{"id":332187,"date":"2026-03-16T11:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/332187\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T11:02:08","slug":"polish-born-director-wins-oscar-for-best-animated-short-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/332187\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish-born director wins Oscar for best animated short film"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n

Polish-Canadian director and visual artist Maciek Szczerbowski has won the Academy Award for best animated short film alongside filmmaking partner Chris Lavis for The Girl Who Cried Pearls.<\/p>\n

It was second time lucky for the pair, who were also nominated for their film Madame Tutli-Putli in 2007. Their latest work is a stop-motion short that tells the story of a young boy in early 20th-century Montreal who meets and falls in love with a girl who secretly weeps pearls at night.<\/p>\n

The Oscar for Best Animated Short Film goes to\u2026 THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS! #Oscars<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/X9BmtmahLv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Born in the western Polish city of Pozna\u0144 in 1971, Szczerbowski emigrated to Canada via Austria with his family at the age of ten, a few months before the imposition of martial law<\/a> by Poland\u2019s communist authorities.<\/p>\n

The artist stresses that he feels a strong connection to Poland. \u201cI definitely feel Canadian\u2026but I still belong to you. I love Poland,\u201d he said, quoted by news service Onet.<\/p>\n

The Girl Who Cried Pearls was inspired by a prop necklace scattering pearls across the set during filming of the climactic scene in Madame Tutli-Putli. Premiering at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the 17-minute short has been released in English and French versions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPacking emotional force but also a fable about be-careful-what you-wish-for greed\u201d, the film is \u201cboth an ode to the craftsmanship of stop-motion puppetry and a groundbreaking blend of tactile puppetry with digital innovation, reaffirming Lavis and Szczerbowski\u2019s status as pioneers in contemporary animation\u201d, wrote Variety.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked by broadcaster TVN for a few words in Polish following the ceremony, Szczerbowski thanked Poland and the city of his birth as well as its residents. \u201cThanks for inviting me from time to time. It\u2019s an honour for both of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Before the ceremony, Szczerbowski told the same journalist that he was relaxed about his chances, having previously been nominated. \u201cOf course you don\u2019t do work to get an Oscar. You do work to do something exactly as you wanted, to materialise an idea on the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the medium of puppet-based stop-frame animation has \u201cthe power to convince people that fantastical and largely impossible things are fully believable\u201d, something which would not have worked in other forms of animation.<\/p>\n

Polish-American costume designer Malgosia Turzanska, also nominated for an Oscar for her work on Hamnet, was beaten by Kate Hawley\u2019s designs for Frankenstein.<\/p>\n

The most successful Pole in the history of the Academy Awards is cinematographer Janusz Kami\u0144ski, who won Oscars in 1993 for Schindler\u2019s List and 1997 for Saving Private Ryan. Roman Pola\u0144ski<\/a> was named best director for The Pianist in 2002.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Pawe\u0142 Pawlikowski\u2019s film Ida<\/a> was named the best international feature film. Polish director Andrzej Wajda also won an honorary award in 1999.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday Corpus Christi could become only the second Polish film to win Best International Feature at the #Oscars<\/a><\/p>\n

We look back at all 12 Polish films nominated over the decades, including classics by Pola\u0144ski, Wajda & Pawlikowski plus some forgotten gems https:\/\/t.co\/bi166f9mij<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Notes from Poland \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 (@notesfrompoland) February 7, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n

Main image credit: press materials<\/p>\n

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Ben Koschalka is a translator, lecturer, and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Krak\u00f3w since 2005.<\/p>\n

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