The best international animations have entered the Anim'est 2015 competition

The best international animations have entered the Anim'est 2015 competition

In October Anim'est celebrates a decade of existence, and the festive dimension of this edition is reflected not only in the series of music themed special screenings and parties that will electrify the atmosphere throughout the festival, but also in the titles selected for this year’s competition. The most spectacular animated films, recently rewarded with the most prestigious industry awards come to Bucharest; they’ll be entering the competition as yet another awesome award is there for the taking, all to the delight of the audience present at the 10th edition.

Five fresh feature films, which have already made the tour of major festivals, were selected for this year’s Anim'est competition. The short list includes the Japanese animation Jobanni no shima / Giovanni's Island (dir. Mizuho Nishikubo) selected for Fantasia, Moscow and Zagreb, and awarded the Special Jury Mention at Annecy. The hand-drawn animation exposes the audience to a less-known chapter in the history of Japan, it illustrates the story of two kids who are forced to leave the island of Shikotan, where they grew up, when it is illegally occupied by Russia after the Second World War. The realistic narration is charmingly intertwined with the facts filtered by the children’s imagination, the animation is intended for audiences of all ages.

Czech animator Jan Balej, winner for Best Feature Animation at the 2007 edition of Anim'est, returns this year with a new title: Malá z rybárny / Little from the Fish Shop, a modern adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid which the adult audience is sure to appreciate. A delight for the fans of stop-motion, this particular animation closely follows the storyline of the classic tale as it is transposed in the present and interspersed with nowadays’ specific moral dilemmas.

The first feature film made by Samuel Orti Martí (known as Sam), a modelling clay stop-motion called Pos Eso / Possessed comes to Anim’est all the way from Spain. This savoury black comedy peppered with horror undertones tells the story of a famous flamenco dancer who tries to save her son possessed by evil forces and it too aims to please our festival’s adult audience.

Another debut feature film was selected for this year's festival competition: Adama, directed by the French Simon Rouby whose graduation short film Le Presage was featured in Anim’est’s 2007 student film competition. The feature film, nominated for this year’s Best Film Award at Annecy, combined in an innovative manner 2D and 3D animation to illustrate the story of an African boy called Adama, who goes to Europe in search of his brother during World War I.

Tout en haut du monde / Long Way North (dir. Rémi chay) created by Sacrebleu, the studio invited at Anim’est in 2010 is the last but not least on our list of competition feature films. The predominantly 2D animation was voted the audience’s favourite at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, it tells the story of a young aristocrat who lives in Saint-Petersburg towards the end of the nineteenth century, the scenes are reminiscent of David Lean’s famous Doctor Zhivago.

1207 short films from over 60 countries have entered this year’s competition for the Anim'est Best Film Award. The audience will have the opportunity to see a selection of the best of these films, including Ernie Biscuit, the latest production of Adam Elliot, the director of Mary and Max and Harvey Krumpet, A Single Life, the Dutch animation nominated at this year's Oscars, Sonámbulo / The Sleepwalker, the latest addition in the portfolio of Canadian animator Theodore Ushev, Splintertime, the latest short film of the Dutch artist Rosto, a former member of the Anim'est jury, World of Tomorrow, directed by Don Hertzfeldt and the animation which won the Best Film Award at Sundance, Mi mozhem zhit bez kosmosa / We Can’t Live Without Cosmos, the animation directed by the Russian Konstantin Bronzit and winner of the Best Film Award at Annecy, or L'attesa del Maggio / The Wait of May, the latest short film coming from Simone Massi winner of the Anim'est Best Film Award in 2008.

The greatest animation schools in the world (Gobelins, La Poudrière, Filmakademie, Royal College of Art, Tokyo University of the Arts, the National Film and Television School London etc.) are present at this year’s edition of the festival with their best graduation films. Within the competitive section devoted to student films, the Anim’est audience will have the opportunity to watch  some of the most nonconformist and fresh animated short films.

A limited number of festival passes for the 10th edition of Anim'est are currently being sold on www.eventbook.ro. The price of a festival pass is 250 lei and it provides access to all the screenings and main events during the festival. Our audience will soon have the chance to purchase tickets for individual screenings on the same site.

The tenth edition of Anim’est International Animation Film Festival will take place between October 2nd and October 11th 2015 at Cinema Studio, Cinema Elvira Popescu and Re: Animation Hub.

Anim’est International Animation Film Festival is a member of the pan-European Cartoon Network, it is organized by Este'n'est Association, with the support of the National Cinematography Centre, the Ministry of Culture, the Bucharest Centre for Cultural Projects - ARCUB, the National Cultural Fund Administration and the Romanian Cinematographers Union.

Institutional partners: the United States Embassy, the Romanian Cultural Institute, Japan Foundation, the French Institute, the Portugal Embassy, the Hungarian Institute.

Partners: Groupama Insurance, Aqua Carpatica, Jameson, SeniorHyper, HBO, Domeniile Samburesti, F64, Noumax.

Media partners: Days and Nights, Cinemagia, Metropolis Newspaper, cinemarx.ro, SUB25, animationmagazine.eu.