16th ŻUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival

16th ŻUBROFFKA International Short Film Festival
Białystok, December 7-11, 2022

Organizing the festival at the time when the war in Ukraine is ongoing, the dramatic situation of the refugees on the border with Belarus is endless, and the worldwide crisis grows bigger is quite a challenge. It is natural that our thoughts are occupied with something other than cinema, films, competition selections and that we look to the future with growing uncertainty.

However, we are convinced that at a time when many things do not really depend on us, it is worth doing what we love and know best. After all, ŻUBROFFKA is not only a film festival, but also a place of inspiring meetings, talks and reflections, and we now need contacts with open and kind people more than ever. It would be beneficial to forget about worries for a short time and gather together in a herd just like bison, because it is known that in a herd it is easier to survive not only a harsh winter, but also every difficult time.

We also decided that Slavic “It will work out somehow”, accurately translated by the BBC as “ya-kosh toe ben-jay”, will be the best philosophy for the present times.

We have invited talented award-winning animator Tomasz Popakul to create the main graphic design of this year’s festival. Graphic artist Izabela Sroka basing on his concept created the visual identification.

Tomek, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s poem “Grass”, creatively developed our idea writing about it as follows: “This poem is not totally optimistic, but I had a vision that someday moss will grow on wrecks of tanks and children will play and animals will live around them. An although it seems unimaginable now, the dark time will end and vital forces of imagination and nature will have a say. Something that is invincible and beautiful, and seems to cheer us all up in hard times. The landscape of the forest is also my memory of volunteering at the Polish-Belarusian border, where nature was both a stage of relief and danger”.

(Carl Sandurg’s poem can be read here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45034/grass-56d2245e2201c)

We don’t know if there will be fairy-tale winter and snow in Białystok in December, which used to please our guests, but we know that this time ŻUBROFFKA will also give us a chance to experience something special and that together we can survive and achieve a lot.

So we have the pleasure of inviting you to another, sixteenth already, edition of our festival and to Podlachia – the land of bison and movies!