on November 17th, 2:00 PM
Written and Directed by Tomasz Magierski
November 17th, 2013, New York, NY – We are proud to inform you that awards winning documentary film, BLINKY AND ME will premiere on WTTW PBS station in Chicago.
The recent winner of Chagrin Falls Film Festival as Best Foreign Film, Winner of 2012 The Audience Award and Bronze Phoenix at the International Film Festival of Jewish Motifs, Warszawa and Winner of Best Film Audience Award at the Provincjonalia Film Festival in Września, Poland, BLINKY AND ME tells the story of Australia’s national treasure, the legendary animator, Yoram Gross, who has delighted generations of children world-wide with his films, and beloved animated characters, Blinky BILL, Dot and Kangaroo, SKIPPY.
When filmmaker Tomasz Magierski (MAGIC BROTHERS, PIANIST: DEFINING CHOPIN) leaned that the internationally known animator was returning to his native Poland with his family, including his FIVE grandchildren, Magierski felt it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to follow the lead that Gross offered on one occasions, when he said, “If you watch my films carefully you will see the history of my life.”
Magierski accompany GROSS’S FAMILY on their TRIP to Poland. Through YORAM’S eyes and the eyes of his teenage grandchildren we discover HOW Gross survived the Nazi occupation as a Jewish child. We are PRIVY to the intimate stories he tells his grandchildren and see the beautiful places from where his family was uprooted—where he hid and made his narrow escapes, where his distinguished father was murdered, how he searched for his mother in occupied Poland (as Blinky does after his habitat is destroyed). THIS JOURNEY GOES FARTHER THAN ANYBODY EXPECTED WHEN THEY DISCOVER THAT CARTOON CHARACTER , BLINKY BILL IS REALLY AN ALTER EGO OF YORAM GROSS.
Magierski doesn’t stop in this heartbreaking return to Poland AND TAKE US TO Israel where YORAM began creating animated art films, and finally to Australia, where he found his fortune and his happiness as a father and grandfather and as the head of Australia’s most successful Animation studio for over three decades, creating 13 shorts and 18 animated feature films, eight animated Television series, including the popular Blinky Bill.
Magierski’s film captures Gross’s love of life and his unstoppable creative spirit.
THIS FILM IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS TRIUMP OF ART AND FAMILY OVER WAR.
This lead Executive Director of The Jewish Heritage Project Alan Adelson to commented:
“It’s rare that we get a chance to see a film that takes us through those horribly destructive years and leaves us feeling good. Yours is a particularly life-affirming work, and will bring pleasure to all who are fortunate enough to see it.”
Official website http://tomaszmagierski.com/blinky-me/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2258287/
Yoram Gross’s bio: http://www.yoramgrossfilms.com.au/bio2.html#
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blinky-Me/214014702043134?ref=hl
Trailer: http://www.tomaszmagierski.com/Blinky_%26_Me.html
BLINKY AND ME (77 minutes – Not rated – English/Polish with English subtitles)
Opens November 17th, 2013 on WTTW HD CH 11 CHICAGO
