Lectures, workshops and discussions

Lectures, workshops and discussion form an integral part of ANIFILM’s special programme. This year, we offer a diverse range of possibilities. Here are just a few.

One workshop that is guaranteed to catch your interest is Animation Street Fight, organized by the Kreus art group. Teams of experienced animators will stage eight original street battles. They have only four hours (and their imagination) to create their animation, and two finished fights are brought straight to the screen each day. For competitive souls, there is also the Animation Karaoke Battle from Slovakia’s Anča Fest, which is open to anyone daring to provide a live overdub for a randomly chosen animated film. And for all who enjoy the fast and incisive humour of comic strips and would like to see how they are made, there is Daniel Černý’s workshop Comic Strip.

Of our wide range of lectures, we can recommend Early Disney by Helena Diesing, who will discuss one of the central figures of international cinema. The subject of animated film soundtracks will be discussed in Music and Sound in Animated Film, a lecture by Polish composer Lukasz Targosz, and in The Early Days of Music in Animated Film, in which Roman Truksa focuses on the early work of Max Fleischer and Walt Disney. Also looking at the very beginnings of animated film is a lecture by Sylvie Saerense, the great-granddaughter of Charles-Émile Reynaud, who first presented his Théâtre Optique 120 years ago. The lecture includes a screening of two of Reynaud’s surviving films – Pauvre Pierrot from 1892 and Autour d’une Cabine from 1895. Michaela Mertová of the National Film Archive will address the early days of animated film in the Czech Republic, and audiences can enjoy the charm of painted glass animation through a commented selection of short films made by filmmakers in attendance at the festival. The UPA Generation discussion panel provides a chance to meet filmmakers and friends associated with the legendary UPA studio; guests include Gene Deitch (one of the legendary company’s last living directors) and Emily Hubley (daughter of one of UPA’s founders, John Hubley).