Approaching Reflexivity in Animated Documentary through a Spatial Taxonomy: An Analysis of Polonia (2023)

Animated documentary has at its core the tension of the filmmaker attempting to represent and speak about the historical world while working in a medium that is wholly constructed and lacking in evidentiary indexicality. Reflexivity – the revelation of animation’s constructedness – is considered by many scholars to be a key element in resolving this tension and granting animation documentary legitimacy. In this article, the author reflects on the reflexive strategies he used in making the animated documentary, Polonia (2023). He posits that the film is the result of the dynamic between the processes of reconstruction – the piecing together of the historical narrative through the collection of testimony and gathering of evidence – and construction – the building of the filmic world. These processes are manifest in the film as distinct aesthetics and a spatial taxonomy – ‘archival’ and ‘cinematic’ spaces that embody the tension between actuality and creative interpretation.