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Anifilm 2018 lineup - All Competition Categories Are Now Complete
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Ten Competing Feature Films
To the 120 competition films from short film categories which we published recently, we now add ten feature films. The films to compete in the category for children include The Breadwinner by Nora Twomey, director of the famous Irish studio Cartoon Saloon. Her film was nominated not only for a Golden Globe, but also for an Oscar. Linda Hambäck from Sweden, who is known predominantly as a short film producer, will compete with her film Gordon and Paddy, which competed also in the Kplus section of the last Berlinale. Benjamin Renner, who is famous for his film Ernest & Celestine, will compete for our award with his latest film The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales (Le Grand Méchant Renard at autres contes). We have also something in store for our zombie-loving children visitors, at Anifilm, they will have a chance to see the French-Belgian co-production Zombillenium. The last of our five competition films is a story of a dog lost in space, Laika, by the Czech director Aurel Klimt. It is the only puppet-film in the competition of feature films.
Also the competition category of feature films for grown-ups will surely bring a tough fight. You can look forward to two Iranian films. Release from Heaven was made by Ali Noori Oskouei using a combination of 2D and 3D animation. The second film about Iran, provocative Tehran Taboo, was made outside of Iran as a German-Austrian co-production and its director Ali Soozandeh used rotoscopy. From Italy, our selection committee has chosen an interesting variation on the story of Cinderella. Cinderella the Cat was directed by four directors, but its style is attributed mainly to Allesandro Rak, winner of the 2013 European Film Award for his L’arte della felicitá (The Art of Happines). Fourth film in the selection is an independent Korean film called I’ll Just Live in Bando by young director Yongsun Lee. The competition selection also includes the hand-painted Vincent van Gogh biographical drama Loving Vincent made in a Polish-British co-production.
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Short = Great 4
As you may know, the short film categories of our international competition include more than one hundred films. As every year, they represent the best there is in contemporary animation and you will not see them anywhere else than at Anifilm. The selection will expand the Anifilm visitors’ notion about what can be animation, how innovatively it can be approached and where does it have its limitations. As usual, we have some entries by renowned filmmakers attracting attention. Our short film competition includes films by Dennis Tupicoff, Don Hertzfeldt and Réka Bucsi who will compete with her film Solar Walk. The film has recently won the award for the best short film at the Berlinale. Also some of our former jury members will compete with their latest films – Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Rosto and Chintis Lundgren.
Student films will be showcased in three blocks. The selection includes e.g. the film Oh Mother! by Paulina Ziolkowksa from Poland who has won the first ever Emile award for the best European student film. The festival visitors will have a chance to consider the progressive approaches to animation typical for student films in another 42 competition entries including 8 Czech productions. Within four years of its existence, our category for abstract and non-narrative animation has managed to put down deep roots and become a sought-after section for renowned authors. This year, it includes films by e.g. Paul Bush, Max Hattler, Georges Schwizgebel, Mirai Mizue and Koji Yamamura.
The diversity of competing music videos is testified by a wide range of artists who chose animation as a visual representation of their songs. You can look forward to music videos by Fergie, Bára Poláková, Shanghai Restoration Project and the Czech band Opak Dissu. But whichever competition category you choose, you can rely on it to be an amazing experience.
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National Competition Czech Horizon - this Year with Four Categories
Our national competition Czech Horizon will undoubtedly be a varied and comprehensive preview of contemporary Czech animation. It is divided into four sub-categories and includes a high number of student entries. In total 28 student films have made into the selection and Anifilm will screen them in two blocks. Almost all Czech animation schools will be represented making sure that Czech Horizon will bring a unique comparison. Apart from schools which are often represented in similar selections such as the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Arts of the University of West Bohemia and the Academy of Arts and Architecture and Design in Prague, we will see works from the University of Ostrava, the Miroslav Ondříček Film Academy in Písek and Václav Hollar Art School.
Our short film category includes nine authorial films. Some of them were made by renowned filmmakers (Pavel Koutský, Vít Pancíř, Katariina Lillqvist), others by ambitious debutants (Michal Kubíček).
Six films will compete in the category for television and online films. We will have a chance to see an interesting comparison of classical series made for the Czech Television with films produced by Stream.cz and a project by Kateřina Karhánková and Alexandra Hetmerová called Hungry Bear Tales. This project has achieved success e.g. at the Amsterdam Cinekid festival.
The most voluminous category is the one including music videos and commissioned work – it includes 32 various entries ranging from advertisements and spots to opening title sequences. This all is animation and thanks to the Czech Horizon, we will once again have a chance to see it all at one place.
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Treats from the whole World in our Computer Games Competition
The shortlist of the International Competition of Independent Computer Games includes 20 submitted titles. Among them are games such as Cuphead by Studio MDHR whose visual style resembles animated American cartoons from the 1930s. Award-winning game Everything by David O’Reilly (you may be familiar with his films Please say Something and The External World) balances on the border of science and philosophy. It is a simulation where the player has the ability to explore a universe and become virtually everything from a bacterium to a galaxy. Bandimal, a musical simulator by Yatatoy Studios, can charm children of all age groups. GNOG by Ko-op Mode is a 3D game where the player explores monster heads and mysterious worlds inside them. In Little Nightmares by Swedish developers Tarsier Studios, you may get a little scared when exploring a surrealist world full of surprises. In Nidhogg 2 by Messhof Hames, the rules are simple: whoever is faster in combat, wins. The ecosystem of the game world of Rain World by Videocult lets you explore its dangerous landscape and fight for survival in the form of a snow-white cat. What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow Studios is a confession of the Finch family who had to die in order to give this game drama a plot. In it, you are an orphan looking for solace at the grave of your dead ancestors. The Czech Republic will be represented by a logical game from Amanita Design (known e.g. for their Botanicula) CHUCHEL which will please many children and a strategic train game called Mashinky by Jan Zelený. We unfortunately can’t name all the competition entries within this limited space, but you will find a complete list at http://www.anifilm.cz/en/festival/computer-games-in-competition-2018/
An international jury with three members will judge all the competition games and award prizes in two categories:
A) Game for Children
B) Visual Art
Anifilm’s International Game Competition is unparalleled at a European scale. The closest competition of a similar kind – IGF – is held in San Francisco.
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