DUMAŁA, PIOTR

(1956-)

   Director and screenwriter of animated films, maker of television commercials and trailers, writer. The worthy continuator of Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, Dumała perfected his plaster-plate technique in several films produced since his debut, Little Black Riding Hood (Czarny kapturek, 1983). He studied sculpture and animation (under Daniel Szczechura) at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Warsaw (graduated 1982). Some of Dumaha's films were inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's prose, for example, Gentle Spirit (Łagodna, 1985) and Crime and Punishment (Zbrodnia i kara, 2000). Others, such as Walls (Ściany, 1987) and Franz Kafka (1991) portray a nightmarish, Kafkaesque world. For his films Dumała won numerous awards, including prizes at the Kraków Film Festival and international film festivals at Mannheim, Ottawa, and Oberhausen.

   Other films: Lycantrophy (Lykantropia, 1981), Flying Hairs (Latające włosy, 1984), Nervous Life of the Universe (Nerwowe zycie kosmosu, 1986), Freedom of the Leg (Wolność nogi, 1988), Nervous Life (Nerwowe zycie, 1993).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof