Polish Animators Tease 'Privisa,' A Fantasy Animated Feature

It’s impossible to predict nowadays where the next intriguing feature animation project will emerge from: it might be South Africa, perhaps Brazil, or as we learned this past week, Poland.

The latest attention-grabbing project that has appeared online is a concept trailer for Privisa, a collaboration between three different Polish studios: Platige Films, Juice, and Flat Foot Films:

The children’s film was one of 55 animated films pitched last month at Cartoon Movie, the annual European pitching and co-production forum where many feature film deals are made. Don’t hold your breath for the film though. It was pitched as a project in “concept phase,” and according to its producers, has now moved into development. In other words, it’s still quite a ways from reaching theater screens, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll even find the funding to be produced.

The 80-minute or so children’s feature is set to be directed by Marcin Karolewski, who created concept art for the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but whose approach to animation can be seen more clearly in this music video he directed a few years ago for a group called Oszibarack:

The story, conceptualized by Julita Olszewska, is fantasy-oriented with Eastern European roots:

Wilkan, an 11-year-old Slavic boy, learns that his beloved grandfather must leave the tribe in order to await his death in solitude. When Wilkan tries to prevent that, his actions put the entire village in trouble: a powerful wizard turns villagers into wolves and Wilkan’s father into a duck. Only the magical Alatyr stone located inside the Tree of Life and Death has the power to counter the curse. Wilkan and his folks set out on a dangerous journey, facing many difficulties and as they reach the tree, it turns out Alatyr has an unimaginable price – human life. Wilkan must confront his greatest fears: say goodbye to his grandfather and face the evil awaiting him back in the village.

While we’ll have to wait to find out whether Privisa will become an actual animated feature, Platige is currently working on another film that should be finished soon: Another Day of Life, an atypical animation/live-action hybrid that will recount the life-altering experiences of Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński during the Angolan Civil War in 1975.

Here are the credits for Privisa:
Production: Platige Films
Co-production: Juice, Flat Foot Films
Project development co-funded by Polish Film Institute

PLATIGE FILMS
Producer: Magdalena Bargieł
Executive Producer: Katarzyna Fukacz, Jarosław Sawko

JUICE
Directing, Concept, Art Work: Marcin Karolewski
Script concept: Julita Olszewska
Concept Art: Mathias Zamęcki, Hanna Czyżewska,
3D Artist: Tomasz Dyrduła, Jarosław Handrysik
Producer: Natalia Lasota

FLAT FOOT FILMS
Head of Animation: Leszek Nowicki
Animation: Maciej Krowiński, Piotr Sitek, Krzysztof Świderski, Małgorzata Mianowska