01. Animafest Insights: a special video programme of Animafest Zagreb 2020

(Last updated: 28^th May)

The World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb has started an attractive new programme titled ‘Animafest Insights’. It is an exclusive series of interview videos with filmmakers introducing their films to give the broader public insight into their great films that have been screened at the festival and also to remind us of the extraordinary success stories written by animation in recent years.

A special message from Daniel Šuljić, the art director of the festival

“Animafest Insights is a program of the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb established as a way to stay connected to our audience, while awaiting for the physical edition of the festival. We decided to postpone the festival from June to the end the of summer/beginning of autumn, depending on the further development of the current COVID-19 situation.

Animafest Insights is an online platform where we present films from competition programs of our previous festival editions, including Grand Prix and Audience Awards winners. The selected films are important not only for Animafest – they stood out and marked the last few years of the global animation scene.

We felt that it was important to accompany every film with a short interview with the filmmakers and, since the films are already available on filmmakers/distributors channels (Vimeo and YouTube), we also see it as a good opportunity for our audience to further explore each author’s oeuvre.

The general idea of this program is to bring these gems of animation closer to the audience that didn’t have the chance to attend the festival so far or would like to know more about animation. We would like to show them the wonderful world of artistic animation and, if they happen to like what they see, invite them to visit Animafest Zagreb or any other festival in the world. Zagreb has a long history of being known as the city of animation and with that in mind we would like to welcome everyone to join us in cinemas and dive into the beautiful world of animation at the next edition of Animafest Zagreb 2020.”

Contents of the programme

1. Eva Cvijanović: Hedgehog’s Home
The interview with the Canada-based Croatian filmmaker Eva Cvijanović on her film Hedgehog’s Home, which is based on the namesake story by Branko Ćopićkicked, kickstarted the programme ‘Animafest Insights’. The film won the Audience Award for best short film at Animafest 2017, as well as many other international awards. Animafest Insights will also present the following list of filmmakers and their films in regular slots.

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2. Alice Guimaraes and Monica Santos: Amelia & Duarte
The second interview for the programme is on Amélia & Duarte, a film by Portuguese directors Alice Guimarães and Mónica Santos. Amélia & Duarte is their debut and was awarded the Zlatko Grgić Award (best first film production outside an educational institution) at Animafest Zagreb 2015. Their next work Between the Shadows had its world premiere at Animafest Zagreb 2018 and won the ‘Mr. M’ Audience Award for the best short film.

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3. Alice Saey: Mark Lotterman – Happy
The third interviewee for the programme is Alice Saey with her animation for the music video Mark Lotterman – Happy (Grand Competition – Short Film in 2018). She was the festival guest in 2019 and her works were shown at the Gallery Miyu exhibition in Animafest Zagreb 2019.

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4. Tomek Popakul: Acid Rain
The fourth interview of the “Animafest insights” features a young Polish animation creator Tomek Popakul and his film Acid Rain. The film swept the festival scene by winning numerous awards, including both ‘Grand Prix – Best short film’ and ‘Mr. M’ (the award for the best short film according to the audience’s votes) at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb in 2019.

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5. Veljko Popović: Cyclists
Cyclists is a real gem of Croatian animation and an homage to Vasko Lipovac, the iconic artist of the Split art scene. This is a film of an unusual aesthetic, charmingly pleasing with a line-up of lavish erotic evocations and a vibrant colour palette, which was awarded the Best Croatian Film Award at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb in 2018, followed by many other honours at prestigious festivals globally, such as Annecy and Hiroshima.

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6. Celine Devaux: Sunday Lunch
Sunday Lunch was created by Celine Devaux. This film got the ‘Mr. M'(the audience award for the best short film) at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2016.

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7. Joanna Quinn: Girls Night Out
Joanna Quinn, a big friend of Animafest Zagreb and one of the most successful female animators in the world, gives a talk on her debut film Girls Night Out, which stood out in the 80’s festival scene with its unconventional storyline.

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