Animest.19 Romanian Competition: 13 standout short films, one trophy

Innovative and stylistically complex, the Romanian Competition’s 13 contenders create a compelling tableau of contemporary local animation. A mix of projects by students and established animators, during October 4-13, 2024 they each stand to win the category’s trophy and RON 5,000 prize offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute. Check out the Animest.19 teaser trailer for the Romanian Competition: 

This year’s high number of submissions for the Romanian short film section – no less than 32  films – is proof of the field’s consistent growth and of Animest’s contribution to it for the past 18 years. This year’s submissions craftily showcase creative approaches to original stories focusing on relationships and connecting to others – as part of a couple, family, or community.

Alina Gheorghe returns to the Animest Romanian Competition with her new student film, Dirty Paradise / Paradis Murdar, a metaphor of self-denial in favor of idealized perfection. Alina took part in the 2023 Sisterhood of Young Animation Auteurs (SYAA) intensive residency program for female cinematographers in Central and Eastern Europe, where she got feedback on her film, then in-development, from multiple industry experts. In 2022, Alina charmed Animest audiences with the intimate, gut-wrenching Glass Fingers / Degete de sticlă, selected in last year’s Graduation Films Competition at Annecy, the foremost animation film festival in the world.

Another daring return to the Romanian Competition: Tudor Om, co-directing with Serghei Chiviriga a new animation about a mischievous boy whose drawing comes to life, Tibi. Enjoy this no less enticing polar opposite to his project in last year’s International Competition, The Boy and the Crow!

The Core is urban artist Robert OBERT’s short film, a unique metaphorical depiction of a common consciousness from which materialized instances of feminine and masculine emerge, only to morph again into a single core. Robert is the creator of the The Urban Prophecy comic universe and of the associated street art.

The Romanian Competition also includes projects by two expat Romanian animators. Lavinia Petrache’s Fracti proposes an intriguing scenario: humans live in an ethereal village floating in the sky. What happens when one of them causes the world to end? Andreia Dobrotă’s playful Count to Ten comes with a more down-to-earth experiment: can counting to ten really help calm you down when everyone around annoys you?

Pitch, Please! attracts record number of applications
For the past five years, the Pitch, Please! workshop has actively supported the development of animation projects in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, offering training and resources to creators so they can more effectively plan and pitch their work. This year, 20 directors and producers applied – the ever-growing number of applications palpable proof of the fact that animators need support and that we are contributing to their development through such programs.

All of the finalists – to be announced next week on the Animest website – will receive feedback and recommendations from the jury: three international screenwriters, directors, or producers sharing their hard-earned industry insights. Finalists also stand to win one or more of the dedicated prizes in this year’s Pitch, Please!
***
The Animest Festival is a project of the Animest Association, co-financed by the MEDIA Program of the European Union and AFCN–the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.

Institutional Partners: the Romanian Cultural Institute, The French Institute and the Embassy of France in Romania, Instituto Cervantes, the Italian Cultural Institute, The Austrian Cultural Forum, Liszt Institute – The Hungarian Cultural Center, The Czech Center, UNATC – The “I.L. Caragiale” National University of Theater and Film, the Animation Festival Network (AFN)
Partners: Groupama, Ogilvy
Minimest Partner: ASAP Romania
Main Media Partners: VOYO, PRO TV 
As Heard On: Radio Guerrilla
Media Partners: Radio România Cultural, Adevărul de Weekend, Zile și Nopți, Observator Cultural, Revista BIZ, Haute Culture, IQAds, Scena9, AGERPRES, Ziarul Metropolis, Revista FILM, Mindcraft Stories, LiterNet, Movie News, CineFAN, HAPP.ro, MunteanuRecomandă, AndreeaVerde, SuntPărinte.ro
Monitoring Partner: mediaTRUST