Animest.15: Parallel Realities and Interesting Stories in an Ample Selection of Romanian Short Films

One of the main aims of Animest Festival is developing and promoting Romanian animated film. This year is special, because we celebrate 100 years of Romanian animation, and the festival prepared a whole section for this unique event. It includes archive films, as well as the #BestOf Romanian animated shorts presented at Animest over a decade and a half. The Romanian competition is a category that was introduced at the festival back in 2007. This year, the selection brings together the newest short films, selected among the titles specially submitted for competition. 21 short films will compete for the Best Romanian Animated Short Film. Some of the filmmakers are new names, some are debut films, while others are signed by authors whose older films have been screened at the festival before. Apart from those films, this year the Romanian section includes 2 special titles, presented out of competition.  Here is an introduction to each film!

In the spring of 2020, the whole planet stopped and our lives moved inside, in our homes. The isolation period inspired Maria Brudașcă to create Windows 2020, a series of micro-stories that we discover through window frames. Invisibles (directed by 4inaroom), also talks about ‘home’ and feeling ‘at home’ with oneself, focusing on a woman caught in events and thoughts put unwillingly into motion, as the space reveals its mysteries and unsolved riddles. Monolith (directed by Alexandru-Andrei Popa) explores topics such as the sublime and insanity in a cold environment and brings to light new questions about human comfort and desire. The limit between reality and dream is dealt with by several short films included in the competition this year. In End of the Line, Mihnea Vlad builds a path from the reality of normal life to dreams and the absurd. In The Red String (directed by Alexandra Fuscaș) the protagonist receives a hint that will lead to an eye-opening discovery. Bajkó Zsolt illustrates a Bad Dream in his animated short, while Erdős Tamás made Searching, a film about ways to fulfil our dreams, going through imminent conflicts and hardships, as well as unforeseen adventures. In Death and the Knight (directed by Radu Gaciu), an immortal knight is awoken from his slumber by a mysterious whisper. The film won a Special Mention at the Transilvania International Film Festival. Anxiety and unease are the key words f Adela Hodon’s short film Yellow Mood, in which negative states of mind take the shape of a monster.

presents a state of anxiety and unease that takes you by surprise. It's a confusing panic that doesn't last more than a few moments and you don't have anything left after that. The mood comes and goes several times a day, and the monster it becomes is just some features in tar whose perception are not based on anything concrete. In The Guests (directed by Răzvan Aprozeanu), the protagonist goes through a bizarre experience when the watch he receives can divide his body into two creatures, opening the door to a gloomy world. In Let’s GET THE Party Started! (directed by Amalia-Ioana Cîmpeanu), a young artist struggles wo overcome creative block and find her true self; helped by her pets, she is forced into a journey of rediscovering her identity. An unexpected occurrence interrupts the traditional incantation of an undiscovered tribe in Africa in the new film by Adrian Cârciova, Undiscovered Tribe Chant. Călin Gherghevici made The Nighbourhood, a film about two friends in a student dorm trying to enjoy the radio broadcast of their favourite soccer team’s match. Horia Cucută and George ve Gänæaard finished the film whose project their presented at Pitch, please! at Animest last year: Thank You For Your Teeth!, about a six-year-old who discovers that for each tooth lost he receives five dollars, so he makes a quick calculation and understands that an entire bike is sitting in his mouth. Vaginas (directed by Andreia Dobrotă) is a tribute to the beauty of human anatomy. Sasha and Petre (directed by Luca Istodor) talks about love in a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Redsun (directed by Călin Ene) illustrates a critical moment in a hypothetical history of mankind, in which we can observe both the fall of civilization and its rise; it talks about the wellbeing of our planet and our behaviour towards it. Yellow (directed by Adrian Băluță takes us to the vast ocean, and reminds us that any moment could be „too late”, a leitmotif also tackled by another short film in competition, I'll Call You Later (directed by Maria Scutaru): time has different definitions and implies various expectations, sometimes a thin line between comparative and superlative. Elena Ciolacu animated the True Story about Vlad Dracula, replacing folk legends with historic facts told by legendary Stephen the Great to his son. A historical figure is the hero of another film, Joannes Kájoni (directed by Szász Zsolt, Hátszegi Zsolt, Csont Zsombor), about a remarkable Romanian friar who lived 390 years ago but his work is still relevant today.

The two films included as special screenings out of competition are: Mirror, Laura Pop’s new short film made during her internship with Camera-etc, the well-known Belgian animation studio, and Candy Can, a film directed by Anton Octavian and produced by Bucharest-based studio Safe Frame, selected in the main competition of ITFS, the Stuttgart International Animation Festival, in May 2020.

The tickets and passes for Animest 2020 will soon be available on www.animest.ro. 

***
The 15th edition of Animest International Animation Film Festival is organised by Animest Cultural Association, with support from the National Film Centre.

Institutional partners: The Embassy of the Netherlands in Romania, The French Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of Israel in Romania

Partners: Groupama, Regina Maria Healthcare, Aqua Carpatica.

Media partners: Radio România Cultural, Agerpres, Films in Frame, IQads, The Institute, Cinefilia, AaRC.ro. Munteanu