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The second feature film of director, screenwriter and producer Anca Damian, Crulic – The Path to Beyond, is a Polish-Romanian co-production. The film was screened at more than 150 festivals and attracted lots of attention in Locarno, London, Warsaw and Copenhagen. This ani-doc collage is an artistically and technologically daring film telling the story of Romanian Claudiu Crulic who died in a Polish prison during a hunger strike. He was only 33 years old. In her film, Damian has Crulic speak to the viewers from beyond the grave (with the voice of famous Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov). The disturbing film is dominated by a strong visual style based on a mix of hand drawing and painting, collage, stop-motion and cut-out animation… The collage of techniques and styles that the director created will surprise viewers with its compactness.

As with her previous film Crulic: The Path to Beyond (2011), the director chose the genre of animated docu-drama to portray the extraordinary life of Polish photographer and climber Adam Jacek Winkler (1973–2002). Her film covers almost 50 years of the life of a Polish immigrant living a wild life in Paris. In the 1980’s, he feels a change mind. As a modern knight, he sets out for Afghanistan to join the Mujahedeen in their fight against Soviet Russia. The film, which combines live action with animated sequences, is a dialogue between Winkler and his daughter Ania. It draws attention to an often ignored period from the recent history. The film’s visual style, based on Winkler’s photographs and naïvist sketches developed in many styles, creates a manifold collage of artistic approaches from simple sketches through gouache and watercolour to stylized live action as well as computer animation. The film’s visual style is truly impressive but, when accompanied by original soundtrack, the epic and captivating storyline binds naturally with the film’s poetic imagery.