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Anifilm Announces Competition Films

Since mid-January, the selection committee of the Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films has been selecting the very best out of the 1200 submitted films. The committee members spent dozens of hours watching all the entries and eventually shortlisted 132 films. A complete list of all shortlisted videos, animations and films can be found at our website. The Anifilm team would like to thank all the authors who have submitted their films!

Competition of Feature Films Dominated by European Entries
The best feature films for children competing for the festival award include one Czech entry, Galina Miklínová’s The Oddsockeaters, which is also the only 3D CGI animated film in the final selection. The quartet of films for children is complemented by the Swiss-French film My Life as a Zucchini (Ma vie de courgette) by Claude Barras, which has already won the award for the Best Animated Feature at the European Film Awards. France also produced an animated adaptation of a Grimm fairy-tale The Girl without Hands (La Jeune Fille sans mains) by Sébastien Laudenbach. Smaller audiences will definitely appreciate Molly Monster, originally a character from a popular television series, by director and graphic designer Ted Sieger. The competition section of feature films for grown-ups will present the story of Ethel and Ernest, adapted from Raymond Briggs’ acclaimed book of the same name, by director Roger Mainwood. A special nostalgic atmosphere will fill the cinemas during the screenings of Louise by the Shore (Lousie en hiver) by the legend of French animation Jean-François Laguionie. Also The Red Turtle (La Tortue Rouge) is a competition entry by a renowned director – Dutch master Michael Dudok
 de Wit. This year’s competition includes also two features from the US. The first one is the satirical film My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea by the renowned comic book author Dash Shaw with teenage characters voiced by Hollywood stars such as Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon. And last but not least, Chris Prynoski’s Nerdland gives a bit more hard-boiled testimony about present America.

 

Short Films to Play on a More Serious Note This Year
This year’s five short film competition sections will include 35 short films in total. In general, it can be said that recent short films (apart from extending their running time) are more and more focusing on the contemporary world. And even though the films use only hints and clues, their atmosphere is rather dark (Animated Daily, I Want Pluto to be a Planet Again, Decorado, Black). The viewers will also undoubtedly notice that a majority of the selected films is in black and white. In some cases, the films are not trying to hide anything and comment on a given topic in an open and documentary style (Entr'acte, Broken – The Women’s Prison at Hoheneck, Moczarski's Case). However, traditional bizarre animated parables are still popular (Superbia, LOVE, Superbarbara: The Beginning). Among the authors in our competition, we can find both promising young talents as well as established and renowned names such as Koji Yamamura, Vladimir Leschiov, Špela Čadež and Theodore Ushev. Like the short films competition, the competition of student films will offer the best student films made in the world during last year. Three showcases will present in total 44 student films. The viewers will have a chance to see films by the students of the Film and TV Schools of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague – Kateřina Karhánková’s Fruits of Clouds, Hana Stehlíková Nováková’s Five easy steps how to find a soul mate and Diana Cam Van Nguyen’s The Tiny. Also the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín has got its irons in the fire with Filip Diviak’s fairy-tale Awaker and Aliona Baranova’s Home. Another competition entry from the Czech Republic is Modulatorie by Alžběta Burešová from the University of West Bohemia.

 

Animated Fine Art and Its Mysterious Worlds
Our competition section for abstract and non-narrative animation includes in total 22 films. Among them, the audiences will have a chance to see films animating tempo and rhythm and transforming into visual music. Other films can be considered emotional impressions (Serpentine), scientific simulations (Geophone) and reality modulations (Orogenesis). Like last year, our selection includes top-class 2D and 3D animations (Miller Fisher) and also completely traditional “physical” approaches (Books on Books, 283 Frogs). A representative of the latter is also Vojtěch Domlátil’s Life in Patterns. Other Czech “non-narrations” in the unique selection are the anatomical film Seed by Jan Kokolia and Urban Speech by soundhunter Šárka Zahálková. Both of the films are student films.

 

Symbiosis of Music and Animation
Our competition selection of music videos from all around the world once again offers a wide range of various musical styles, artistic styles and animation techniques. And various animation genres are represented accordingly – from amazing abstract images to complicated realistic stories. We are very pleased that 5 of the 22 competing music videos are Czech. Their authors are Josef Lepša, Jaromír Plachý, Jan Šrámek, Radovan Marček and Lenka Mišincová. Among the interprets that have come to use the almighty medium of animation are e.g. indie bands such as Nevermen, The Avalanches, Chelou, Czech band DVA and French electro-swinger Caravan Palace.