What if Snow White's dwarves ran a totalitarian cult in a Polish library basement?
The story follows a young scientist in the contemporary world, who actually came from the world of dwarves, thanks to a magic potion, held by the Big Eater, ruler of the dwarves. The dwarf kingdom, Shuflandia, exists in a cellar of a library, and only the most obedient get the chance to grow to king size and inhabit the larger world. Once there, nobody wants to return to Shuflandia. Also, there are no women in Shuflandia.
Production
Ingenious miniature sets making Shuflandia feel unsettlingly real
Acting
Jerzy Stuhr's deliciously slimy villain performance
Costume
Dwarf designs that walk perfect line of silly and sinister
Director
Juliusz Machulski
Jacek Chmielnik
Olo Jedlina
Jerzy Stuhr
Nadszyszkownik Kilkujadek
Katarzyna Figura
Ala
Grzegorz Heromiński
Adaś Haps
Joachim Lamża
Zyl, krasnal Kilkujadka
Maciej Kozłowski
Waś, krasnal Kilkujadka
Jan Machulski
Kwintek
Leonard Pietraszak
Kramerko
Liza Machulska
Ewa
Leon Charewicz
Gil, krasnal Kilkujadka
Ryszard Kotys
Więzień Nosacz
Olgierd Łukaszewicz
Paragraf
Beata Tyszkiewicz
Dama na bazarze
Zdzisław Kuźniar
Człowiek w berecie
Halina Machulska
Mama Ewy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Machulski smuggled biting commentary on Polish communist bureaucracy into a fantasy comedy—Shuflandia's 'most obedient rise' system directly mocked Party promotion structures that audiences instantly recognized.
The miniature sets were built at 1:6 scale, and actors spent hours in painful kneeling positions—Stuhr later called it 'method acting for the masochist.'
PL
