The adventurous Diplodocus dreams of life gaining a bit of colour. The family swamp is grey and boring. When the peaceful life is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious fog, Diplodocus sets off on an unforgettable journey to find his lost family and restore the lost order. He visits magical places, meets strange creatures and meets extraordinary inhabitants of the strangest worlds. Together with the clumsy wizard Hocus Pocus, the crazy Professor Nerwosolek and the clever pilot Entomologia, they will discover a great secret. Together they will see that their reality is actually… a page in a comic book by a cartoonist Tadek, who is in a creative crisis. They will try to save Diplodocus’ parents and solve the mystery of the insidious fog.
Młode Horyzonty is responsible for its distribution. The project is being carried out in co-production with Telewizja Polska, Mazowiecki and Warszawski Film Fund and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
The main roles in the live action thread were played by Peter the Pole and Helena Englert. He played Tadek – a talented comic book creator who is going through a creative crisis. She played an uncompromising and unyielding publisher who demands that the author put his ideas aside and draw something that will reach a mass audience. Due to the fact that “Diplodok the Dragon” was sold to over a hundred foreign markets around the world a year before its premiere, the film was made in two language versions from the beginning.
Wojtek Wawszczyk during the 49th Polish Feature Film Festival, he told Artur Zaborski about the behind-the-scenes of the film. The director and screenwriter of “Diplodok the Dragon” expanded on the cult status of Tadeusz Baranowski’s comics.
“They are incredibly iconic to me, because I learned to draw from these comics and I probably wouldn’t be doing what I do today if I hadn’t read these comics when I was a few years old. (…) These are comics full of absurd humor and there is a lot of freedom in gesture, in drawing. A kind of Monty Python for children,” he admitted.
The artist admitted that he wanted the film to inspire young viewers to get to know the comic and Baranowski’s timeless work. For older viewers, it was supposed to be a way to bring back childhood memories, help them find themselves and unearth the emotions that accompanied them at that time.
“These comics are universal in their madness. They are crazy, wacky and so detached from reality and places and people that they will not grow old. (…) This film was created not only out of love for comics, but also for animated films,” he added.
Work on the film took 4 years. Despite adversity, including the pandemic, people working on the production showed mutual support, thanks to which the idea was realized.
“We all felt that we were doing something special. A bit against what was happening around us.. We felt that we were making a film that was important, that was so light, safe and colorful, we left it with a smile. We need such a film” – he emphasized in a conversation with Artur Zaborski.
“Diplodocus the Dragon” will hit Polish cinemas October 4th.
See also: 49th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia has begun! “Connecting, community, for everyone”