The Car That Came Back from the Sea
2023 · 11m · Switzerland
Directed by Jadwiga Kowalska
Genres: animation, documentary
Tones: provocative, tense
Six friends drive to the Polish Baltic coast in a small, beaten-up car. During their trip, both the car and their country fall apart — a lightly fictionalized family story set against the backdrop of decaying communist Poland.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Punky black-and-white line-drawn road trip as decaying-communist-Poland metaphor — the form matches the substance, and Kowalska is reliably distinct. Eleven minutes that don't pad themselves.
Minimalist black-and-white 3D line animation chronicling friends and country falling apart in the late communist era — Kowalska's punk-energy approach to autobiographical history is its own small genre. A real artist working at scale.
Minimalist B&W 3D line-drawing animation with punkish energy plus a strong soundtrack, set during the collapse of communist Poland — Kowalska is letting form and political moment vibrate together at 10:48. Lightly fictionalized family story is exactly the right scale for this approach.
Reviews
A triumph of tone, as the endearing antics of a group of young men intersect with larger historical currents of political collapse and liberation, possessing a punkish energy and a strong soundtrack.
Swiss animated short wins Oscar-qualifying prize at ShortFest for its minimalist black-and-white line-drawing style depicting six friends' road trip against the backdrop of a crumbling communist Poland.
Festivals
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024, Jury Prize + France Télévisions Prize
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2024, Best Animated Short Film
- Krakow Film Festival 2024
- Ottawa International Animation Festival 2024
- Swiss Film Prize 2024, Best Animation Film