Did you know that the name “vitamin” was invented by a Pole, Kazimierz Funk? An animated film has just been made about the Polish scientist, the media patron of which is Medonet.
Vitamins. There are 15. Or at least we know about that many. They save lives, take care of health and are necessary for the proper functioning of the body. Even 109 years ago, we had no idea about them. This changed thanks to the Polish biochemist Kazimierz Funk. A Pole about whom a film has just been made.
Already on Friday, November 6 at 12 there will be a premiere of a short film entitled “Funky Casimir” by Patman Art Studio. The film presents the story of Kazimierz Funk and his way to discover the first vitamin. Vitamins B1.
“When a year ago I came across information that vitamins had been discovered by a Pole, I felt a great surge of fascination. I’d never heard of it before – not at school, or basically anywhere. And when I read that it was not Kazimierz who received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the first vitamin B1 … I immediately knew that this was a topic for my next short film. The story we present in the film is an interpretation of Kazimierz’s path to the discovery of the first vitamin ”- Poe Luck, director.
Kazimierz Funk, while working in Berlin in 1906-1910, suspected that apart from proteins, fats and carbohydrates, there was something else in food. He confirmed his assumptions in 1911 in London, conducting an experiment with sick pigeons. He isolated a substance from the rice bran, which is a chemical compound containing nitrogen (Latin “amine”). Kazimierz proved that this substance has a significant influence on life (Latin “vita”). He called this substance a “vitamin.”
“During my search for the visual language of the film, I had a lot of ideas. Cool and less cool. I wanted the visual side to be as original as possible and at the same time as closely related to Funk’s discovery as possible. I wanted the visual language of the film to tell a story as well. I found my inspiration by looking at vitamin B1 under the microscope … “- Wawrzyniec Tyrpa, main animator
“We would like as many people as possible to learn about the fact that it was a Pole who discovered vitamins thanks to the movie” Funky Casimir “. TikTok, our official Partner, helped us in this. On October 24, the official challenge with the hashtag # MostWitamins started on TikTok. There you can see a great video inspired by vitamins from creators such as @chefowa, @duoinfinity, @ chocolateste4k, @wydziaranydoktur, @wojciech_felinczak and @nathallae. As part of the challenge, the vitamin dance challenge from @patmancrew has also started. We invite everyone to participate in the challenge! ” – Patrycja Grzebieluch, coordinator
- You can follow the fun on TikTok here
- You can follow the news related to the movie here