Aleksandra Korejwo at her animation stand.

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing--that it was all started by a mouse."--Walt Disney

For me, it all started with salt. Everybody knows salt. It is a common material. But for me, it is more than just salt. In this material, I discovered my new way for Art, my new way for animation. There were many years of research and hard work. People often ask me, "How can you do such difficult animation so fast? It is impossible." But I have been working for this moment all my life.

Before my great meeting with animation, I studied painting. I learned to play the violin and I wrote poetry. My first thought was to create unity between painting, music and poetry. I could see that it was possible in animation art film. It was a great event in my life. But it was not enough just to know about it, I wanted to do it.

I have been developing my own technique for many years. The most important thing was finding the method of coloring salt. I found it. It is a complicated process, but the effect on film is great.

The next task was finding special tools for my unique material. It happened suddenly when I visited the zoo.

I don't like looking at animals behind bars, but I know that some animals need man's protection. It was spring and the bird's feathers were dropping down onto the grass. They were long, strong feathers. I picked up a few and said, "Thanks" to the condors. After that, I formed the feathers in many ways and I have chosen the best ones, which I use to this day. Sometimes, the direction of your search can lead you to a surprise!

The Movement, The Color, The Form
My search for unity between painting, music and poetry began during my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, where I did a lot of short musical compositions "without music." My belief was that the music could exist only in the viewer's imagination. Instead of from the sound, the music appeared in the movement, the color, the form! People said: "It is really colored music for our eyes."

At that time, I studied the works of John Cage. I prepared special scores for film, but I didn't note musical notes. I noted form, color...they were my notes. I was groping in the musical world, but I knew intuitively that it was a good way.

One day, something new happened. I was showing my film to a group of friends, but they had decided to give me a little surprise. When my film started, they switched on some music (it was some old Greek music I had never heard before). They wanted to see what the effect would be with my film. It was just a joke pairing this casual music with my silent film. My friends (and I) were so surprised when we could see that the synchronization was absolutely perfect!

My silent film became a "sound" film; a great event from the history of cinematography was being repeated in my own life.

From that moment, I began my new adventures with the greatest classical music composers. I started creating films with music. I "noted notes" and translated them into frames. My new scores were different than before. In my silent films, I created only one musical line, for movement. Now I had two lines: music and movement. The most important thing, was finding the relationship between the two.

Sometimes there was absolute synchronization, but sometimes I needed a counterpoint for a film idea. I was learning to understand the composers' ideas and share my ideas with them. I tried to be very humble and to, very subtly, rediscover the composers' personalities.

My parallel life motif which I was pursuing at this time, was to create films for children.