“Dear Leo Sokolsky”
Recipient of The Zagreb School Award for Best Animation for SAFF 2025
The Jury’s Statement: An obscure yet intriguing story of what could have been. We felt the simple animation style book-ended with archive footage created a whole package that felt true to the type of stream-of-consciousness that might come through in a letter to a long lost friend. Yours Sincerely, the SAFF jurors.
This poetic historical short film follows a young girl in an imagined dialogue with her deceased great-grandfather, blending personal memory, family history, and the legacy of World War II. Set against images of a German town where he was sent to a work camp, the film moves between past and present as the girl writes a letter filled with longing, reflection, and emotional connection.
As memory and forgetting intertwine, Leo Sokolosky—the intended recipient of the letter and the ghost of her great-grandfather’s friend from the camp—becomes a spiritual bridge between generations. The film explores grief, remembrance, war memory, and the search for meaning in the modern world, offering a moving meditation on loss, ideals, and the enduring presence of those no longer with us.
Director: Weronika Szyma
Animator: Weronika Szyma
Editor: Filip Dziuba
Producer: Piotr Furmankiewicz, Mateusz Michalak
Country: Poland
Weronika Szyma is a Polish animation director and graduate of the Master’s programme in Animation at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. She is the creator of acclaimed short animated films including Blue (2023), Once Upon a Time in Israel (2021), and Lushfulness (2020), with her work being selected and awarded at film festivals around the world.
Working primarily with analogue media, Weronika Szyma’s animation explores themes of feminism, the body, language, culture, and global conflict. Her distinctive artistic style and internationally recognised short films position her as an emerging voice in contemporary Polish animation and experimental filmmaking.