"Crulic-the path to beyond" to open Anim’est 2011

The 6th edition of the most popular event dedicated to animation films- Anim’est International Animation Film Festival will take place between the 7-16th of October.

For the first time in the festivals history, the official opening ceremony will host the screening of a Romanian animation film: Crulic-the path to beyond, directed by Anca Damian. The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Festival, as part of the official competition, and is based on the case of Romanian citizen Claudiu Crulic, dead on January 18th 2008 in a prison in Poland at age 33, after a long protest against his arrest by the Warsaw authorities. The case received strong media coverage in the Romanian and international press.

Post mortem, he becomes the narrator of his own death with voice over help from the well known actor, Vlad Ivanov.

We are thrilled to be able to offer our audience the absolute premiere of a Romanian animation film, an internationally competitive product, considering its presence in the official Locarno competition. One of the main objectives at Anim’est is the supporting of local animation productions, which was actually proven throughout all the events and workshops organized from the very first edition in 2006. Anca Damian’s film, Crulic-the path to beyond is an important step for the Romanian animation film industry and we have every reason to believe that in the future, things will evolve and Anim’est will be the host of many Romanian animation film premieres, said Mihai Mitrică, Anim’est festival director.

Animation techniques, such as drawing, painting, stop-motion or collage were created by a team of talented artists: Raluca Popa, Roxana Benţu, Ţuliu Oltean, Dan Panaitescu and Dragos Stefan. The last two were amongst the trainers who, for two weeks, coordinated the making of several short animation films during the first Animation Worksheep edition.

The official opening of the 6th Anim’est edition will start at 19:00, at Patria Cinema. During the Opening Gala, the audience will also get to delight itself with the making-of video of the first Animation Worksheep edition that took place between the 4-17th of April 2011.

Crulic-the path to beyond is just one of the films being screened this year in the Mosaic section, created for feature and short animations, winners or awards or screened at the most important festivals in the world.