Portuguese short film Ice Merchants wins the 2022 Animest Trophy

Over 10,000 spectators enjoyed the 17th edition of Animest

Ice Merchants, Portuguese director and screenwriter João Gonzalez’s latest short film, charmed the International Competition jury at the 17th edition of Animest Romania (October 7-16, Bucharest and online). During the awards ceremony held at the Elvire Popesco Cinema on Saturday, October 15, the film won the Animest Trophy, as well as the accompanying EUR 2,500 grand prize offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute. This means that Ice Merchants is automatically eligible for the long list to compete in the Best Animated Short Film section at the Academy Awards. Animest is the only Oscar-qualifying film festival in Romania, a distinction received in 2017.

Professionals Abi Feijó, Balázs Turai and Ioana Nicoară, members of the International Short Film Competition jury, described Ice Merchants as “a touching and exciting story about a very well thought out microcosm, about a strong father and son relationship in a fragile environment.” They also awarded a Special Mention to The Garbage Man (directed by Laura Gonçalves, Portugal), for its “well crafted design serving a creative cinematography particular to animation.” The film “explores the impact of a humble emigrant on their community back home.” Two other films were awarded personal mentions by individual members of the jury. Abi Feijó especially enjoyed Miracasas (directed by Raphaëlle Stolz, France), and the film’s “freshness, that makes it a pleasure to watch, and wonderful visual design and cinematography,” while Balázs Turai praised Sierra (directed by Sander Joon, Estonia), “an extremely fun, well designed and well animated father and son road trip.”

The three filmmakers also chose the edition’s Best Student Film: Patient's Mind (directed by Zhiheng Wang, China), “a very original cinematographic puzzle describing a patient’s frustrating relationship with their own condition.” Short film Girl in the Water (directed by Shi-Rou Huang, Taiwan) was awarded a Special Mention in the Student section “for its poetic use of visual games and metaphors describing intimate pain and healing.”

The award for the Best Animated Feature Film was won by a project hailing from Portugal, the country in focus at the 17th edition of Animest. Nayola, directed by José Miguel Ribeiro, was selected by professionals Florence Miailhe, Fernando Galrito and Frank Mosvold, the three members of the jury, and described as “unfortunately, a very relevant story in the world we are facing today, [...] a movie which is at the same time poetic, realistic, and magic, with beautiful graphic ambiance contrasting haunting images, [seen] through the eyes of three strong women suffering during war, supported by simple yet culturally relevant music that gives a poetic base to this strong film.” This section’s Special Mention went to “a very personal, honest, and funny film”: My Love Affair with Marriage (directed by Signe Baumane, Latvia, USA, Luxembourg). The same jury presided over the Romanian Competition, whose screening in the cinema was sold-out yet again. Sasha (directed by Serghei Chiviriga) won the Best Romanian Short Film Award and the RON 5,000 prize offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute, and was described as “a film with a naive, yet very efficient graphic for a story that begins like a children’s tale, but slowly transforms into a confrontation of the sexuality of the main character, focusing on himself confronted with the others.” Alina Gheorghe’s Glass Fingers received the Special Mention of the jury, for “a film that creates a strange atmosphere and at the same time invites us into an uncomfortable universe of creation, with room for different interpretations.”

Once There Was a Sea… (directed by Joanna Kozuch, Slovakia, Poland), “the exploration of a terrible ecological catastrophe and of its effects on a survivor’s everyday life, portrayed by the director’s personal journey,” won this year’s Anidoc Award for the best animated documentary, while the music video for Knivesrain’s Be Gone, directed by Sijia Luo (China), topped the Animusic section, which celebrated the best animated music videos of the year. The video was praised “for the exceptional visual language and for the deep immersion into human reality from an extraordinary point of view.” Jurors Răzvan Exarhu, Sașa-Liviu Stoianovici and Oksana Kurmaz also awarded Mentions to the videos for Max Cooper’s Pulse at the Centre of Being (directed by Tsz-wing Hom, Hong Kong) “for the spiritual rhythms and the meditative symbiosis with the music, which awaken the sense and value of existence,” and Tanya Tagaq’s Teeth Agape (directed by David Seitz, Canada), “for the pulsating and involving graphic language, which forms a pure energy that stays behind the most natural kind of love.”

The freshest VR animated productions were reunited in a dedicated section whose winner was Thank You for Sharing Your World (directed by Yu Sakudo, Japan), “a brilliantly designed VR world blending a unique storyline, groundbreaking interactive technologies meant to elevate empathy, and a touching form of social impact. The story follows a child gradually losing his eyesight and his troubled friendship with an autistic boy.” A Special Mention went to Surfacing (directed by Rossella Schillaci, Italy, Portugal), “a highly emotional and thought-provoking immersive journey depicting the strong bond between imprisoned mothers and their children.” 

The children in the Minimest jury chose a story about the environment as this section’s winner: the short film The Child and the Goose, authored by Jade Chastan, Alice Failla, Jérôme Ginesta, Justine Hermetz, Sophie Lafleur, and Vincent Lenne (France). Their statement says, “We chose this film because it taught us how important it is to protect nature and not pollute the atmosphere – not to mention it was also funny.”

The winners in this year’s edition of the Animest International Animation Film Festival received unique sheep-shaped trophies created by Romanian artist Tudor Prodan. Audiences enjoyed the winning films during additional screenings on Sunday, the last day of the festival.

So, how did the first post-pandemic Animest go? Spectators flocked to both in-person screenings and online ones, confirming our choices for this year’s selection. Apart from the special events (Trippy Animation Night, Creepy Animation Night, Animusic, Cine-concert) and the retrospective celebrating Japanese artist Masaaki Yuasa – our special guest during the first week of the festival, the short film screenings attracted the largest audiences. Following tradition, viewers could vote on their favorite shorts. A local production, which competed in both the Romanian and the International Short Film Competitions, won the Audience Award with an impressive number of votes: Suruaika, directed by Vlad Ilicevici and Radu C. Pop.

After a week working with Animation Incubator mentors, teenagers Rigby Matei, Marta Crețu and Alexandrina Moldovan won SONY-sponsored prizes during the ceremony on Saturday evening. 

The winner of the animated project pitching competition Pitch, Please!, Maria Brudașcă’s A Horse in SwanSea, ensured its author’s free participation in the Rise&Shine project development program organized by CEE Animation in two modules: in June 2023 at Animafest Zagreb (Croatia) and December 2023 at Animateka (Slovenia).

For 10 days, the screenings, masterclasses, workshops, and special events which made up Animest.17’s intricate anatomy animated Bucharest, while film lovers from across Romania’s enjoyed the short films in the competitive sections online, on Animest’s streaming platform. To ensure access, most of the masterclasses facilitated by international animation professionals were broadcast live on the festival's Facebook page. This year, Animest in-person and online events were attended by over 10,000 participants.

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Animest Festival is a project organized by the Animest Association and co-financed through the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, Romanian Film Centre, and Romanian Cultural Institute. 

Animest.17 is co-financed by the Municipality of Bucharest through ARCUB, as part of the ‘București afectiv’ 2022 program. For detailed information on the ARCUB funding programs, please access www.arcub.ro.

Partners: Groupama Insurance, Heineken Silver, Pop Cola, Vitamin Aqua, McDonald’s, Autonom, Domeniile Sâmburești, Spor – a Policolor brand, Kafune, LEGO Certified Stores, Arthur Publishing House, ArtHub, Urban DADA, Ogilvy, Studioset.

Institutional partners: the Goethe Institute, the French Institute, the Cervantes Institute, the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Bucharest, the Czech Centre in Bucharest, The Embassy of Japan in Romania, Japan Foundation, the ‘I.L. Caragiale’ National University of Theatre and Film, the Animation Film Network.

Media partners: Rock FM, AGERPRES, Itsy Bitsy, Radio România Cultural, IQads, Smark, Vice, Zile și Nopți, Ziarul Metropolis, Films in Frame, Observator Cultural, Film Menu, Movie News, LiterNet, Sunt Părinte, Cinefilia, Proanimație.ro, Cinefan, All About Romanian Cinema – aac.ro, AIVImedia.hub, Munteanu.

Media monitoring partner: MediaTRUST.