FEST ANČA 2019 WILL SCREEN SHREK REMAKE AND FILMS BY ANIMATOR WHO WORKED WITH TERRY GILLIAM
The 12th Fest Anča International Animation Festival starts on 27 June in Žilina, Slovakia, bringing four days filled with animation, presentations, concerts and accompanying events.
This year the festival’s main theme for screening sections, guests, concerts and events is identity. The film focus will examine how people associate identity with jobs and families, the formation of identity, and the associated stereotypes. We will also highlight digital- and national-identity. This year’s film focus is curated by Czech film critic Eliška Děcká.
Feature films are always popular attractions at Fest Anča. And this year we’ll screen the legendary Coraline (2009, produced by Laika Studios, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman), which has won many prestigious awards (three Annies and Annecy) with Oscars and Golden Globe nominations.
A real curiosity among feature films is the collaborative Shrek Retold created by a community of Shrek`s Internet fans. The film is a scene-by-scene remake of the popular DreamWorks movie that was produced in 2018 as a crowdsourced project involving over 200 amateur artists and professional filmmakers. It is the brainchild of American comedian, filmmaker, and organizer of the annual Shrekfest - Grant Duffrin. His Tweet encouraged project participation and immediately became a huge viral hit.
Fest Anča 2019 will pay homage in a retrospective to the late Dutch animator Rosto, who passed away in March aged 50. His work was also related to identity through self-reflexive films inspired by dreams and nightmares. Rosto collaborated with many remarkable artists like Terry Gilliam, Tom Waits and The Residents, who dubbed the characters in his film The Monster of Nix - which we’ll screen along with his earlier work.
The festival’s special guests in 2019 include British animators Candy Guard and Vera Neubauer who variously address femininity in their films.
Candy Guard established her reputation for comic observation and witty dialogue with award-winning animated shorts, but especially with the animated series Pond Life, created for Channel 4. It follows the life of Dolly Ann Pond, a self-centred young woman who lives alone in a cul-de-sac - an almost perfect metaphor for the 'dead end' life she sees herself trapped in. The series was very popular in the 1990s and won numerous awards.
Czech-born Vera Neubauer`s films have been screened around the world. Among other prestigious prizes, she has been awarded two BAFTAs. Although her films cover a wide range of genres from children`s cartoons to experimental pieces, the common denominator is a strong female element.
Another Fest Anča special guest from Great Britain is Tim Webb, the director of multi award-winning short A is for Autism. This animated film created in 1992 for Channel 4 is considered seminal in the history of animated documentary, since it deals with a topic rarely addressed by filmmakers. It is based on extensive research, and includes contributions from autistic people – drawings, live footage and commentary – in a way that both enthrals and educates viewers. Tim Webb currently teaches at the Royal College of Art, his filmography includes several award-winning films, and he also develops graphic novels.
Slovak animation will be represented by an unprecedented number of new films this year. Over 30 animated shorts and music videos by Slovak directors were registered for the 2019 competition. Fest Anča will screen an inaugural non-competitive Slovak Panorama to complement the Competition of Slovak Films, which together will showcase Slovak animation from the last two years. This volume of entries represents a huge success – since as recently as 2017 there were too few Slovak films to open the Slovak Competition.
The focus on Slovak production is also reflected in the Industry Days programme. Slovak schools of animation can meet producers, present their work, and discuss the needs and outlook of Slovak animation. The section includes a workshop on copyright for animators by the LITA, Society of authors.
The festival also spotlights older local productions such as Pictures – Folksongs (1989). We’ll celebrate the launch of the DVD of this kids’ puppet animation series with author Helena Slavíkova-Rabarová. This show based on folk proverbs and songs has just been reissued by the Slovak Film Institute.
The 12th Fest Anča will also screen feature films such as Seder-masochism by American animator Nina Paley, and This Magnificent Cake! by Marc James Roels and Emma De Swaef. The latter premiered last year at Cannes and will open this year’s festival. Both films are considered seminal in their respective genres, and the directors are among today’s most exciting animators.
The festival will present an extensive children’s programme on Anča Kids’ Day (Thursday) – showcasing great cartoons including the Slovak feature film Mimi and Lisa: The Christmas Lights Mystery. The winner of the Anča Kids’ Award will be selected by a special children’s committee, and the kids’ programme will continue throughout the festival.
The music programme will include concerts by Samčo, brat dážďoviek and experimental drone/noise/industrial project Odpał. Live-coding project Fishcore by Fero Király allows the audience to see how the performer’s mind works. Musician Dalibor Kocian will appear as a DJ under renowned alias Stroon, and with his new clubbing-aesthetic project Early Millennial. Promoter and keen experimenter Tea Tralna will also present her DJ set.
Popular PechaKucha Ancha and animation masterclasses are also part of the programme.
A big change this year is the change of venues due to the recent fire at the popular Stanica Žilina-Záriečie S2 hall – the programme and most screenings will be held at the New Synagogue and Puppet Theatre in Žilina The festival's accreditation centre will also move to the New Synagogue. Several screenings and late-night music programme will be held at the Smer 77 Club just seven-minutes’ walk from the Synagogue. S1 hall and Stanica Žilina-Záriečie bar are still open and part of the festival.
Other big news is that Game Days has separated from Fest Anča - after several successful joint editions, both events underwent organic changes and parted ways as supportive friends. The first edition of Game Days Trnava took place between 30 May and 2 June 2019. We wish them every success.
Fest Anča 2019 will be held from 27 to 30 June in Žilina as the only animation festival that targets a mainly mature audience in Slovakia. It’s high numbers of visitors and dozens of internationally-renowned animators make the festival a truly unmissable event in the animation world.
Buy your ticket here.
2019 Fest Anča International Animation Festival is financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and LITA.
More information:
http://festanca.sk/2019/en/galeria/
Ticket pre-sale:
http://www.festanca.sk/2019/vstupenky-na-12-fest-ancu/
Programme:
Complete programme will be published in the second week of June.
Festival video:
Press accreditation:
http://www.festanca.sk/2019/akreditacny-formular-pre-novinarov-2/
Press package with festival visuals and photos:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vu48bdtAmVEnNhD9bKg0fJQqleqT1Pbv?usp=sharing
Organisers:
Fest Anča
Stanica Žilina-Záriečie
New Synagogue
General partners:
Audiovizuálny fond
Dell
Partners:
LITA
Literárny fond
Slovenský filmový ústav
Mesto Žilina
Bábkové divadlo Žilina
Rosenfeldov palác
Klub Smer 77
Inviton
BB print
BenQ
PRETO Ryba Žilina
Urpiner
VINALMA
Main media partners:
RTVS
Rádio FM
Rádio Devín
Media partners:
Film New Europe
Film.sk
Kinečko
Kapitál
A2
25fps.cz
Filmpress
Cinemaview
9múz
ARD systém
The following grants were announced by the Bulgarian National Film Center on 31 May 2019.
ZAGREB: Oscar winner Danis Tanovic’s Croatian HBO series Success debuted in the USA on 5 June 2019. The six-part drama is HBO’s first series from Croatia and was one of the winners of the HBO Adria First Draft screenwriting contest, designed to find new talent and material from the region.
BRATISLAVA: MIDPOINT is accepting applications for a three-day intensive workshop through 16 August 2019.
Aga’s House in the competition programme of the 54th edition of the festival in Karlovy Vary
Aga's House was directed by the Kosovar Lendita Zeqiraj and the production house Woof Films was the Croatian co-producer. This debut feature film will be presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the East of the West Competition section with 11 other titles.
More information here.
At the 43rd Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Mifa, Czech Republic will be represented by 14 Czech producers and animation professionals. Czech Film Center, a division of the Czech Film Fund, is once again heading to the festival. You can find us in the Creative Europe MEDIA Stand (No 7.001). Three shorts – Apart, Daughter and The Kite – will be screened as a part of this year's official programme. At Mifa, Even Mice Belong in Heaven will be presented in Works in Progress, and My Sunny Maad in Gap Financing: Meet the Producers.
Official Selection
Graduation Short Films in Competition
by Diana CamVan Nguyen
CZ 2018 / 10 min.
Dealing with life after the loss of a loved one is a difficult topic.
The film uses techniques of both live-action and animated film – the real experiences of the narrators are combined with animated sequences reconstructing painful situations, looking into the thoughts of three young people prematurely exposed to death.
Daughter | Dcera
Graduation Short Films in Competition
by Daria Kashcheeva
CZ 2019 / 15 min.
A girl was hurt as a child and keeps alive the memory of it. She lacked love and empathy from her father and now she is not able to share her feelings with him. She can’t get rid of the painful memories taking her back to when she brought home a little dead bird and her father didn’t support her. Sometimes it's too hard to open your feelings and share it with a close one. Sometimes it's too late. Let your painful memory fly away like a free little bird.
The Kite | Pouštět draka
Young Audiences Short Films in Competition
by Martin Smatana
CZ, SK, PL 2019 / 13 min.
The Kite deals with the issue of death, but it does so in a simple metaphorical and symbolic way using the relationship between the little boy and his grandpa. It explains that none of us are here forever and that all living creatures must die, but also shows that death doesn’t mean the end of our journey.
Read more about the film HERE.
Mifa
Even Mice Belong in Heaven | Myši patří do nebe
Works in Progress
by Denisa Grimmová, Jan Bubeníček
CZ, FR, PL, SK / 80 min.
A story about two outsiders, who, combining their very different personalities and ways of thinking, are able to overcome tremendous obstacles. After an unfortunate accident, two mortal enemies - a little Mouse and a Fox - meet in animal heaven. They lose their natural instincts and become best friends. Their wish to stay together after they return to earth comes true, but they are reborn into opposite roles. Thanks to the power of friendship they can overcome what seems to be impossible. The film about hope, a quest for love and courage, and about overcoming prejudices and old pains.
Read more about the upcoming film HERE.
PRESENTATION
THU 13 JUN at 11:30, Hall Pierre Lamy
My Sunny Maad | Moje slunce Maad
Gap Financing: Meet the Producers
by Michaela Pavlátová
CZ, FR, SK / 80 min.
When Herra, a Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta, who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband. Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and even less that not everybody wants to be saved by Westerners.
Read more about the upcoming film HERE.
PRESENTATION
TUE 11 JUN at 9:00, Impérial Palace Ravel
In Annecy, Czech animation will be represented by a number of Czech animation professionals.
Find out more about production companies present in Annecy in our brochure HERE ONLINE.
Or stop by to get one at the Creative Europe MEDIA Stand (No 7.001)!
The 9th edition of the Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund competition was adjudicated on May 27, 2019.
Film productions funded by the Mazovia Film Fund in 2019
- Market analysis
- VoD Trends & emerging technologies
- VoD Market: networking & b2b meetings
- Marketing & Audience Development
- Design Thinking workshop
- Technical Workshop
- Audiovisual Business Planning
- Fundraising & Access to Finance
- European Public Policies & Regulations
- William Page / Secretary - Filmdoo (UK)
- Estelle Bringer / Administrator - Filmoline (FR)
- Maxime Lacour / Treasurer - UniversCiné Belgium & Luxembourg
- Andreas Wildfang / Administrator - EYZ Media (DE)
- Jean-Yves Bloch / President - ContentScope (DE)
- Kiril Gjozev / Administrator - CutAway (MK)
- José Antonio de Luna / Vice-President - Comunidad Filmin (ES)
EFP Presents a New Generation of European Filmmakers including two Student Academy Award Winners at KVIFF 2019
EFP FUTURE FRAMES - Generation NEXT of European Cinema highlights outstanding, emerging directing talents by presenting ten film students and graduates and their often award-winning work at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in the Czech Republic (June 28 - July 6, 2019). With its special attention to a young cinema, the festival is the perfect place for EFP to promote the directors and their work. Thanks to the national film promotion institutes, who nominated their most interesting young talents, and the final selection undertaken by KVIFF's artistic director Karel Och and program coordinator Anna Purkrabkova, the initiative has established itself as an important platform for discovering exciting new European directors. EFP FUTURE FRAMES is supported by the Creative Europe – Media Programme of the European Union and the respective EFP member organisations.
The fifth edition of EFP's fruitful cooperation with the festival introduces the filmmakers and their films to the public, film industry and press during the four-day event which runs from June 30 – July 3. The participants will take part in a master class and meetings with industry experts from various fields in order to build up their international network, receiving further support for their careers thanks to EFP's new cooperation with Festival Scope and the long-term partnership with the main media partner Variety and partners Cineuropa, Film New Europe and Fred Film Radio.
The two filmmakers, who had already been awarded with a Student Academy Award in 2018, are the Swedish director Jonatan Etzler who received the Student Oscar in Gold for his refreshingly unpredictable thriller about teen angst, social media and fame, Get Ready with Me. His Hungarian colleague István Kovács received the Bronze award for his drama about war- torn Sarajevo, A Siege. Also garnering many awards is Precious by Irfan Avdić from Bosnia & Herzegovina, telling the story of teenager Alem, who is torn between a life of crime and taking care of his grandmother. Celebrating its world premiere at KVIFF is Playing by Czech filmmaker Lun Sevnik (born in Slovenia) whose protagonists – 16-year-old friends Boris and Hugo – set up a livestream video and announce that they will commit suicide in an hour's time. Siblings Leah (14) and Theo (10) – The Last Children of Paradise – live alone with their grandmother in a remote farmhouse. A sad incident turns the kids' life upside down in German director Anna Roller’s drama.
Signe Birkova from Latvia uses a futuristic set-up and experimental elements for her film He Was Called Chaos Bērziņš about an alien abduction and UFO experts. Eileen Byrne – born in Luxembourg – has studied Film in the UK and Luxembourg. With Touch Me, she explores the pressures a cancerous disease puts on a relationship. Slovak filmmaker Gregor Valentovič presents his graduation film Kid about keeping friendships even when life goes separate ways. Colombian-born Jorge Cadena studied film in Buenos Aires and Geneva and has presented all his films at festivals, including The Jarariju Sisters at the Berlin International Film Festival. Using recollections from his childhood, he uses a fictional story about two sisters to show the environmental devastation caused by a coal mine. Also taking on environmental issues is UK filmmaker Natalie Cubides-Brady in Beyond the North Win: A Post Nuclear Reverie, a hybrid documentary about the decommissioning of a nuclear plant in Scotland.
The following national film promotion institutes (EFP member organisations) support EFP FUTURE FRAMES - Generation NEXT of European Cinema: Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia & Herzegovina, British Council , Czech Film Center, German Films, Film Fund Luxembourg, Hungarian National Film Fund, National Film Centre of Latvia, Slovak Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, and Swiss Films.
Films and their directors presented in FUTURE FRAMES 2019 you can find here.
