Piotr Chmielewski’s short animation “The Crab” won two awards at the Premiers Plans festival in Angers, France. The film was appreciated by both the jury (L’Extra Court Award) and the audience (Audience Award). 

The Premiers Plans festival presents film debuts by European directors. There is no shortage of features, animations or documentaries in the programme. Audiences have the opportunity not only to watch the first films of promising filmmakers, but also to get acquainted with the rich output of established directors, to whom several retrospectives are devoted. Piotr Chmielewski’s film The Crab has already won a Special Mention at the StopTrik International Film Festival in Slovenia. It was also screened at the Warsaw Film Festival, the Animator Festival in Poznań, the Stop Motion Festival in Montreal and the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.

It is an attempt to take the perspective of the eponymous crustacean and discover the world through its eyes and ears. Animals are silent witnesses to our history; they have accompanied us during the greatest failures and successes of humanity. The path of their lives is parallel to ours – we eat them, we use them as tools, and sometimes we just don’t notice them. But what happens when we try to take their perspective? What do the events look like that we all know from history lessons, seen through the eyes of animals?

Director Piotr Chmielewski, who is also responsible for the script, is a self-taught animator who creates campaign and educational films for NGOs and takes his first steps as a film director. “The Crab” is his studio debut and the first part of a series of films showing well-known historical events from the perspective of animals.

The film was produced by Likaon in co-production with EC1 Łódź – City of Culture, EJT-Labo, WJTeam and Rabbit Hole Productions.

The animation The Crab was co-financed by the Polish Film

Institute.

Adrian Andrzejewski