Animate the Love: Animest.17 celebrates the many meanings of love

Love blooms on long-awaited dates. Love envelops us when we do something we enjoy. Love animates small gestures, shapes our relationship with nature, convinces us that the future holds solutions to our troubles, stays by our side when we yearn for home, when we finally take that break, when someone’s smile lights us up. Love, in its endless forms, is the theme of the 17th edition of the Animest International Animation Film Festival. Between October 6-17, join us in celebrating love through the 340 animated films from all over the world, to be projected on the big screen in Bucharest. The thematic selection includes 48 love stories which explore this year’s theme, Animate the Love – a complex concept beautifully captured in Animest.17’s official poster by Ukrainian artist Oksana Kurmaz.

The full festival schedule, as well as tickets for all Animest.17 events, will soon be available on our online platform www.animest.ro. Ukrainian citizens will be able to access the projections free of charge, and seats are subject to availability.

After two challenging years, with both large-scale and personal upheaval, in 2022 Animest returns to its original well-beloved form: 10 days dedicated to animation, with screenings and special events hosted by multiple cinemas. Prepare to welcome distinguished guests, too – numerous film directors, producers and animators are traveling from across the world to meet their Romanian audiences. You can’t miss it! 

Animate the Love, Animest.17’s key message, has inspired us to create a unique festival experience for you. Love could be the answer to the myriad adversities plaguing the world: the pandemic, war, economic crisis, climate change. Love is also tolerance, self-love, empathy, support, and openness towards those around us. Love can be the power to overcome difficult times or our desire to accept one another, just as we are. And, since love’s language is universal, just as that of visual arts, Animest has invited Ukrainian artist Oksana Kurmaz, also a mentor in our SYAA (Sisterhood of Young Animation Auteurs) training program, to create this edition’s official poster. 

“A couple of words behind the concept: as I personally went through (and am still going through) the crisis because of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, I felt I knew the answer to your brief straight away. I know that love is really the only thing that keeps me sane these days. And this love is the most powerful in two things: one that war couldn't take away from me – this is my individual activity as an animator/artist/freelancer. And the second thing: love for what I lost – my artistic community and friends, because we're all in different places now. [...] So it’s really simple, but I wanted to tell with my illustration that different people’s connections and collaboration create a new energy of passion and love, and this can and will fight the darkness,” shared Oksana Kurmaz.

Animate the Love – a thematic selection where love is center stage

Animest director and programmer Mihai Mitrică teamed up with French journalist and film historian Alexis Hunot, our special guest in Bucharest this year, to curate a spectacular animated ode to love. Praised at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, European Film Awards, and Annecy and Clermont-Ferrand Festivals, ranging from absolute classics to fresh productions, the 48 films they selected go beyond chronicling romantic love. They explore friendship, our connection to nature, care towards vulnerable members of society, as well as toxic or codependent relationships and the sacrifice we sometimes make in the name of love.

Five canon feature films star in our Animate the Love selection. Get ready to feel nostalgic as the iconic Lady and the Tramp (directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Jack Cutting, 1955) teleports you to Walt Disney’s 1950s, and to sway to the Latin love ballad, the bolero, in Chico & Rita (directed by Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba, and Tono Errando, 2010), the story of a young piano player and a talented singer who rebel against fate in order to remain united in music and love.

Our special list continues with Mind Game, Animest.17 special guest Masaaki Yuasa’s 2004 cult film, Ethel & Ernest (directed by Roger Mainwood, 2016) – the real story of famous author and illustrator Raymond Briggs’ parents, and My Dog Tulip (directed by Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger, 2009), where a man only discovers love after adopting his dog.

Over 40 short films born of the limitless imaginations of artists worldwide complete the Animate the Love experience. The productions are divided into five thematic collections depicting diverse takes on our central theme. This year, join us to enjoy festival favorites such as Rowing Across the Atlantic/La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame (directed by Jean-François Laguionie, 1979), awarded the Palme d'Or; Oscar winners The House of Small Cubes (directed by Kunio Kato, 2008) and The Danish Poet (directed by Torril Kove, 2006); Please Say Something (directed by David O’Reilly, 2008) – recipient of the Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlinale, as well as Tram (directed by Michaela Pavlatova, 2011) and Amok (directed by Balász Turai, 2022), both winners of the Annecy Festival Cristal Award.

The short film collection I’m a Slave for You/Toxic explores power dynamics and codependency in relationships; In the Mood for Love captures improbable, sometimes impossible love stories, while Love Supreme proves that love is a force to be reckoned with. In the Love Will Tear Us Apart collection, love is complicated and sometimes painful; in Whole Lotta Love, it becomes passionate and physical. 

Have you fallen in love with our picks? The complete festival schedule will soon be available on www.animest.ro. But why wait? Purchase your Animest.17 pass at https://eventbook.ro/festival/animest and get ready to savor the many faces of love, love love! 

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Animest Festival is a project organized by the Animest Association and co-financed through the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, Romanian Film Centre, and Romanian Cultural Institute. 

Animest.17 is co-financed by the Municipality of Bucharest through ARCUB, as part of the ‘București afectiv’ 2022 program. For detailed information on the ARCUB funding programs, please access www.arcub.ro.

Partners: Groupama Insurance, Domeniile Sâmburești, McDonald’s, Studioset, Ogilvy

Institutional partners: the Goethe Institute, the French Institute, the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Bucharest, Cervantes Institute, The Embassy of Japan in Romania, Japan Foundation, The ‘I.L. Caragiale’ National University of Theatre and Film

Media partners: Rock FM, AGERPRES, Itsy Bitsy, Radio România Cultural, IQads, Smark, Vice, Zile și Nopți, Ziarul Metropolis, Films in Frame, Observator Cultural, Film Menu, Movie News, LiterNet, Sunt Părinte, Cinefilia, Proanimație.ro, All About Romanian Cinema – aac.ro, AIVImedia.hub, Munteanu

Monitoring partner: MediaTRUST