Jeż Jerzy, the name of the comic book character, was created by Rafał Skarżycki (book) and Tomasz Lew Leśniak (graphics). The comic first appeared in magazine form in 1996 and in book form in 2002. A sharp satire of contemporary Poland's social groups, politics and pop culture, the film follow the adventures of the cynical, anthropomorphic hedgehog as he faces off against a Mad Scientist.

While the Polish school of animation is praised internationally, there is no fully developed technical background to make full-length feature animation similar to that in mainstream cinema today -- a challenge for the filmmakers. A modest budget and a small crew led to the choice of a cut-out animation technique, which has been well-executed by Polish animators in the past.The film is a fusion of cutouts with computer animation and 3D effects. The head of the animation team is Wojciech Wawszczyk, a filmmaker who learned his craft in Hollywood while working on pictures such as I.Robot and Aeon Flux. He is joined by Jakub Tarkowski, the author of several short animated films, who gained his experience at Moving Pictures company based in London while working on the Harry Potter game series. The third director is Tomasz Leśniak, the graphic and animation artist responsible for creating the Jez Jerzy character and the comic book.

"We wanted to present the larger audience, and also the foreign one, with an animated film of international quality that is artistically and technologically polished; an animation with a swift and funny plot that also has a satiric outlook on the customs and faults of contemporary Europeans," said Maciej Ślesicki, the President of Paisa Films and an accomplished Polish filmmaker.

The initial project was taken up by Polish company Paisa Films (www.paisafilms.pl) in 2007. Two years later they were joined by a team of producers from the Produkcja Film Studio. The cast of voices for the animated characters includes popular Polish actors Borys Szyc, Maria Peszek and Michał Koterski.

The total of the project is 2.6 million PLN (EUR 660,000), with 1.6 million PLN producion financing from the Polish Film Institiute (www.pisf.pl).

The movie was released in Polish cinemas 11 March 2011 and has been seen by 116,000 viewers. The distribution is manged by Monolith Films (www.monolith.pl).

Crew:

Directors - Tomasz Leśniak, Wojciech Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski
Screenwriter - Rafał Skarżycki
Production company - Paisa Films, PRODUKCJA
Co-financing - Polish Film Institute

Cast:
Borys Szyc
Maria Peszek
Michał Koterski
Maciej Maleńczuk

Production contact:

Paisa Films
ul. Bokserska 1,
02-682 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 853 17 10
www.paisafilms.pl