Zbigniew Rybczynski: Media Pioneer (Friday)

A dizzying range of shorts and music videos from the Polish filmmaker, including the Oscar-winning Tango.

Like a Méliès of the information age, Polish filmmaker Zbigniew Rybczyński employed specially constructed rigs and cutting-edge (for its time) technology to create a kind of visual sorcery leaving you asking ‘how on earth did he do that?’

This retrospective explores Zbig’s oeuvre from his early experiments with computer animation and split screens, right through to his 80s MTV days when he was making promos for the likes of Grandmaster Flash and Lou Reed. It also features the film he’s most noted for, Tango (winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1983) in which 36 different characters slowly emerge one by one into a single room without ever interacting with each other. Experimental short filmmaking at its most sublime.

This programme has been supported by the Polish Cultural Institute.

Short Films

Square, 1972 - 5min

Music Art, 1973 – 9min

New Book, 1975 – 10min

Oh, I Can't Stop! 1976 – 10min

My Window, 1979 – 2min

Media, 1980 – 2min

Tango, 1980 – 8min

The Discreet Charm of the Diplomacy, 1984 – 3min

The Day Before, 1984 – 2min

Capriccio No. 24, 1989 – 6min

Music Videos

Sign of the Times - Grandmaster Flash, 1984 – 4min

Close (To the Edit) - Art of Noise, 1984 – 5min

Diana D - Chuck Mangione, 1984 – 4min

Midnight Mover – Accept, 1985 – 3min

The Original Wrapper - Lou Reed, 1986 – 5min

Imagine - John Lennon, 1986 -3min

Why Should I Cry? - Nona Hendryx, 1987 – 4min