Germany - in the foreground at Anim'est

The Anim'est Festival is approaching Bucharest cinemas along with autumn and brings with it, as we are accustomed, a bit of flavour from other places: in the seventh edition, Germany will be the guest country.

The German animations begin with two programs of short films, a not to be missed journey through the local animation history from the early twentieth century until present. German Animated Film: Between Art, Politics and Propaganda is a collection of films from 1917 to 1990. From propaganda films such as John Bull to ads that promote protection against moths (Gobol Mottenschutz), the selection gathers both films from the Nazi period and during the division between East and West. Moreover, animation buffs will have the chance to see a film made in 1943 through the technique of painting directly on film, Semicolon Ballet by Herbert Seggelke. The second program, "Zeitgenossen" - Selected German Animated Films from 1990 until now, brings out the German festival's primary animations for the past decades, including Balance (d. Wolfgang & Christoph Lauenstein), an animated puppet show that received an Oscar for a short film in 1990. On this occasion, The External World (dir. David O'Reilly) returns to Bucharest, having left the 2011 Anim'est with the best short film award.

The German dedicated programme continues with two animation feature films. You will be able to go over The Adventures of Prince Achmed , by Lotte Reiniger in 1926 and the oldest animated feature that was preserved until now. Based on the 1001 Nights, the film still retains its magic despite technical simplicity. The second title is The Conference of Animals (d. Curt Linda, color, 95 min., 1969), a pacifist parable disguised as a family movie and also the first color animated feature film of the German cinema.

This edition's guest festival is Stuttgart Animation Film Festival: after its thirty years anniversary in 2012, one of the most important festivals in the world presents, at Anim'est, a careful selection of short films.

HFF Potsdam is this year's guest school, which will present a selection of its newest productions. Some of them, like Weiß kein Weiß  (d. Anna Bergmann), are returning to Anim'est after last year's selection. Der Wechselbalg (d. Mary Steinmetz) had its premiere at Cannes last year, where it represented the school in Cinéfondation, the student film competition. The program will be introduced by the representative of the school, Cristina Marx, and will end with a Making Of Flamingo Pride. Anim'est fans certainly remember the delicious Flamingo Pride, which received the Audience Award last year: director Tomer Eshed graduated HFF Potsdam with this short film, and in the fall will be in Bucharest to present this little foray into the "kitchen" of animation.

The seventh edition of the Anim'est International Animation Film Festival will be held in Bucharest between 5-14 October 2012, at Patria Cinema, Studio Cinema and Club Control.

Germany's presence as guest country at Anim'est was possible with the support of the Goethe Institute in Bucharest.

The Anim'est International Animation Film Festival, a member of Trans European Cartoon Network, is organized by the Este'n'est Association, with the support of the National Center of Cinematography, European Union's Media Program and Ogilvy.