- I’m glad that I will have a chance to make my contribution to building knowledge resources on the film culture of Lodz. Se-Ma-For Studio of Small Film Forms undoubtedly deserves research attention as next to – Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych [Fictional Film Studios], Wytwórni Filmów Oświatowych [Educational Film Studios] and “Prexer” Łódzkie Zakłady Kinotechniczne [Prexer. Łódź Kinotechnical Plant] – it used to be a very important element of “HollyLodz” - says dr Ewa Ciszewska
In her research dr Ciszewska would like to think about specificity of operation of the Lodz centre of film animation, to reconstruct its beginnings and to have a closer look at the studio's heyday years.
- At the very same time my research partner, mgr. Ph.D. Pavel Skopal from the Masaryk University in Brno will look at Czechoslovakian animation. We are going to compare mechanisms of functioning of the Se-Ma-For Studio of Small Film Forms in Lodz and Gottwaldov Film Studio (where such titans of Czech animation as Hermína Týrlová and Karel Zeman used to work) – thanks to that we will learn more about Czechoslovakian and Polish animation from the period of socialism – adds dr E. Ciszewska.
Karel Zeman, Hermina Týrlová, Daniel Szczechura, Zbigniew Rybczyński – outstanding animators
Animated film studios in Zlín (the Czech Republic) and Lodz (Poland) were ones of the most important centres of film production in the Eastern Block. Artists later recognized all over the world such as Karel Zeman, Hermina Týrlová, Daniel Szczechura or Zbigniew Rybczyński used to work there and their films were awarded during the most prestigious film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Locarno and won the Oscar Prize. During existence both studios produced thousands of animated, puppet and combination films. Custom productions, especially for television, were also an important part of their work.
Apart from animated films, in the film studios in Zlín and Lodz also fictional, documentary, school and advertising films were produced. However, previous studies - popularizing, devoted to specific profiles of artists or analyses of selected films - do not exhaust the richness of issues related to the production of animations at the Gottwaldov Film Studio and the Se-Ma-For Studio of Small Film Forms in Lodz.
Se-Ma-For and the Gottwaldov Film Studio – a comparison
The goal of the project is to analyse and compare the centres of film animation in Gottwaldov and Lodz. Animated production in the Gottwaldov Film Studio referred to the film production of the Baťa company launched in the 1930s. Specific position of the Zlín/Gottwaldov studio and the Se-Ma-For Studio of Small Film Forms in Lodz outside of administrative and production centres make them an ideal material for comparative research.
The research will be methodologically based on prosopography (i.e., on collective monographs of a selected group of animation studios employees). Efficiency of the network in Gottwaldov and in Lodz was determined by a strong film environment and the creative authority of filmmakers, and simultaneously the networks contributed to maintaining the production quality. The proposed research opens a possibility to compare the structure and intensity of personal, financial and institutional relations that shaped the studios. Productions from Lodz and Zlín are key elements of Polish and Czech film animation heritage. Therefore, determination of the nature of this heritage and methods for shaping and management of Polish and Czech film animation will be an important element of the research.
Necessary knowledge about Polish and Czech animation
Answers to the research questions – provided using film analyses, archival queries and interviews with artists/film makers – will allow for a more complete and more detailed knowledge about Polish and Czech film animation. Papers concerning Polish and Czech animation – two collective monographs (one in Czech and one in Polish), three English language texts published in journals from SCOPUS database and one thematic issue of a journal indexed in Scopus (English language version) will be effects of the research. The collected data on the employees of animation studios will be published in the form of an Internet database. Publications on animation centres in Gottwaldov and in Lodz are to fill in the gap in studies of production culture with respect to animated film in the time of communism and political transition, both in the Czechoslovakia and in Poland.
The project entitled „Studia animacji w Gottwaldowie i Łodzi (1945/47-1990) – porównawcza biografia zbiorowa" [Animation studies in Gottwaldov and Lodz (1945 / 47-1990) - a comparative collective biography] obtained co-financing in the amount of PLN 439 200.
University of Lodz is one of the biggest universities in Poland. Its mission is to educate top-class scientists and specialists in numerous fields of humanities, social sciences, natural and exact sciences as well as health sciences. UniLodz cooperates with business, both at the staff level by providing qualified employees as well as at the scientific level, by offering its know-how to enterprises from various areas of economy. University of Lodz is an academic institution open to the world – the number of its international students is constantly growing, while its Polish students, thanks to Exchange programmes, get to know Europe, Asia and travel overseas. The University is a part of Lodz, it operates for and with the community of Lodz by getting involved in many socio-cultural projects.
Source: dr Ewa Ciszewska, Department of Film and Audiovisual Media, Faculty of Philology, UL
Edit: Promotion Centre, UL