The 14th Animocje Festival (8-13 April 2025, Bydgoszcz, Poland) crowned its animation winners. The festival, which caters to indie arthouse animation films (but also has a separate children's section) unveiled its prizes, awarding its Grand Prize to an Oscar-nominated stop-motion animation short; Nina Gantz and her animation doc 'Wander to Wonder' won the Animocje Festival's Grand Prix.

• Check all the 2025 Animocje festival highlights here

The Polish film 'Martyr's Guidebook' by Maksymilian Rzontkowski was one of the big winners of the festival, getting three prizes overall. It won the Best Polish film award, the Audience Award and the Junior Jury's award

 Tony always puts others first, even as a child sharing cake. He helps strangers and lives with a literal angel who influences his extreme kindness. When Tony's selflessness backfires, he must learn to balance altruism with self-care - Film Synopsis

Special mentions were reserved for the animation master Koji Yamamura (Extremely Short) and the Swiss animator Samuel Patthey (Voiceless)

The 2025 Animocje Festival Winners

Jury 2025: Daria Kashcheeva, Katarzyna Kijek, Stephen Vuillemin

GRAND PRIX and 10.000 zł
Nina Gantz, Wander to wonder

Jury: "For these apocalyptic times, we chose an apocalyptic movie. With a dark sense of humour, it lifts the veil of a staged reality to show the real humans behind it, in all their pathetic beauty".

The Film Award of the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship for the Best Polish Film and 10.000 zlotys
Maks Rzontkowski, Martyr's Guidebook (Jak być męczennikiem)


Jury:  "Just like a guardian angel, this film pats us on the back and tells us it's okay not to attain moral purity, and also not to like carrot cake"

The Best Music Film and 3.000 zlotys
Samuel Patthey, Voiceless

Jury: The film’s pulsating visual language evokes a bodily fear of parenthood — perhaps even pregnancy — unusually embodied by a young male figure, echoing a deeper anxiety about creating life in a fragile world. For its intimate portrayal of contemporary vulnerability.

Special Mention and 3.000 zlotys
Koji Yamamura, Extremely short

Jury: "A film that manages two things at once, being both inside and outside, emotional and meta, explanatory and theatrical. It brilliantly played with the conventions of experimental animation, by blending the film and its intention note together. It is clever, but also very
beautiful".

Special Mention and 3.000 zlotys
 Jadwiga Kowalska, The car that came back from the sea
Jury: "For capturing the spirit of youth driving through a collapsing country, where a beat-up car becomes a powerful metaphor of a nation on a brink."

Special Mention and 3.000 zlotys
Fanny Sorgo, Eva Pedroza, Tako Tsubo
Jury: "A film that intertwines surrealism, emotional depth, and dark humor to reflect the quiet drift of a modern society, where numbing or cutting out pain is increasingly seen as a simple, almost routine solution. Its hand-drawn animation captures the fragile balance between detachment and introspection, speaking subtly to the emotional toll of contemporary life".

Team of Film Educators 2025: Agnieszka Piotrowska-Prażuch, Kaja Łuczyńska, Karol Szafraniec

The Team of Film Educators Award for Best Film for Children and Young Adults and 3.000 zlotys
Marcin Podolec, Ziemniaki

Jury: "A personal and highly universal story about different models of parenthood — about learning from the mistakes of previous generations and drawing conclusions from one’s own experience. The film stands out with its smooth, flowing narration. Images emerge from the world of memories, obsessive thoughts haunt the viewer just as they do the protagonist, and the vibrant, comic-like form fills beautifully with color.It is a critical, yet tender and subtle portrait of two fatherhood models. The first, pushing the child towards perfection, imposes the pressure of success, casting a long shadow over their entire life. The second, understanding and attentive, supports the child in making mistakes and normalizes mediocrity.

The Team of Film Educators Special Mention
Loïc Espuche, Yuck!

Jury:  "A masterful animation that combines brilliant ideas with an engaging story and a deeply meaningful message.The children portrayed in the film are flesh-and-blood individuals — their on-screen behavior mirrors that of real kids. This striking realism also extends to the film’s camping setting — drowsy, lazy, sweltering — evoking the real summer retreats many of us remember from childhood.The film presents the onset of adolescence in an unpretentious way. It encourages acceptance of the body and its needs, and the rejection of
prejudice and harmful social norms that flow seamlessly from the adult world into the world of children. With clever use of glittery pink light, it levels all people and helps to normalize our approach to physical closeness".

Junior Jury 2025: Kaja Wiechecka, Klaudia Kowalska, Sebastian Zieliński

 Junior Jury Award and 2.000 zlotys
Maks Rzontkowski, 'Martyr's Guidebook'

Jury: "For its humorous take on the issue of an extreme lack of assertiveness rooted in childhood, its unique visual style infused with nostalgia for early 3D graphics, and its distinct character archetypes".

The Junior Jury Special Mention
Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D'argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu / The Shyness of Trees

Jury: "For its clear and touching storytelling achieved with minimal words, its remarkable visual execution, and characters whose emotions are immediately palpable.

The Audience Award:  Maks Rzontkowski, 'Martyr's Guidebook'
The Audience Award in the Films for Children and Young Adults Competition: Augusto Zanovello,  Lola and the sound piano

Animocje Festival 2025: Q&A

The 14th Animocje International Animated Films Festival took place in Bydgoszcz, Poland, between 8 and 13 April 2025.

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