Created for the youngest of audiences, this section is a tribute to the great era of Eastern European cinema, which revolutionised the cartoon world between the 1940s and 1980s, rivalling the ever- growing popularity of Disney films. The animation studios of the Socialist bloc were the breeding ground of extraordinary artists whose use of artisanal techniques such as puppet animation and animated drawing gave life to works that still amaze audiences today with their experimentalism and originality. Among the short films on the programme is Ferda mravenec, the first appearance of the anthropomorphic ant Ferda, created from the imagination of the mother of Czech animation, Hermína Týrlová. From the Filmoteka Narodowa-Instytut Audiowizualny in Warsaw are two enchanting episodes of the series Zaczarowany ołówek, presented here in a restored version.   

FERDA MRAVENEC  
(Ferda the Ant, Cecoslovacchia/1944) di Hermína Týrlová, Ladislav Zástěra (10’)   

UZEL NA KAPESNÍKU  
(The Knot in the Handkerchief, Cecoslovacchia/1958) di Milos Komárek, Josef Pinkava, Hermína Týrlová (15’)   

ANIMÁLIA – ÁLLATSÁGOK  
(Ungheria/1977) di Tibor Hernádi (6’)   

NA PODWÓRZU  
(In the Backyard, Polonia/1964) di Karol Baraniecki (10’)   

ZBŁĄKANI W LESIE  
(Lost in the Forest, Polonia/1965) di Andrzej Piliczewski (9’)   

Year by year, Filmoteka Narodowa-Instytut Audiowizualny unceasingly works on preservation, digitization, and restoration of its wonderful collection of films made by the Se-Ma-For studio. This year we present newly restored gems from the collection of the classic Polish animation cinema: two episodes of Zaczarowany ołówek, one of the most popular and beloved cartoon series for children, brought to life by a cartoonist Karol Baraniecki, between 1964 and 1977. Its main protagonists, a boy named Piotr and his dog, are set off on many different adventures, solving problems with the aid of an enchanted pencil, which can materialize anything that has been drawn with it. This lovely cartoon, with its distinctive and recognizable leitmotiv, has stolen hearts of many Polish children since the 60s, and we are happy to share it with the most wonderful young audience of Il Cinema Ritrovato.

Iga Harasimowicz and Anna Sienkiewicz-Rogowska

3 years and above