Minimest: Two Animated Weekends Dedicated to Children at Animest Romania 2020

The 15th edition of Animest International Animation Film Festival brings two weekends of films and workshops dedicated to its youngest audience. Minimest, the section dedicated to children, will start on 7 November and gathers family-oriented films that can be enjoyed by all ages. The rich programme brings fun, imaginative and educational films in the homes of animation lovers all over Romania, through the online streaming platform of the festival.

24 short films compete for the Best Film for Children, in the Minimest competition section, and will be judged by a jury made up of children. The films were made using a variety of animation techniques, and the themes revolve mainly around friendship, courage, the relationship between children and adults, the diversity of human beings, healthy life styles and the reinterpretation of classical tales in an original way. The animation techniques used by the films in competition are various, from traditional drawings to 3D, from stop motion to sophisticated computer generated animation.

The 8 feature films selected for children are some of the newest productions, and can make up great starting points for debate or for family activities. Vic the Viking and the Magic Sword (directed by Éric Cazes) talks about a Viking boy like no other: he does not look physically strong, but will prove you can be different – that is, have a brain and use it before you wield your axe – and still be a true Viking with a taste for adventure. The protagonist of Australian feature film 100% Wolf (directed by Alexs Stadermann) is the heir the leadership of a proud family line of werewolves. He is in for a shock when on his 14th birthday his first transformation goes awry, turning him into a ferocious… poodle. All he has to do now is prove that appearance can be misleading. Nothing should stand against your dream, this is the lesson that we can learn from Strike (directed by Trevor Hardy), a coming of age, heart-warming story of the struggle for Mungo the mole to save not only his family, but his community and achieve his dream of playing soccer for his country in the international cup. A Costume for Nicolas (directed by Eduardo Rivero Cruz) is a Mexican film with a great message delivered by a protagonist with Down Syndrome: love and kindness can break any frontier.

In the second weekend of the festival, the audience will meet Maj, the heroine of feature film Tigers and Tattoos (directed by Karla von Bengtson), who lives with her uncle, a great tattoo artist. One day Maj ends up tattooing the back of a tough guy, from the local motorcycle club, with children’s drawings, whereupon she and Sonny must leave town in a hurry. This sets off an adventurous road trip through a magical forest with flying fairies, a funny circus family and their big cuddly tiger. From the same creator, Karla von Bengtson, the film Next Door Spy tells the story of a girl who fancies solving mysteries, even if the people around her have different expectations from her.

Based on the award-winning books by bestselling Australian author Jacqueline Harvey, Alice-Miranda Friends Forever (directed by Jo Boang) is a lovely story about courage and friendship.

Japanese film Twilight, directed by Yutaka Yamamoto, tells the story of two young people who live in rural Fukushima, who fall in love for the first time.

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

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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