“Dear Leo Sokolski”
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.
Synopsis: This poetic dialogue unfolds between a young girl and her deceased great-grandfather, intertwining images from a German town where he was sent to a work camp during World War II with a delicate narrative as the girl pens a letter. The past seamlessly blends with the present, and flashes of memory mix with moments of oblivion. Leo Sokolosky, the letter's intended recipient, is the ghost of her great-grandfather’s friend from the camp, serving as a mystical link between her world and his. The film explores questions about ideals in today’s world and expresses the longing for someone close who is no longer around.
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Weronika Szyma is an animation director graduate of Masters degree in Animation at The Polish National Film School in Łódź. Author of short films, including "Blue" (2023), “Once upon a time in Israel” (2021) and “Lushfulness” (2020). Her films were selected and awarded at numerous film festivals around the world. Working mostly in analog media. Her works concentrate on feminism, body, linguistics, cultures and world conflicts.