A Bear Named Wojtek

A Bear Named Wojtek tells the fantastic journey of an orphaned Syrian brown bear who is brought to Scotland and becomes a beacon of hope.

Year: 2022

Director: Iain Gardner 

Writer: Wojciech Lepianka

Co-producers: Iain Harvey, Wlodek Matuszewski

Composer: Normand Roger

Voice cast: Bill Paterson, Shauna MacDonald, James Sutherland, Richard Gadd, Michael Golab, Piotr Baumann, Tomek Borkowy, Remi Rachuba

Production companies: Filmograf, The Illuminated Film Company

Funding: The project has received funding through Screen Scotland's Broadcast Content Fund

Synopsis

A Bear Named Wojtek tells the fantastic journey of an orphaned Syrian brown bear, brought to Scotland, having been previously adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II. He becomes a beacon of hope and an emblem of their fate.


More information

The production is a Polish/UK co-production between the two companies, with production finance from the Polish Film Institute, Screen Scotland, the UK-Government supported Young Audience Content Fund, which is managed by the BFI, with TV Poland and BBC ALBA (with funding from MG ALBA) the commissioning broadcasters. 

A Bear Named Wojtek is a Wojtek Animation Limited production based in Scotland, co-produced by Filmograf and The Illuminated Film Company in Poland and UK respectively.

Internationally, the series is being represented by Illuminated Films.

A Bear Named Wojtek was screened on BBC ALBA on Wednesday 8 May 2024 and is available on BBC iPlayer

Header image: Director Iain Gardner's concept artwork of animated film A Bear Named Wojtek.