Animation: A World History

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Eastern Europe

Poland

Poland was worn out by the world conflict, with its major cities largely destroyed and its capital razed. Łódz and Katowice, two of the least stricken cities, became the very first centres of animation. In Katowice, a group named Slask made productions with animated drawings for the state department of cinema, Film Polski. Later on, a studio in Bielsko-Biała specialized in animated drawings, while the studio in Łódz became pre-eminent in puppet animation. It was in this field that Halina Bielińska (Warsaw, 14 August 1914–Warsaw, 13 October 1989) and Włodzimierz Haupe (Gniezno, 17 January 1924–Warsaw, 10 March 1994) distinguished themselves with Janosik (1954), the first Polish animated feature film, and, four years later, ...