Se-ma-for is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 animation studio. Founded in Łódź, Poland, in 1947, it has created many animated cartoon

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

s and stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 puppet

Puppet

A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....

 animations, for young and mature audiences. The name, meaning literally Se-ma-phore, is an acronym of Studio Małych Form Filmowych - Studio of Small Film Forms.

Its most famous productions include the children's shows: Miś Uszatek

Mis Uszatek

Miś Uszatek is a Polish character from the stop motion-animated TV series of the same name. He was created jointly by Polish writer Czesław Janczarski and cartoonist Zbigniew Rychlicki....

, Przygody misia Colargola

Colargol

Colargol is a fictional bear created by French writer Olga Pouchine in the 1950s. Colargol first became famous through a series of children's recordings by Philips in the 1960s...

, The Moomins

The Moomins (TV series)

The Moomins is a stop motion animated children's television series based on the Tove Jansson's Moomin series of books which was originally produced by Se-ma-for and Jupiter Film between the years 1977–1982, originally for Polish, Austrian and German television. The series was later on sold to...

(pol. Opowiadania Muminków), Troubles the Cat

Big Bag

Big Bag was a live action television puppet program for preschoolers that was produced by The Jim Henson Company and aired from 1996 to 1998 on the Cartoon Network. There were also localized versions for Canal J in France and Yorkshire Television in the UK.-Plot:The principle Muppet character was...

, Przygody kota Filemona

Kot Filemon

Przygody kota Filemona was a Polish animated cartoon. It ran for 39 episodes between 1972 and 1981.-Production:...

, Przygód kilka wróbla Ćwirka

Przygód kilka wróbla Cwirka

Przygód kilka wróbla Ćwirka is a Polish cartoon from 1983-1989 made by Se-ma-for....

, Zaczarowany ołówek and the film Peter and the Wolf.

Peter and the Wolf

In February 2008, one of it short animated films, Peter and the Wolf, received the Academy Award for best animated short film. It was the second Oscar-winning film made by the studio - the first came in the same category in 1983 - "Tango" by Zbigniew Rybczyński

Zbigniew Rybczynski

Zbigniew Rybczyński is a Polish filmmaker who has won numerous prestigious industry awards both in the United States and internationally. He was also a teacher of cinematography, and digital cinematography. Currently he is a researcher of blue and greenscreen compositing technology at Ultimatte...

.

The principal photography was shot entirely in within the Se-ma-for animation studios in Łódź, Poland.