series: Mami Fatale), dir. Marcin Wasilewski, 10’ / SMF
3. FISHERMAN ON THE SEA BOTTOM, dir. Leszek Gałysz, 12’ / Kuchnia Filmowa 2011
4. THE GREEN PENCIL, dir. Jan Steliżuk, 9’ / Serafiński Studio 2010
5. THE LITTLE KNIGHT (series: Jim and Screw) dir. Marek Burda, 13’ / SFR 2016

SET 2 (age group: grades 1 – 3):
61 min.

1. LIVE WATER, (series: Bajki i baśnie polskie), dir. Witold Giersz, 12’ / TVSFA 2003
2. PETER AND THE WOLF, dir. Suzie Templeton, 32’ / Se-ma-For Produkcja Filmowa 200
3. THE ADVISERS OF KING HYDROPS, dir. Natalia Brożyńska, 17’ / WJTeam 2016

SET 3 (age group: kindergarten – first grade):
54 min.

1. A STRIPED ADVENTURE, dir. Alina Maliszewska, 11’ / SMF 1960
2. BARNABY THE DRAGON, dir. Tadeusz Wilkosz, 10’ / Filmoteka Narodowa 1977
3. THE BLACK GOBLIN (series: The Polish Fairy Tales), Robert Turło, 13’ TVSFA
4. .!?, dir. Jacek Adamczak, Maciej Ćwiek, 7’ / TVSFA 1989
5. THE LYING GOAT (series: The Polish Fairy Tales), dir. Andrzej Kukuła, 13‘ / TVSFA 2008

SET 4 (age group: kindergarten – first grade):
46 min.

1. THE PLAID PUPPY, dir. Zofia Ołdak, 8’ / SMF 1968
2. HOW COME THERE’S A BEAR ON THE SCREEN?, dir. Julian Józef Antonisz, 6’ / SMF 1970
3. TWELVE MONTHS (series: The Polish Fairy Tales), dir. Zbigniew Kotecki, 13’ / TVSFA 2004
4. MR. TOTI AND THE MAGIC COMB, dir. Grzegorz Handzlik, Jaroslav Baran, 8’ / Studio Animacji Orange 2014
5. CONFUSION WITH WINTER INVENTORY (series: Viking Tappi), dir. Andrzej Piotr Morawski, 11’ / EgoFilm Ewelina Gordziejuk 2016

SET 5 (age group: kindergarten – first grade):
50 min.

1. A FAIRY TALE, dir. Ryszard Kuziemski, 11’ / SFR 1968
2. WHERE THE PEARLS GROW (series: Hip-Hip & Hurra), dir. Elżbieta Wąsik, 13’ / SMF 2014
3. KARATE (series: 2 cats + 1 dog), dir. Bogdan Nowicki, 10’ / SMF 1988
4. XAVIER THE CAT, dir. Bronisław Zeman, Andrzej Orzechowski, 8’ / SFR 2014
5. MR. TOTI AND THE BIG EGG dir. Grzegorz Handzlik, Jaroslav Baran, 8’ / Studio Animacji Orange 2015

ANIMATION – FULL LENGTH: