The Car That Came Back from the Sea

Filmstill The Car That Came Back from the Sea

The Car That Came Back from the Sea

Samochód, który wrócił z morza
Jadwiga Kowalska
International Competition Animated Film 2024
Animated Film
Switzerland
2023
11 minutes
English,
Polish
Subtitles: 
English

Poland, 1981. Six friends squeeze into an old car that is far too small and set out for the Polish Baltic coast, fuelled by their longing for freedom. The further they come, the clearer the decrepit state of their country emerges. The pension where they spend the night has nothing that could be served for breakfast. Food and fuel are also in short supply elsewhere. There is a shortage of everything. The only thing one can buy anytime and anywhere is booze, which is plentiful. Just like the country, the car also falls apart piece by piece. But the trip continues, past demonstrating crowds, tanks, barricades and armed policemen.
Singing, laughing and carefree, Leszek and his companions finally make it to the sea. Is this the end of their journey? Or should they join the hundreds of thousands who have already left Poland? The borders of the frame, at least, are open. The sparse, fragmented graphic elements on the empty white background hardly seem an incentive to stay. There is no obstacle that could keep the friends from setting off for new shores.

Franka Sachse

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Jadwiga Kowalska
Editor
Fee Liechti Seigner
Producer
Jadwiga Kowalska
Sound
Thomas Gassmann
Score
Christian Aregger, Roland Bucher
Animation
Jadwiga Kowalska, Marco Ellensohn, Jérémie Dupraz, Laure Clemansaud
World Sales
Luce Grosjean
Nominated for: mephisto 97.6 Audience Award