15h30 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António Gaio
A group of people travel in a train discussing what is home and what they gain and lose from moving to another country. From the little thing to the big feelings, we follow their journey as the passengers explore themselves and each other in a meaningful conversation.
Direction: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Production : Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Script: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Sound: Filipa da Costa Gaspar, Zhanhe Guo
Portugal . 00:04:46 . 2023 . Colour
The history of a small secluded island over the course of several millennia; a lesson about human nature. From the island’s rise to richness to its ultimate fall into ruins, the film explores the island’s different chapters over time.
Direction: Sophie Colfer, Ala Nunu
Production: King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture – Ithra Production, Pigeon Productions, COLA Animation
Script: Sophie Colfer
Sound: Namigu – Natalia Czekała, Krzysztof Guzewicz
Poland . 0:07:38 . 2023 . Colour
A young aspiring painter with low self-esteem is in his last round of interviews at the painting department of the Academy of Fine Arts. While waiting for his interview, his demons appear to him in the form of garden pests.
Direction: Olivér Hegyi
Production: Bella Szederkényi, Bálint Gelley, Juraj Krasnohorsky
Hungary . 0:10:32 . 2022 . Colour
A woman wanders through the impermanence of her childhood memories, trying to rebuild the story of the house where her grandfather lived.
Direction: Dimitri Mihajlovic, Miguel Lima
Production: Vasco Sá, David Doutel, BAP – Animation Studios
Script: Dimitri Mihajlovic, Miguel Lima, Pedro Bastos
Music: Hainbach
Portugal . 0:09:07 . 2023 . Colour
As he cradles his newborn, a father wonders if his daughter would be better off without him and imagines her life once he is gone. Completely hand-drawn with crayons.
Direction: Ethan Barrett
Production: Tiffany Barrett
Script: Ethan Barrett
Music: Ethan Barrett
USA . 0:09:38 . 2022 . Colour
As Austro-Hungary teeters on collapse, Andras and his daughter are taken aback by the visit from Andras’ brother, Zoltan, who comes accompanied by his large family.
Direction: Lea Vidakovic
Production: Drasko Ivezic, Jean Francois Le Corre, Nikolina Vucetic Zecevic
Script: Lea Vidakovic
Music: Miroslav Jovancic
Croatia . 0:14:30 . 2023 . Colour
An Iranian girl unfolds her school memories through the wrinkles and fabrics of her old uniform. She admits that she’s nothing but a “female” and explores the roots of this idea in her school years.
Direction: Yegane Moghaddam
Production: Jalil Moghaddam
Script: Yegane Moghaddam
Music: Regal Lute Album, Mark Johns
Iran . 0:06:30 . 2023 . Colour
18h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioThe tradition of animation in Zlín dates back to the era of the Second World War. The merchant and visionary Tomáš Baťa built his own Film Studios to originally produce commercials for his shoe company Baťa. Later these studios began producing animated movies. Hermína Týrlová, one of the first women in animation, became a household name in the Studios and made her debut stop motion puppet movie Ferda the Ant in 1944.
Animating in Zlín didn’t stop even after the fall of The Iron Curtain and the wild 90’s took place. On the contrary, animation started to be taught here! Sharp heads were put together and they managed to lay the foundations of the Animation Department at the Tomas Bata University in 1998. The films drawn, cut out and modelled here were still totally different from those made today. They were the works of enthusiasts who made their films all alone without the option to be professional about it. Despite this, many strong authors graduated from the school and made their names as directors in the Czech field of animation.
Nowadays the Animation Department, often called Animat, focuses on building and honing the craftsmanship of students in basic techniques of animated film-making, such as traditional and digital 2D animation, stop motion and 3D animation. It’s important that the students try working in a team, whether it be in a group project or in a professional studio, with emphasis on both in order to begin their own careers and find their specific area of focus.
A majority of graduation films make it to numerous festivals, travelling the world and appearing on Annecy, Cannes, Berlinale, Espinho, Hiroshima festivals or in TV and cinema distributions around the globe (HBO, Miyu Distribution).
The Animation Department of Zlín is founded on craftmanship and every craft that is done with passion and love blooms into art. Same as a kid that is just learning how to stand up, then walk and in the end becomes a dancer that lifts the spirits of others with their performance.
Please enjoy this showcase of animation students from Zlín in the heart of Europe, who have discovered the art of making their imagination come alive.
Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
A huge sailor gets an autumn leaf from a small girl. It reminds him of his home. How long he has not been there? He runs to meet his old parents. What will he find there?
Direction: Aliona Baranova
Production: Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Aliona Baranova
Sound: Jiří Gráf (Napa Records)
Czech Republic . 0:06:00 . 2020
Philosophy of existence and oral hygiene.
Direction: Niko Mlynarčík
Production: Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Niko Mlynarčík
Sound: Niko Mlynarčík
Czech Republic . 0:01:44 . 2022 . Stop-motion
The story follows a little boy, who lives on a planet with no sunlight. Despite of this fact, the boy decides to find the Sun. He and his little dog travel to the peak of the great mountain, where the Sun should be, but there lays only an unpleasant surprise.
Direction: Jakub Brokl
Production: Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Jakub Brokl
Music and Sound: Leona Vyhnálková
Czech Republic . 0:06:35 . 2021 . 2D and 3D Computer
Lonely Noam leaves the dilapidated city, carrying only an orange backpack and an old black suitcase. He arrives at a cold beach that is anything but ordinary. But what is he doing there alone? That’s what the clerk at a small seaside diner wants to find out. “Okyo” is a film about the loss of loved ones and depression.
Direction: Lucie Lisníková
Production: Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Lucie Lisníková
Sound: Meig Uess
Czech Republic . 0:08:34 . 2023 . 2D Computer
Space hero Hart is captured by evil robots. As a result, his son loses both his father and his right hand at the same time. Now he must save Hart from the mechanical clutches of the evil robots before it is too late.
Direction: Viktor Svoboda
Production: Zuzana Dědochová – Tomas Bata University in Zlín
Script: Viktor Svoboda
Music and Sound: Jiří Machů, František Šec
Czech Republic . 0:08:45. 2019 . 2D Computer
The author’s film Rotsethornet describes the joint ascent of a pair of heroes to the Norwegian mountain of the same name. The theme of the film is not only the adventure associated with overcoming oneself but also the capture of both characters and the way in which man and woman communicate with each other.
Direction: Karolína Pravdová
Production: Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Fasculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Karolína Pravdová
Music and Sound: Lukáš Pešek
Czech Republic . 0:03:00 . 2021 . 2D Computer
Movie about the homeless musician who was kicked out of the city after the queen saw his face. Even though the guards destroyed his instrument, he didn´t lose the motivation to fix it.
Direction: Filip Diviak
Production: Kristína Ružičková – Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Filip Diviak
Music: Noemi Valentíny, Jan Nevyjel, Barbora Kadlíčková, Vít Přibyla
Sound: Zuzana Švancarová
Czech Republic . 0:14:40 . 2020 . Drawing, 2D digital
There once was a girl who found both peasant bread and royal cake too cheap. Will the next groom be enough? What carriage will he arrive in? The classic tale from the pen of Božena Němcová tells a story of pride and greed. In this animated film we travel to the kingdom of the mysterious prince Kovlad.
Direction: Kateřina Čupová
Production: Zuzana Dědochová – Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Božena Němcová
Music and Sound : Vít Přibyla, Jan Nevyjel, Barbora Kadlíčková
Czech Republic . 0:07:44 . 2017 . 2D Computer
A tribute to Vincent Willem van Gogh.
Direction: Martin Kukal
Production: Lukáš Gregor – Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Faculty of Multimedia Communications
Script: Martin Kukal
Music and Sound: Samuel Jurkovič
Czech Republic . 0:04:00 . 2014 . 2D Computer
18h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioIn 2018, months before the outbreak of the pandemic that would affect all our lives for so long, Humberto Santana, from Animanostra, challenged the cartoonist José Bandeira to an animation project. The proposal had two conditions: the film (or a miniseries in two episodes) would include the events related to the 25th of April; and one of the characters would have to be an agent of the former political police.
The pandemic would condition the development of the project, not only in its practical aspect – all the animation work, coordinated and guided by Santana, was done remotely – but also in its creative aspect, since Bandeira would incorporate the pandemic itself into the script, using it as a valuable symbolic and narrative element. While the fragility of the conditions in which it was carried out is notorious, the security and talent that the many animators, voice actors, colourists and musicians (original songs by Diogo Vida) involved lent to the project ensured that it wouldn’t be detrimental to the final result.
by José Bandeira and Humberto Santana
When Saraiva and his colleague Fuínha, from PIDFE, detain a suspect for questioning, they are far from imagining that a revolution is being prepared. In the early hours of April 25, faced with the news on the radio, Saraiva decides to flee, but his wife, Eleutéria, refuses to accompany him with their son, André.
André grows up carefree, unaware of of his father’s fate, whom he thinks is dead. With a stable professional career and married to Catarina, with whom he has two children, he is suddenly confronted with the past when he meets the son of his father’s former colleague, Fuínha, in the middle of the pandemic.
Direction: Humberto Santana e José Bandeira
Production: Animanostra
Co-production: Filmanimática
Support: ICA – Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, República Portuguesa, RTP2
Graphic, Characters and Backgrounds: José Bandeira
Script : José Bandeira
Original Concept: Humberto Santana
Original Music: Diogo Vida
Storyboard: José Bandeira e Humberto Santana
Compositing, Editing and Technical Supervision: Luís Canau
Voices : Alfredo Brito, Catarina Furtado, Filipe Homem Fonseca, João Maria Reis, João Reis, José Anjos, José Pedro Gomes, Natália Luísa, Teresa Sobral
Portugal . 2 x 0:26:00 . 2023 . Colour
14h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioA poem by Petofi is well-known in China: Life is precious, Love is more valuable. But for liberty’s sake, both can be abandoned. The fondness of this poem by the Chinese reflects a large extent the importance of the word freedom in the hearts of the Chinese people. Although the words are rarely expressed verbally, freedom is particularly cherished by Chinese people and pursued by many of them as an ultimate goal throughout their lives.
Over a hundred years of development in China, animation has become a major artistic expression of human emotion. With the most members in ASIFA, ASIFA China attracted many talented animation creators of ASIFA China who are part of the pursuit of freedom. They express their understanding and love of freedom in their artistic approaches.
This group of representative short films was carefully selected by ASIFA China from the different categories of the shortlisted work of the “Golden Dolphin” Awards of the Xiamen International Animation Festival in recent years. They are all created by young animators from China. All of them are themed with freedom and demonstrate the perception of freedom by the creators. The contents of these short films are unrestrained and span the freedom and liberation of a country to the desire of a little girl to go out freely; from the constraints of the mother-child relationship in the original family to the emotional entanglement of men and women in the relationship between the two sexes; from the doubts about what freedom is to the deconstruction of freedom using Dadaism.
Freedom is like a diamond; the charming brilliance is composed of different side refractions. I hope that the different sides formed by these films can bring the light of freedom from various perspectives.
The Xiamen International Animation Festival co-organized by ASIFA-CHINA has a history of 16 years. Compared to CINANIMA, XIAF is still young but has been developed into one of the most influential and credible animation festivals in China.
I hope this group of films will become a bridge to connect the vision, culture, thought, and art of the two animation festivals. I hope all audiences can enjoy these short films and will be greatly inspired by the stories and images constructed by the films.
Yours sincerely,
Zhongqiu Li
Secretary-General
ASIFA China
The boy lives in a city in 2049. Science and technology there are advanced and life is in order. However,social order is firmly controlled by large enterprises.And there is no freedom in this city. The boy lives a single life like a zombie. Liberty is in doubt!
Direction: Gu Zhengyu, Zong Yifan, Zhu Gang, Nie Yiqing, Liu Naiwen, Kang Han, Zhang Ziyang
Production: SUO Xiaoling, Communication University of China
Script: ZONG Yifan
Music and Sound: KANG Han
China . 0:05:02 . 2020 . 2D Computer
This is a work that combines Dadaism with rap. The young us are prone to falling into the anxiety of nothingness. As an adult, we gradually have autonomy, and the youth that can gradually disappear makes us feel confused. Wouldn’t it be different if we could stand at the end and watch all this, but can time really have an end? People in this era are trying to find meaning, and we are tired of meaning itself.
Direction: Han Congyue
Production: Han Congyue
Script: Han Congyue
Music and Sound: Han Congyue
China . 0:05:53 . 2015 . Frame by frame
Actor Wang Le Le is seen as a child star with a bright future, but the shadow of his family hangs over him. Controlled by his parents in the name of love, he keeps wandering between the play and reality, and seems to be gradually going to collapse…
Direction: YIN Qianya
Production: AI Shengying, XU Ruozhao, Communication University of China
Script: Yin Qianya, Wei Anli, Li Xinyi, Wang Xiaohan, Zhu Yingqi
Music and Sound: He Xingyu, Zhang Yue
China . 0:10:36 . 2020 . 2D Animation
“Night Thought” is one of the series of animated short films of China Choir. According to the true story of Jia Dian’s famous diplomat Gu Weizhen, Gu Weizhen went to the northeast to investigate September 18 when he knew that his life was threatened. The event and the establishment of the pseudo-Manchurian state unveiled the story of Japan’s invasion of the three eastern provinces.
Direction: Peng Qingzheng
Production: Wang Boyong, Yan Chen, Lin Xujian
Script: Li Xia’en
Music: Wu Xiangtong, Yi Fenglin
China . 0:14:59 . 2018 . 2D Animation
A keeper shot and killed a tiger. After the incident, life went on as usual on the surface, but in fact, many unspeakable changes took place in his heart…
Direction: Wang Jiaguo, Tian Zhen, Yin Bowen, Dong Xiaochen
Production: Dong Xiaochen, Communication University of China
Script: Wang Jiaguo, Tian Zhen, Yin Bowen, Dong Xiaochen
Music: Yuan Sihan
Som: Zhang Yue
China . 0:09:44 . 2018 . 2D Animation
Life is a ray of sunshine that breaks the darkness. In the vast universe, the process of human beings and all things in the world to die is as short and gorgeous as a dayfly. Please feel the world while you are alive. Time starts at 0:00 and ends at 24:00 the next day, interspersed with three short stories.
Direction: Yi Baoxingchen
Production: Ai Shengying
Script: Yi Baoxingchen, Zhang Kerui, Zhang Youjie
Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Christian Fennesz, Co , Hitomi Shimizu, Hiromi Nishida, Nils Frahm, Frank Schültge, Janis Crunch, Rhian Sheehan
Sound: Duan Delu, Tong Yiqiu
China . 0:14:05 . 2020 . Ink on paper, pencil on paper, 2D computer
A man with a large human-sized hole in his body meets a girl one day who matches the shape of this hole exactly. The two become one and spend a happy time together. However, the man gradually becomes suspicious and afraid of being alone, so he sews the girl’s body into his hole. The girl who lost her freedom quickly became debilitated and eventually …
Direction: Xu Yuan
Production: Nomura Tatsutoshi, Tama Art University
Script: Xu Yuan
Music and Sound: Sato Nanami
Japão . 0:08:33 . 2023 . 2D Animation, animated objects
Through a simple story, the short film explores the “benchmarking effect” of parental behaviour on the development of children. In the form of the work through various images, experimental visualization of abstract concepts and emotions, intriguing.
Direction: Wang Ziqi
Production: Beijing Institute Of Graphic Communication
Script: Wang Ziqi
Music and Sound: Li Zijie
China . 0:02:02 . 2023 . Computer
16h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioFreedom first and foremost needs peace and democracy; currently our world is clearly losing more and more of both.
And we can ask ourselves what contribution art can make in the face of numerous crises.
Among contemporary works I found films about oppression, totalitarian systems – and war.
The three films in this program are focused on the past, the presence and the future.
“Margarethe 89” describes the totalitarian system in East Germany a short time before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the unbreakable human desire and fight for freedom and democracy. There had been a big hope, that the world can change to the better…
The central film in this program is the animated documentary “Dreams about Putin”, which takes place in our present day and addresses how this incredibly cruel war on our doorstep invades people’s dreams. After the large-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, many people began to dream about Putin. And they shared these dreams in the media. The fears and hopes of a select group of people are contrasted with the ideal image of Putin’s egomaniac self-portrayal.
“A letter to a Pig” opens another heavy topic of humanity, – and the connection to today’s reality is certainly obvious – but I wish to underline the spirit of a positive perspective for the future, when mankind has hopefully overcome the traumas of all the terrible conflicts and human catastrophes of the past.
At least the very end of this film seems like a gentle but strong ray of sunshine – a signal of hope for the better.
Thomas Renoldner
Secretary General ASIFA Executive Board member
Leipzig, 1989. Margarethe, a young punk opposed to the East German regime, is detained in a psychiatric hospital. She dreams of breaking out to join the man she loves – a punk musician named Heinrich. Though the regime’s days may well be numbered, the Stasi informants are more present than ever.
Direction: Lucas Malbrun
Production: Eddy Production
Script: Lucas Malbrun, Marie Larrive
Music: Mael Oudin
Sound: Elodie Thevenin
France . 0:18:00 . 2023 . Drawing on paper
After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 many people started to dream about Putin. And they shared these dreams in the media. Over 1 000 dreams about Putin are documented. This film is an attempt to reflect on the theme of repression through a combination of found footage and 3D game animation made in Unreal Engine in order to portray the authentic dreams of those affected by the war and explore the theme of the collective unconscious in society.
Direction: Nastia Korkia, Vlad Fishez
Production: Nastia Korkia
Sound: Andrey Dergachev
Belgium, Portugal, Hungary . 0:30:00 . 2023 . 3D Computer, live action
A Holocaust survivor reads a letter he wrote to the pig who saved his life. A young schoolgirl hears his testimony in class and sinks into a twisted dream where she confronts questions of identity, collective trauma, and the extremes of human nature.
Direction: Tal Kantor
Production: Miyu Productions – Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron
Script: Tal Kantor
Music: Pierre Oberkampf
Sound: Erez Eyni-Shavit
France, Israel . 0:16:47 . 2022 . Drawing on paper, 2D computer, paint on paper, photography, live action, rotoscope, other
14h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioBrevemente
Paul dreams to go sailing with his father one day. But his father tumbles into a depression and literally dissolves right before his eyes. The family threatens to collapse and for Paul there is a long road to go.
Direction: Cyprien Clément-Delmas
Production: Juan Carlos Concha
Script: Cyprien Clément-Delmas
Music: Tahiti Boy
Sound: Dani Zacarias, Laia Casanovas
France, Germany, Spain . 0:14:30 . 2016 . 2D Computer
A group of people travel in a train discussing what is home and what they gain and lose from moving to another country. From the little things to the big feelings, we follow their journey as the passengers explore themselves and each other in a meaningful conversation.
Direction: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Production: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Script: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Sound: Filipa da Costa Gaspar
Portugal, United Kingdom . 0:04:46 . 2023 . 2D Computer
A music composer suffers from a strange illness: he is able to hear all the noises in the world, he struggles to incorporate those noises into his music.
Direction: Coke Riobóo
Production: Lourdes Villagomez
Script: Coke Riobóo
Music and Sound: Coke Riobóo
Spain . 0:12:00 . 2013 . Stop motion, clay on glass
The transmission of knowledge between mothers and daughters is the enormous embrace given by the memory of an experience which hands over the baton and gives us that deep sense that allows us to move forward, live and love.
Direction: Joana Toste
Production: Nuno Beato – Sardinha em Lata, Lda
Script: Joana Toste
Music: João Lucas
Portugal . 0:13:003 . 2017 . Traditional Animation
Ellie struggles with verbal communication and survives, thanks to her landlady. Manu moves into the apartment directly across from her. Day by day, their routines echo each other, and a connection emerges.
Direction: Sergio Kotsovoulos
Production: Dimitris Savvaidis, Ashkan Raghozar, Sergio Kotsovoulos -Please Insert Coin, Addart, Mystic House, Greek Fim Centre
Script: Sergio Kotsovoulos, Matina Galatsianou
Music: Anthony Palaskas
Greece, Canada, Iran . 0:11:36 . 2021 . 2D Computer
Beryl is given a video camera and becomes obsessed with the filmmaking process, using it to articulate her dreams & desires in a video diary. As ‘Cinéaste par excellence’ she agrees to video her friend Mandy’s wedding, seizing the opportunity to imitate her filmmaking idols, with disastrous & hilarious results.
Direction: Joanna Quinn
Production: Les Mills, Company – Beryl Productions International
Script: Les Mills
Music: Constantino Martinez Orts
Sound: Les Mills
United Kingdom . 0:10:00 . 2006 . Drawn on paper, composited in After Effects
14h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioFreedom, the key word specific to human beings. Freedom to think, freedom to act, freedom to be oneself, freedom to believe, freedom for oneself and for others. This simple word, used throughout the ages, could only have inspired artists of all times, including animation directors. But of course, this simple concept does not have the same meaning depending on the eras of the 20th and 21st centuries and the territories. Freedom for a filmmaker living behind the Iron Curtain differs from that of an American. That of a Spanish under Franco or an Englishman. That of an animator filled with psychological torments and that of an animator happy with his existence. This concept is broad, but everyone understands it, and everyone recognizes themselves in it. Also, films based on this theme are universal and everyone can relate to them.
In these troubled times which lead us to fear that we will go backwards, that freedoms will be violated, that the individual will be sacrificed to economic, political or societal forces, it is important to remember that freedom is a common good. Precious and universal.
Also this program shows different facets of the use of this concept by quickly exploring the production of several countries and different eras. Freedom is different each time, but we perceive the same breath. Beyond the techniques used, beyond the graphic styles, beyond the narratives, it is the praise of freedom that is told, always with the fear that it will be flouted and the hope that it will never die.
Olivier Cotte
This animated short follows an unwanted baby who is passed from house to house until he is taken in and cared for by two homeless men. The film is the Canadian contribution to an hour-long feature film celebrating UNESCO’s Year of the Child (1979). It illustrates one of the ten principles of the Declaration of Children’s Rights: every child is entitled to a name and a nationality. The film took home an Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film.
Direction: Eugene Fedorenko
Production: Derek Lamb
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada, UNESCO
Script: Derek Lamb, Patrice Arbour, Bernard Carez
Sound: Normand Roger
Canada . 0:06:00 . 1979 . 2D Animation
The grey legions overwhelm the world of colour to establish their colourless dominance. The resistance emerges in the guise of a scarlet jester Thyl Ulenspiegel, who restores the reign of colour using his chromatic trickery.
Direction: Raoul Servais
Production: Raoul Servais
Script: Raoul Servais
Production Company: Absolon Films / Anagram, com o apoio do Ministério da Educação Nacional
Belgium . 0:10:00 . 1965 . 2D Animation
Some people are different, against their will. All what they wish is to be equal to the others, deliciously mixing among the crowd. There are people spending the rest of their lives fighting to achieve this, denying or hiding their differences. Some other assume it and raise up themselves, getting their place close to the others… in their hearts…
Direction: Regina Pessoa
Production: Abi Feijó – Ciclope Filmes, Patrick Eveno, Marcel Jean – National Film Board of Canada, Jacques-Rémy Girerd – Folimage
Script: Regina Pessoa
Portugal, Canada, France . 0:07:46 . 2005 . Engraving
The story is inspired by the overture to “La gazza ladra” by Gioachino Rossini. Three kings leave with a huge procession of knights, who massacre birds with bows and arrows. However, a magpie escapes them and starts creating problems for the sovereigns: first it steals the crowns from their heads, then it pierces the clouds to make it rain on them, finally it generates waves that toss the umbrellas on which the three kings have found refuge like boats.
Direction: Giulio Gianini, Emanuele Luzzati
Production: Emanuele Luzzati
Production Company: Thalia Film
Script: Giulio Gianini, Emanuele Luzzati
Italy . 0:11:00 . 1964 . Cut-outs
The Great Wall. At a small window, behind the bars, a man looks resigned. A red flower grows at the foot of the wall, out of his reach. And so the years pass… One spring, the prisoner is released, but now he pays no more attention to the flower and moves on with his life. A crushed flower remains behind him.
Direction: Nedeljko Dragić
Production: Zagreb Film
Script: Nedeljko Dragić
Croatia . 0:03:54 . 1965 . Drawing on cels
A protest against oppression and the power that manipulates a person, deprives them of their ability to work and live freely.
Direction: Jiří Trnka
Production: Krátký film Praha
Production Company: Krátký film Praha – Studio kresleného a loutkového filmu
Script: Jiří Trnka
Music and Sound: Václav Trojan
Czechoslovakia . 0:18:00 . 1965 . Puppets stop motion
Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?
Direction: Flóra Anna Buda
Production: Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Gábor Osváth, Péter Benjámin Lukács
Script: Flóra Anna Buda
Music: Committee – Mári Mákó, Rozi Mákó
France, Hungary . 0:10:38 . 2023 . 2D Computer
A battle between the created and the creator. A character is drawn, but unsatisfied with the results, the creator attempts to destroy him, but the character is having none of it and battles with the creator to survive.
Direction: Daniel Greaves
Production: Daniel Greaves
Script: Daniel Greaves
United Kingdom . 0:06:05 . 1991 . Cor . Drawing, pixilation
An analogy to life on Earth, “Happiness” tells the story of a rodent’s unrelenting quest for happiness and fulfillment.
Direction: Steve Cutts
Production: Steve Cutts
Script: Steve Cutts
United Kingdom . 0:04:17 . 2017 . Colour, 2D Computer
14h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioBrevemente
A satirical swipe at British Imperialism and how it has robbed other nations of their pride and national wealth.
Direction: Joanna Quinn
Production: David Parker
Script: Joanna Quinn
Music and Sound: Heneghan + Lawson
United Kingdom . 0:05:00 . 1993 . Traditional drawn on paper
Inspired by an unproven myth, “Kafka’s Doll” is an animated short film that blends factual research, fiction, fantasy and myth into a single heart-warming story about loss.
Direction: Bruno Simões
Production: Humberto Santana, Roger Torras, Celine Fernandes, Animanostra, WKND, Lusco Fusco, Studio Kimchi
Script: Bruno Simões
Music: Aurélien Vieira Lino
Sound: Bruno Oliveira
Portugal, Spain . 0:10:40 . 2022 . 2D and 3D Computer
A Man and a Woman meet in a waiting room and immediately get closer to each other. They commence a game that gradually gets more and more ferocious.Their faces resemble masks while shapes slowly lose their integrity. Bodies are formed like clay, embracing each other until the limits of impossibility. „III” is a portrait of a woman in an exhausting relationship with a man, which allures and repulses at the same time. The film is the third part of the triptych “Impossible Figures and other stories”.
Direction: Marta Pajek
Production: Animoon Sp z.o.o., Piotr Szczepanowicz, Grzegorz Wacławek
Script: Marta Pajek
Music: Aleksandra Gryka
Poland . 0:12:00 . 2018 . 2D Animation
The First American lawn: Prairie. Back to our roots, to the medley of native flowers that thrive in our forests and our sustainably landscaped lawns. Native plants. In contrast, manicured green unsustainable turf grass.
Direction: Deanna Morse
Production: Deanna Morse
Script: Deanna Morse
Music and Sound: Edie Herrold
USA . 0:04:01 . 2013 . After effects, animated objects, Kinestasis
A passionate love story in the 1920s, told through a series of flashbacks around the world.
Direction: Piet Kroon
Production: Iain Harvey, Cecile Wijne
Script: Piet Kroon
Music and Sound: Julian Nott
Netherlands . 0:12:00 . 1997 . 2D Animation
Electra thinks back to her tenth birthday, mixing memories, dreams, and hidden fantasies. Is our memory not just a fiction? Or a myth?
Direction: Daria Kashcheeva
Production: MAUR Film, Papy3D Productions & Artichoke, Studio Famu
Script: Daria Kashcheeva
Sound Mixer: Miroslav Chaloupka
Czech Republic, France, Slovakia . 0:26:00 . 2023 . Pixilation, stop-motion
14h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioAuteur cinema is itself a manifestation of freedom, a space where the author is free from any commercial pressure, and where he finds fertile territory to cultivate his anxieties, dreams and his innermost truths. In auteur cinema, freedom is not just a right or a privilege, but a necessity for the act of creation, a state of being. It is the possibility of losing oneself and finding oneself in one’s own language, of exploring the unknown and giving voice to what is often silenced.
However, it is precisely the lack of freedom that often fuels this creative impulse. Oppression, censorship and repression, whether political, social or personal, become driving forces for authorial expression. The absence of freedom not only inspires, but demands a response. The author, confronted with the limits imposed, transforms the canvas into a space of resistance. The lack of freedom then becomes a theme and raw material, a shadow that, when projected, reveals the nuances of what it means to be free. In this paradox, auteur cinema is made up of both freedom and its lack. It is at the intersection of these two frontiers that the work finds its urgency, its relevance, its voice.
With this selection of films, democratically suggested by its members, the Animation Filmmakers Association (Portugal) is taking advantage of CINANIMA’S invitation to show a set of films that celebrate freedom and at the same time denounce its absence. In them, freedom permeates every frame, every silence, every unspoken word, in auteur cinema’s incessant quest to transcend, touch and transform. A celebration of creation as an act of resistance and an invitation to contemplate and question.
ARA – Associação de Realizadores de Cinema de Animação
While out eradicating space debris, a strange object is discovered and brought back to Earth. The consequences are disastrous.
The provocative work of muti-award-winning animator phil Mulloy stands as a modelo f satirix grotesque unparalelled in British animation.
Direction: Phil Mulloy
Production: Spectre Film Production – Phil Mulloy, Maggie Ellis
Script: Phil Mulloy
Music: Peter Brewis
United Kingdom . 0:11:00 . 2000
Vida is a young Iranian lifeguard. Popular on her team, she is determined to fight in order to be the one to participate in an international competition in Australia. However, when Sareh who is as fast and talented as her, joins the team, Vida will have to face an unexpected situation.
Direction: Sarah Saidan
Production: Ron Dyens / Corinne Destombes – Sacrebleu Productions / Folimage
Script: Sarah Saidan
Music: Yan Volsy
France . 0:13:39 . 2014 . 2D and 3D Animation
Four old women, reflect on their memories of old times when they were young and how different the relationships between men and women were back then. Their voices merge into one single voice, that of the grandmother Vera, who tells her story in proper detail. A trip into grandmother’s youth and the memories of her intimate life illustrate the status of Slovenian women in the first half of the 20th century.
Direction: Urška Djukić, Émilie Pigeard
Production: Edwina Liard, Nidia Santiago, Boštjan Virc, Olivier Catherin
Script: Urška Djukić
Music: Tomaž Grom
Slovenia . 0:13:40 . 2021 .
2D Computer, other
Great expectations of parents who live by the book. Will mommy’s little angel ever be his father’s pride and joy?
Direction: Piet Kroon
Production: Cilia van Dijk, Piet Kroon, Cecile Wijne
Production Company: Cilia van Dijk Film Productions / Picture START Animations
Script: Piet Kroon
Music: Roger Verhaart / Zip Boterbloem
Netherlands . 0:10:00 . 1995 . 2D cel animation
A pupil turns up to his new class for the first time. This pupil however is different of the others, he’s a frog in a class of rabbits.
Direction: Eric Montchaud
Production: Luc Camilia
Script: Eric Montchaud, Cécile Polard
Music: Pierre Bastien
Sound: Loïc Burkhardt
France, Switzerland . 0:11:28 . 2020 . Stop motion
In a world ruled by crows and discrimination, a young girl decides to fight for justice.
Direction: Nazrin Aghamaliyeva
Production: Rashid Aghamaliyev
Script: Nazrin Aghamaliyeva, Ismail Iman
Azerbaijan . 0:09:19 . 2023 . 2D Computer
15h30 | Auditório Casino EspinhoASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation) was founded in 1960 in Annecy, France. Renowned Canadian animator Norman McLaren was elected the first president of ASIFA. McLaren, John Halas and our other founding members envisioned a world of peace and dialogue to settle our differences, with the art of animation serving as a bridge between different cultures and ideologies.
The aim of this project – ASA (ASIFA Student Award) is to encourage and support students’ creativity, addressed to all students, even those who are not eligible to be ASIFA members. This will promote awareness about the association.
The inaugural ASA 24 project has been concluded successfully.
Participating chapters are Austria, Central, China, Croatia, East, Hellas, Jillin, India, and Iran. Over 55 captivating films were submitted, and after careful consideration by the selection committee comprised of Ginger Tontaveetong, Fereshteh Shakib, and Valentas Askinis, 12 films were selected. Subsequently, the Jury selection committee, consisting of Nelson Shin, Nancy Denney Phelps, and JohnJill Lee, decided to award “Love is a Color” by Nikolina Žabčić from the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, Croatia.
Fleeing from poachers,small elephant Nana was accidentally saved by a Dai old man. The old man took good care of Nana, healing her scars. Nana gradually shed her fear of humans and became dependent on the old man. However, knowing that Nana ultimately belongs to nature, the old man set her free in the mountains, where the elephant herd were. 30 years passed by and Nana became the leader of the elephant herd. Somehow, Nana felt that the old man died. Determinedly, she led the elephant herd travel through mountains, just to offer the final elegy for her old friend.
Direction: Lu Sijie
Production: Communication University of China
China . 0:08:50 . 2022
“Vibrating” is a dissection of what it means to feel the terrible joys of being vulnerable with another human. In this piece, I wanted to convey the calmness of my exterior versus the intense inner emotions that come with opening myself up.
Direction: Lindsay Moore Robertson
Production: Central Michigan University
USA . 0:03:18 . 2022
One day, a man with a large human-sized hole in his body meets a girl who matches the shape of that hole exactly. The two became one and spent a happy time. However, the man becomes suspicious and afraid of being alone, so he sewed the girl’s body into his hole, making her lose her freedom.
Direction: Xu Yuan
Production: Tama Art University
Japan . 0:08:33 . 2023 .
This film tells the story of an adoption interview held in an orphanage. The interviewers were children who were about to be adopted. In order to pass this interview, many couples prepared what they wanted to give the child. The best thing. All parents in this world are imperfect, and no pair of parents can be perfectly prepared in advance
Direction: 王慎之
Production: Zhejiang University of Technology
China . 003:29 . 2022
A man and a woman, as the two protagonists of the story, meet in that cold and colorless world and come together through sporadic encounters that very quickly turn into a lovely dance of color.
Direction: Nikolina Žabčić
Production: Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
Croatia . 0:07:25 . 2023
Through sightseeing of the city of Zagreb with a foreigner, Ema confronts the good and bad things of her city. Through her and the tourist’s eyes, we get to know the city like any other and the desire for always something better and the feeling of home
Direction: Sara Tomas
Production: Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
Croatia . 0:04:51 . 2023
The film is a story about a single-parent family. A mother runs a flower shop and raises a daughter who has never seen her father alone. One day she met a boyfriend and the two fell in love with each other. And think about having a family.
Direction: Shiheng Wang
Production: Communication University of China
China . 0:09:40 . 2022
This film is about the story of an old man who insistently took care of his wife, a paralytic old woman. As her illness increasingly aggravates, finally she can’t walk at all. One day, the old woman saw a butterfly flying over their yard. She yearns for its freedom while she was helpless. The old man found that and in order to make his wife happy, he decides to make a butterfly shaped kite and fly the kite with her in a special way. This film is full of warmth and hope for all those who yearn for freedom.
Direction: Jiahang Li
Production : Beijing Film Academy
China . 0:09:59 . 2022
Legacies live forever, or do they? A 12 year old embarks on a pictorial journey to answer this question and understand her grandmother’s way of life.
Direction: Saniya Paliwal & Vatsal Bucha
Production : National Institute of Design, Haryana
India . 0:04:30 . 2022
Anthropomorphic robot-lamp lives in a world populated only by the humanoid electronic beings. By accident, he finds himself in an awkward situation when he falls into the heart of a secret organization, now blind without his eye-lightbulb.
Direction: Morana Marija Vulić
Production : Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
Croatia . 0:06:26 . 2023
This self-portrait film follows the director, referred to as X, as her friend speaks on her behalf.
X shares her struggles with social anxiety, narrating her feelings in various situations and inviting viewers on a deep, personal journey.
Direction: Hanieh AliHemmati
Production : Tehran University of Art
Iran . 0:04:25 . 2022
“The awakening of insects” is a 2D animated short film presenting three scenes from insect life when spring is coming. Cute and silly characters wake up from their winter sleep and celebrate the awakening in their own unique ways. Through its lighthearted portrayal, it also encourages viewers to live life to the fullest.
Direction: Chiung Xiaoqiong Zhang
Production : School of Visual Arts, MFA Computer Arts New York
USA . 0:02:17 . 2023
11h00 | Centro Multimeios - Sala António GaioThe Faculty of Fine Arts at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia has its roots in an ancient institution, with the current faculty beginning in 1971 and moving to the campus of the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 1981. Since then, it has offered degrees, master’s programs, and workshops.
The evolution of fine arts over the past three decades has allowed for the progressive incorporation of animation into artistic teachings, forming artists and professionals. In addition to degrees in Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage Conservation, the Degree in Design and Creative Technologies was introduced in 2017. This program focuses on artistic teaching in the fields of design and digital commissions, thus complementing the teachings in artistic and creative processes using analog, technological, and visual resources.
Currently, the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia is the highest-rated in Spain for artistic studies. Animation is taught in the degrees of Fine Arts and Design and Creative Technologies, including courses on the principles of animation, 2D and 3D animation, stop motion, animation projects and production, as well as the history and theory of animation.
In 2010, the Master’s in Animation was initiated, a professional program where students develop 2D or 3D short films in groups, training with industry professionals. Many of these projects have been recognized in prestigious festivals. The faculty has a research group in animation and publishes the journal “Con A de Animación,” which disseminates studies and advances in this field.
Since 2012, the “Prime the Animation” festival of young talents has been held, an event that has become a benchmark for new animation creators. This festival not only showcases the work of students but also offers them the opportunity to connect with the industry and display their talent to a broader audience.
A boy and his dog are in trouble. In a strange and dangerous universe, an evil pirate is chasing them. On the horizon rises a dark and steep summit on the top of which shines a mysterious precious object that contains within it the greatest of secrets.
Direction: Esteban Henriquez
Production: Claudia Solano, Máster de Animación UPV
Script: Esteban Henriquez
Spain . 0:05:33 . 2018 . 2D Animation
An exciting trip on the fantasy train, in which the conductor falls in love with a female passenger. During the trip, he tries to seduce her to the rhythm of tango, but to his surprise, another woman also wants to woo the gallant conductor.
Direction: Adriana Navarro Álvarez
Production: Adriana Navarro Álvarez, Máster de Animación UPV
Script: Adriana Navarro Álvarez
Spain . 0:02:35 . 2012 . 2D Animation
The short film takes place in a car, where a mother, Merche, and her son, Luis, talk about the boy’s next excursion. As a result of a fly that enters the car, Merche will begin to distort Luis’ future plans in her head, turning them into nightmares.
Direction: Mauro Luis
Production: Mauro Luis, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script: Mauro Luis
Spain . 0:04:00 . 2021 . 2D Animation
“Echoes” tells the story of a depressed factory worker who suffers an episode of dissociation.
Direction: Diana Acién Manzorro
Production: María Manero Muro, Máster de Animación UPV
Script: Diana Acién Manzorro
Spain . 0:05:26 . 2019 . 2D and 3D Animation
Eva leads a normal life until one day the technological brand Network launches a new product, the B-Blue – augmented reality glasses that threaten to put an end to physical human interaction. From that moment on, Eva will have to deal with advertising harassment and feeling completely ignored by her environment.
Direction: Paola Tejera Manchón
Production: Paola Tejera Manchón, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script: Paola Tejera Manchón, Isabel Escandell Mesas, Álvaro Pérez León, Rosa Milán García, Larisa Bumb, Juan Luis Viciana Artero
Spain . 0:06:26 . 2017 . 2D Animation
Mari Carmen starts her first day of work at the international sales office with great enthusiasm, but not everything goes as expected. A duck has appeared on the balcony, attracting everyone’s attention and turning upside down the day Mari Carmen was hoping to start off on the right foot.
Direction: Ángela Arregui Chavarría
Production: Izan García, Javi Planells, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script: Ángela Arregui Chavarría, Ana María Hernandez
Spain . 0:06:30 . 2020 . 2D Animation
The ice workers of Chimborazo have submitted for hundreds of years to the inclemency of this volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes in exchange for chopping a little of its ice and thus provide for their people. Today it is a profession on the verge of extinction, were it not for Baltazar Ushca.
Direction: Keila Cepeda Satán
Production: Daniel Barrachina Esclapés, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script: Keila Cepeda Satán, Tatiana Santiago Solla, Daniel Barrachina Esclapés, Feliz Loche Unzurrunzaga, Tina Piñero Diaz, Ángel Povedano Ruiz
Spain . 0:07:17 . 2023 . 2D Animation, stop motion
In the summer of 1992, Joan Durà, a resident of Monóvar, is arrested without knowing the reason in his bar, the Asterix. Incommunicado for 3 days and a half, he is tortured. Today the impunity for what happened still lasts.
Direction: Irene Puente
Production: Jaume Guillén, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script : Irene Puente, Sergio Pérez, Jaume Guillén, Eric González, Alexis Navarro
Spain . 0:07:10 . 2023 . 2D Animation, stop motion
Patchwork is the story of Loly, the person who needed a new liver because hers broke.
Direction: María Manero Muro
Production: María Manero Muro, Master’s Degree in Animation UPV
Script: María Manero Muro
Spain . 0:08:00 . 2018 . 2D Animation, stop motion, cut-out
2024. CINANIMA 24. All rights reserved
Made with passion ❤ by CIRCLETEC
