The Anim’est Trophy – more sought-after than ever before

54 short films from 26 countries on 5 continents were selected as part of the International Short Film Competition at the 6th edition of the Anim’est International Animation Film Festival. With their Romanian premieres, the films are ligning up at a race for the Anim’est Trophy, offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute, as well as for the Best Short Film Award. The competition for feature films gathers the usual 5 titles, all not only extremely engaging and diverse but having their Romanian premieres as well.

Fimfárum - the Third Time Lucky (dir. Kristina Dufkova, Vlasta Pospíšilová, David Súkup, 2011), the 3rd part in the crowd pleasing Czech series, brings the audience the three stories of Jan Werich. The first story is set in the Surnava Mountains in South Bohemia, where the poeple’s enigma is whether or not ogres have ever been living in those parts. The second part of the film tells the story of a king who sends off his sons in search and in retreival of a hat which he has forgotten in a bar in his youth. The third story draws the portraits of Reason and Wisdom, each of them trying to demonstrate their importance over the other, changing the destiny of Louis, the pig farmer. The film got screened in the World Panorama section of the important animation film festival in Zabgreb, Animafest.

The Japanese film Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror (dir. Shinsuke Sato, Japan, 2009) is Haruka’s story, a 16 year old girl, left an orphan after her mother’s death, who feels neglected by her father. The girl runs away from home to her grandmother’s where she meets a small masked creature, which she follows, thus entering a land of charm. The feature film was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Award on Best Feature Film – Animation and for the Japanese Film Academy Awards, on Best Animation Film.

George the Hedgehog (dir. Wojtek Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski, Tomasz Leśniak, Poland, 2011), an adaptation of the Polish comic book series usually compared, based on its concept, theme, and edgy humour, with the famous American animation series South Park. Jez Jerzy is a hedgehog enamoured with skateboarding, boobs and beer. His happiness is overshadowed by rasist gangs, mad scientists and a down right rude clone. This year, the Polish film was also selected for the East of the West Competition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and for the SXFantastic section at the South by SouthWest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Liu Jian’s debut feature lenght film, Piercing I (China, 2009),  winner of the 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Animation Film, is the first independent Chinese feature animation. Made in the style and tradition of the urban Asian noir film, it is set in the backdrop of an industrial Chinese city, torn appart by corruption and darkness,a city  where young people fight and risk their lives each day for close to no money in order to give themselves a better tomorrow. The conflict between the businessman running the city, his competitor, the police and two good for nothing friends escalates into a confruntation that takes over the entire city. Selected for the competition of the most important animation film festival in the world, Annecy, in 2010, the film was bought by the prestigious French publication Le Monde along with the Coen brother’s film, Blood Simple.

A puppet musical adapted on the Hans Christian Andersen story and using the musical partition of Piotr Ilici Ceaikovski’s opera, The Swan Lake, Ugly Duckling (dir. Garri Bardin, Russia, 2010) had it’s world premiere at the 2010 Locarno Film Festival, as part of the Piazza Grande section – dedicated to audience catching productions. A master in puppet animation films, the director, screenwriter, animator and producer, Bardin holds a pleading against injustice of any nature, that can scar the destiny of an individual in contemporary society. Made entirely without computer assistance, The Ugly Duckling is unique in the scenery of contemporary animation film.

The list with the films in the Feature Film Competition can be found here.

This year’s International Short film comeptition section includes films from some of those animators who are already greatly apreciated by the festival’s audience. Boris Despodov, winner of Best Film in the Balkanimation section at the 2009 Anim’est, is returning to Bucharest with Made in China (Bulgary, 2010), made together with Dobromir Dimitrov. David O'Reilly, Golden Bear winner in Berlin and Special Award at Annecy with Please Say Something, presented in the Mosaic section in 2010, is competing this year for the Cartoon d'Or, but also for the Anim’est Trophy, with The External World (Germany), the short film which had it’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2010. Argentinian director Juan Pablo Zaramella, Jury member and Guest Animator for the 2008 Anim’est, is another contender for the festival’s prizes, with Luminaris, winner of the Audience Award and the FIPRESCI Award at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, where it had it’s world premiere, in spring, this year. Cult-animators, the Quay brothers are back in the Anim’est schedule with Maska, the sci-fi short film (an adaptation on Stanislaw Lem) released at the 2011 Rotterdam Film Festival competition and awarded Best Original Score at the 2011 Annecy. On top of that, the competition will also host screenings for titles like Dripped (dir. Léo Verrier, France, 2010), selected for the Annecy competition, The Monster of Nix (dir. Rosto, Holland/France/Belgium, 2011), with the voice overs of some amazing cult-figures like Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits, the paint-on-glass animation film Kubla Khan (USA, 2011), directed by Joan C. Gratz, awarded the Oscar for Best Animation Short film in 1993, Oil Story (UK, 2010), directed by cult filmmaker Pete Bishop or Paths of Hate (dir.  Damian Nenow, Poland), winner of a Special Mention at the Annecy Festival.

The films in the Short film competition range in style from classic animation, drawing, 2D, puppet animation, paint-on-glass, rotoscoping and of course 3D. There are short films telling fantastical stories, others telling real or just visually strong stories, but all made impecably. This year’s Anim’est Jury will have a difficult job on their hands, says Mihai Mitrică, Anim’est festival director, who once again signs this year’s selection for the International Short and Feature film competitions at Anim’est.

The list with the films in the Short Film Competition can be found here.