Lack
The film tells a story about struggling with pain and suffering. It touches on a very personal experience. It is a story of loneliness, anger and grief experienced by parents who lose a child. It is an intimate and emotional visualization of the world in which bereaved people live. It tells about a situation for which no one is prepared, and the ‘catalogue’ of reactions we have known up to that point becomes useless.
Directed, screenplay, artwork, and compositing by Paweł Prewencki
Music and SFX by Kacper Krupa
Performance of music by Kacper Krupa /saxophone/, Krzysztof Kuśmierek /duduk/
Animation by Paweł Prewencki, Dudek Pulit
Editing by Anna Gałązkowska, Paweł Prewencki
Sound by Kacper Krupa
Master copy by Janusz Czubak
Production Manager: Mariola Olejniczak
Producer: Ewa Sobolewska
Information on the film’s participation in national and international festival competitions can be found at the link: BRAK
AWARDS:
AWARD FOR EXCELLENT ANIMATION – “Sensitive, hypnotic and uniquely eloquent, “Lack” transforms an intimate and painful story into an aesthetic ecstasy. This project stands out for its impressive construction of a graphic universe that borders on abstraction, where simplicity and ingenuity explore the limits of memory, evoking an emotional connection with the nostalgic affection of a loss”, Austral International Film Festival FICA, Córdoba, Argentina, 2024-12-30
BEST EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION, Webseries & Film Festival (WFF), Lima, Peru, 2024-11-17
2024 HOLLYWOOD EAGLE FOR ANIMATION FILM, 25th Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA, 2024-11-10
SPECIAL MENTION of the Festival Main Jury, 17th Offeliada Film Festival, Gniezno, Poland, 2024-11-10
BEST ANIMATED FILM – Film is impactful and has a high importance for today’s world society, thank you for sharing all your talent with us. Film has no gaps or flaws in the script, it is a well-structured film, with truthful performances that reach the audience in the right way. An unforgettable animated film! Film direction was very well and structured, focusing on what really matters and showing the right points. The script also has a high value, it added great importance to the final result, Canoa Film Festival, São Paulo, Brazil, 2024-10-25
BEST AUTHOR FILM OF THE 2023 YEAR or depicting a personal experience and constructing a moving and deeply emotional story in a symbolic form, both on a visual and animation level complemented by an excellent soundtrack, III Awards of the Animated Film Section of the Polish Animated Film SFP’23, 31st International Etiuda&Anima Festival, Krakow, Poland, 2024-10-25
AWARD IN THE FORM CATEGORY, 13th Frap Film Festival, Gorzów Wlkp., Poland, 2024-10-20
BEST SHORT ANIMANDO, Visinicorte International Short Film Festival, Gaeta, Italy, 2024-10-19
1st PRIZE ‘GOLDEN NUGGLE’ in the animated film category, 9th Lower Silesian Film Festival ‘Golden Nugget 2024’, Złotoryja, Poland, 2024-09-29
BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Kacper Krupa, 7th Bang Awards – International Animated Film Festival, Torres Vedras, Portugal, 2024-09-28
BEST SHORT ANIMANDO, Visinicorte International Short Film Festival, Gaeta, Italy, 2024-09-24
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC – Kacper Krupa, Teatro d’Europa di Cesinali, Avellino, Italia, 2024-09-21
BEST SHORT FILM, Animatica – Small Festival of Animated Shorts, Saronno, Italy, 2024-09-07
3rd PRIZE for Paweł Prewencki, film director for an impressionist story about loss, pain and the search for hope, a short animation that included a dozen full-length feature films, 18th BNP Paribas Two Riversides — International Short Film Competition, Kazimierz Dolny – Janowiec, Poland, 2024-08-03
CERTYFICATE OF ACHIVEMENT – NOMINEE, 2nd KISFFO Karditsa International Short Film Festival Opseis, Karditsa, Greece, 2024-07-29
3rd PRIZE FOR THE FILM, 22. Gastro Film Fest, Osijek, Croatia, 2024-07-13
BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM, The 8th Ficcsur, Southern Cone International Film Festival, Valparaíso, Chile, 2024-05-24
AWARD ‘BRONZE BUNDLE BY KOZIOŁEK MATOŁEK’ in the Producer Category named Marek Serafiński at the 12. National Independent Animation Festival – Spring, O! PLA, Grand Final, Łódź, Poland, 2024-05-12
HONORABLE MENTION – BEST ANIMATION, Best International Film Festival – March 2024, Bucharest, Romania, 2024-04-02
THE BEST ANIMATION FILM, The Digital Gate International Film Festival, Annaba, Algeria, 2024-03-05
AWARD NOMINATION – FINALIST, 2024-03-01, Stockholm Independent Film Festival, Sweden, 2024-05-26|27
BEST DIRECTOR ANIMATION, Director Talents Movie Awards 2024, Budapest, Hungary, 2024-02-24
2nd PRIZE BEST ANIMATED FILM – FOREIGN, Indian International Short Film Festival Awards, Kolkata, Indie, 2024-02-22
BEST FILM – AUTUMN SHORT OF THE YEAR, Promofest – Promoting Films for Festivals, Madrid, Spain, 2024-02-15
BEST ANIMATION SHORT FILM, French Duck Film Festival, Paris, France, 2024-01-14
1st PLACE – THE RUSTY HORSESHOE, ‘The film “Lack” stood out for its exceptional maturity and the beauty of its animation, which not only give it a unique character, but also made a difficult subject matter shown in a non-literal way. Not only does the animation work perfectly with the emotional message, but it is also a key element in making it possible to understand the deep feelings and complexity of the human experience. As a jury, we recognise that ‘Lack’ is not only an exceptional piece of filmmaking, but also an important voice in the social discussion on loss and bereavement. We congratulate Pavel Prewencki for his ability to convey deep emotions, using the beauty of animation as an essential element of this artistic narrative’, Eadweard Muybridge Film Festival, Orzesz, Poland, 2023-12-16
BEST ANIMATION FILM, Polish International Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland, 2023-12-08
SPECIAL GOLDEN WLIFF LAURELS QUARTERFINALIST – BEST ANIMATION, Leopard International Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden, 2023-12-04
GRAND PRIX AWARD for Animated Film, Main Competition of Short Films, 21. Festiwal Filmowy Opolskie Lamy, Opole, Poland, 2023-10-14
AUDIENCE AWARD, for Best Polish Animated Film, 16th International Animated Film Festival Animator, Poznan, Poland, 2023-06-25
NOMINATIONS:
NOMINATION Film has been selected as an award winner in festival, Varsity Film Expo, Lusaka, Zambia, 2024-12-02
NOMINATION of the Festival Main Jury for the Jan Machulski Award for Polish Independent Cinema in the category ‘Best Animated Film’, 17th Offeliada Film Festival, Gniezno, Poland, 2024-11-10
FINALIST and NOMINATION for award, Sussex International Film Festival, Sussex, UK, 2024-11-10
NOMINATION Film is nominated for the Hollywood Eagle Award for the best film in its category, 25th Polish Film Festival Los Angeles, USA, 2024-09-20
NOMINATION – BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Kacper Krupa, 7th Bang Awards – International Animated Film Festival, Torres Vedras, Portugal, 2024-08-29
NOMINATION for the Best Animated Short Film Award, Animatica Small Festival of Animated Shorts, Saronno, Italy, 2024-08-08
NOMINATION FOR THE FIVE “GOLDEN UNICORNS”, 39th ALPINALE Short Film Festival, Bludenz, Austria, 2024-08-06
NOMINATION – BEST ANIMATED FILM, 2024-03-01, Stockholm Independent Film Festival, 2024-05-27
STILS OF THE FILM
The protagonists of the film are a Man and a Woman and their unborn Child. The film is set in two interpenetrating time planes: the present and the past. The opening scenes of the film show the present time, in which the Man walks through the streets of a monochrome city. Immersed in his thoughts, he does not notice the world around him. He obsessively drinks cup after cup of coffee. The Man becomes smaller and smaller in his imagination, he starts to flee, while the birds grow and surround the protagonist. The Man hides inside a monstrous cup. He falls back into a world of flashbacks. A car is driving along a dirt road, inside the vehicle are the Man and the Woman, inside the Woman floats the shape of a Bean – a Child, who in time turns into light. In the following scenes, the characters flow to more places where the Woman is examined by doctors, the characters become more and more depressed. The woman is taken to the operating theatre. Medical instruments appear, a scalpel cuts through the dark space, light flashes. In the next scene, the Man sits next to a small cot, blows on a light that smolders inside, but the light soon goes out. Darkness falls. The camera returns to the present. The Man and the Woman are in a park and pretend to swing a child held by the hands between them.
An auteur animated film made in mixed-technique animation (2D, 3D and powder animation).
Producer, production: TV Studio of Animation Films Ltd.
Co-producer: Fifne Studio – Michalina Prewencka
A Polish Film Institute Co-Financed Production
Author animation film, mixed animation, colour, screening format 2K, DCP, 13:00’, stereo 5.1.
Date of production: 2023-01-01
