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| A Bear Named Wojtek |
He was perhaps the most famous bear in Poland, and also much loved in Scotland, though he was originally Syrian. Wojtek was an orphaned bear cub adopted by a Polish regiment in World War Two, who went on to serve as a private and later as a corporal before retiring in Edinburgh. He’s now the subject of an Oscar-shortlisted animated short film by Glaswegian director Iain Gardner. Shortly before the Oscar list was announced, I met Iain at an animation showcase where he spoke about the film and the decisions involved in bringing a legend to life.
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| A Bear Named Wojtek |
The film gives Wojtek a new origin story, which Iain says he felt was necessary to make the full story work in under half an hour. He points out that there are a few different versions of the original going around, including the one I’m familiar with, in which the bear was sold to a soldier by a child, and some in which Wojtek trained as a dancer – but all this aside, there were deeper themes that he wanted to focus on.
“The film's about people displaced by conflict,” he says. “For me, the idea really coagulated around about the British Brexit vote because there was a lot of public debate about Britain's relationship to Europe and how immigrants should go home. As somebody on the left of politics, it just kind of upset me, because a lot of people that have come to Britain as refugees are now part of our communities and part of society.
“I learned about Wojtek on visits to Edinburgh Zoo. It's basically a true story. The bear passed on in the Sixties and it coincided with my interest in how we use animals to represent human ideals and cultures – so the feelings of nationalism that were coming to the fore, the Brexit thing. Wojtek was a good symbol of a country and people from that country that came to Britain.
“There was also a me element as well. Like growing up, my dad watched war films all the time and I kind of wanted to do a little war film. My only regret is I didn't really get started on it in time because he passed on. But yeah, there was a wee bit just pondering with that and doing his favourite genre.”
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| A Bear Named Wojtek |
It’s difficult to imagine this film being made by somebody without those community connections. I ask if the appearance of Edinburgh Zoo’s penguins in the film is a reference to Nils Olaf, the penguin there who holds an honorary rank in the Norwegian military, and Iain says that it wasn’t directly, but notes that the penguin parade is an important fixture at the zoo.
Unlike many of the other films on the Oscar shortlist, A Bear Named Wojtek is presented using simple hand-drawn animation.
“The hand drawn aesthetic was inspired by my favourite animator, Frédérick Back,” says Iain. “I've always wanted to homage his style. It's only really recently that technologies made it cost effective. TV Paint allowed me to create bespoke brushes where I could get that kind of effect just with a flick of a wrist as opposed to hand pointerism, so that was the main kind of visual inspiration.
“I think it was difficult because it was a larger project and a co-production with Poland. One of the difficulties was designing a pipeline that could accommodate everyone because you're obviously trying to keep it looking consistent with many different hands on it. But I think we found quite a good way, referencing everyone's making-of. There's a wee demo in my making-of where we talk about how we used each animator’s drawing as a matte. So everything in terms of animation was just black and white and from that we created silhouettes and the loose artwork was stenciled by the animators’ drawings.”
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| A Bear Named Wojtek |
Despite all this care and attention, there were some things that had to be left out. I note that there are rumours – and photographs – which suggest that the real Wojtek was partial to sharing a few beers with his fellow troopers.
“Yes! Compliance rules,” Iain laughs, and goes back to what we were saying about the real story. “I'd heard the version with the child being in possession of the bear and selling it – I think to a female Polish refugee actually who eventually passed it to the troops – but there's so much detail you have to trim to focus on the emotional beats of a half hour narrative.”
He’s excited about the shortlist and the prospect of Wojtek becoming even more famous. In the meantime, fans in the vicinity of Edinburgh can see the bear memorialised in bronze in Princes Street Gardens.
