The Cathedral

The Cathedral (Polish: Katedra) is a science fiction short story by Jacek Dukaj, winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award in 2000. It is also the name of a 2002 short animated movie by Tomasz Bagiński, based on the same story. The film was nominated in 2002 for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the 75th Academy Awards. The film also won the title of Best Animated Short at Siggraph 2002 in San Antonio.

Plot

The film focuses on a man who visits a mystical, organic building that looks like a medieval cathedral. As he walks through the immense structure, the light from his torch falls upon the pillars, revealing human faces. The viewer later realizes that the faces are still alive, as several smile and open their eyes as the man walks past them. The building's nature is partially unveiled at sunrise as the blinding light enchants the visitor and causes organic branch-like structures to burst from his chest. These protrusions then become another set of pillars in the building.

List of animated short series

The following is a list of theatrical short animated cartoon (or "short animations") series. Most notable animated film series were produced during the silent era and the Hollywood golden era. All series below are from the United States except as noted.

1910s

1920s

1930s

Cathedral

A cathedral (French: cathédrale from Latin: cathedra, "seat" from the Greek kathedra (καθέδρα), seat, bench, from kata "down" + hedra seat, base, chair) is a Christian church which contains the seat of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. The counterpart term for such a church in German is Dom from Latin domus ecclesiae or domus episcopalis; also Italian Duomo, Dutch Domkerk and cognates in many other European languages. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and some Lutheran and Methodist churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appear in Italy, Gaul, Spain and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches and episcopal residences.

Tomasz Bagiński

Tomasz Bagiński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈtɔmaʂ baˈɡʲiɲskʲi], born January 10, 1976 in Białystok) a Polish illustrator, animator and director. He is a self-taught artist.

Works

His first film Rain has won a couple of local awards and became the passport to Platige Image company, in which he is a creative director. Between 1999 and 2002 he was working on his short film debut,The Cathedral, which in 2002 won the first prize at SIGGRAPH, the biggest festival of animation and special effects, and a year later was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

In 2004, he made his second short film, Fallen Art. In 2005, he received another award at the SIGGRAPH festival, becoming the only artist in history who has won two main awards. Fallen Art also received a BAFTA Award for Best Short Animation and a Grand Prix for Digital Shorts at Golden Horse Film Festival 2005 (shared with Jarek Sawko and Piotr Sikora). Bagiński has also created cinematics for The Witcher computer game based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Jacek Dukaj

Jacek Dukaj (born 30 July 1974 in Tarnów, Poland) is a Polish science fiction writer. Winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010), Śląkfa (2000, 2007, 2009), Żuławski Award (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), Kościelski Award (2008) and the European Union Prize for Literature (2009). In 2013 Dukaj received Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

Career

Dukaj studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. The first science fiction story he read was The Investigation by Stanisław Lem, which inspired him to write his own stories in that genre. He successfully debuted at the age of 16 with a short story Złota Galera (Golden Galley). Winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award for 2001 for his novel Czarne oceany (Black Oceans), for 2003 for his novel Inne pieśni (Different Chants), for 2004 for his novel Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość (An Ideal Imperfection), for 2007 for the novel Lód (Ice) and for 2000 for short story Katedra (The Cathedral). A short animated movie by Tomasz Bagiński based on this short story was nominated to Academy Award in 2003.