2011 Anim’est First Weekend

The first weekend of the festival promises to be one filled with projections and events, addressing audiences of all ages.

On Saturday, October 8th, opens the festival’s newest section devoted to animation with puppets, Masters of Puppets, in which, among others, can be viewed the Insect Trainer, a documentary about the life and work of Ladislas Starewitch (1882-1965), a puppet animation pioneer and one of the forgotten geniuses of the worldwide cinematography, scheduled at 16:30, at Patria Cinema. Sunday, October 9, from 18:30 at Patria Cinema will run in an unique projection, The Story of the Fox / Le Roman de Renard (France, 1937), the first Starewitch feature film (co-directed by his daughter, Irene) and the third voiced puppet animation film in history, an adaptation of the famous La Fontaine fable that is starring the Fox and Lion.

Animation Workshop, one of the most prestigious animated film schools in the world, is this year’s Anim'est Guest School. From 15:00, at ArCuB Hall will be seen a selection of films made in the school, including the 2010 Anim’est winner for Best Video - Out of the Forest, directed by Tobias Gundorff Boesen, a member of the Video & Advertising Competition jury this year.

At 18:00 at Union Cinema, Steven Woloshen, jury member in Student Film Competition, Romanian Film and Balkanimation, is presenting his short films.

At the ArCuB Hall, spectators will be able to watch from 19:00, Paprika, a projection from director Satoshi Kon’s dedicated section. Saturday ends with the projection of another film directed by Satoshi Kon, Perfect Blue, scheduled for 22:30 at Patria Cinema.

Sunday, October 9, at Patria Cinema from 14:30, Guest Country (this year starring Poland) section’s films will be watched.

The Guest Studio this year, Se-ma-for, the most important producer of puppet animation film in the world - has a comprehensive retrospective. At Union Cinema, at 18:00, can be seen the first short film program, the second block being scheduled at 20:00.

The 2011 Anim’est special guest, animator Shane Acker, presents Sunday, October 9, from 20:30 at Patria Cinema, his first feature film, a branded Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov super-production, starring Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau: 9. Following an apocalyptic war between humans and machines, the world is completely destroyed and humanity no longer exists. A rag doll, 9, awakes without a voice and finds a strange object among the debris. While walking through the ruins, 9 is attacked by a machine named Beast, but is saved by another doll, 2, who restores his voice. 2 takes 9 to meet those from a hidden community, led by the coward 1.

Saturday, October 8th from 18:00, the second exhibition of the 2011 Anim'est is opening: Greetings from Cartoonia, a project of the famous comic books magazine in Slovenia, Stripburger. Unconventional Postcards by 12 European comics creators and their album rejoin on Jean Louis Calderon Street, No. 44.

Sunday, October 9 from 15:00, Greetings from Cartoonia makers are meeting with the audience and are projecting their own 7 short films. Greetings from Cartoonia is a project signed by Stripburger in Slovenia, hosted by the Jumătatea plină Bookstore in the 2011 Anim’est International Animation Film Festival and supported by ICR.