Fest Anča International Animation Festival was one of the few festivals that took place during the pandemic, and this year it returns vibrant and live in Žilina from 30 June to 3 July 2022. Attendees can look forward to a selection of the best animated films and a great programme focused around WOMEN IN ANIMATION. Fest Anča will screen the cult Japanese animation Belladonna of Sadness, and pay tribute to Jaroslava Havettová - the First Lady of Slovak Animation. Our 15th edition also focuses on three distinctive generations of Slovak female animators.
A Bigger and Brighter Festival!
Fest Anča 2022 will showcase lots of new features! The Student Forum (27 June to 3 July) will create space for discussion between schools and students from Central and Eastern Europe and schools from Western Europe. "We aim to create a platform where European animation schools can meet and discuss animation education, with a positive impact on educating and supporting future creators," say festival director Ivana Sujová and executive director Nina De Gelder.
The festival will grow both in length and space. The well-known Žilina-Záriečie Station and the New Synagogue will be complemented by a programme at Žilina Town Theatre, as well as the popular Žilina Puppet Theatre and Artforum bookshop.
Another expansion is virtual. "After our positive experience with the online version of Fest Anča last year, we are again making part of this year's programme available one week after the festival at DAFilms.sk," says Ivana Sujová. Online viewers can enjoy six short animated films focused on Women in Animation, and three short animated films for children. And of course those films will also be screened at the festival live in Žilina, too.
Female Perspective
Our thematic focus presents women's view of the world. "Although we would like to think that the situation has changed, we still struggle with prejudice, and gender (in)equality remains a major social issue. Hence this year's Fest Anča is focusing on women (not only) in animation – female authors and heroines, seeing the world from their perspective," says Jakub Spevák, programme dramaturge and Focus curator. He adds that these perspectives disrupt the binary and lead to more fluidity. Perspectives that represent a longing for a world in which women, men, and everyone else live as equals.
Our film collection explores feminism, patriarchy, and gender, as well as motherhood and physicality. Screenings of films such as My Body Belongs to Me, Somewhere in Between, and Burn, Witch, Burn are accompanied by discussions with those connected with the topic, such as Katarína Nádaská and Lotta Love.
The Women in Animation theme would not be complete without mentioning Slovak female animators. Since 1989 they have spanned three generations, with the most recent still forming. The three film blocks bring prominent female voices of the animation industry that resonate in Slovakia and abroad. The programme also includes a discussion with the creators. Our focus on Slovak female animators includes collaborating with the Slovak Film Institute to christen a DVD that includes the film work of Slovak animation icon Jaroslava Havettová.
This year's visuals follow the Women in Animation theme as well. They were created by four female animators, while graphic designer Marek Menke made the final design for the third consecutive year. The visuals merge the work of animators representing the three generations. The visuals for the first generation were made by Joanna Kożuch, Ové Pictures (Veronika Obertová and Michaela Čopíková) the second generation, and Michaela Mihályi the last.
Women in Feature Films
The selected feature films will portray women in cinematography. The most iconic film is undoubtedly the gem of 20th-century animation – Belladonna of Sadness (1973) by Japanese director Eiichi Yamamoto. An avant-garde psychedelic film that combines Gustav Klimt's eroticism, the story of Joan of Arc, medieval tarot cards, and flowing watercolours. Sébastien Laudenbach will introduce his take on a lesser-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm in his debut 2016 feature film The Girl Without Hands. This minimalist and impressionistic animation tells the story of a miller's daughter who is tested by adversity.
The male point of view is replaced by the female one in My Sunny Maad (2021) by award-winning Czech director Michaela Pavlátová. The film portrays the living conditions of women in Afghanistan, and by setting the story in post-Taliban Kabul it also touches on war, which is unfortunately all-too relevant today. The film earned Pavlátová the award for Best Animated Feature at Annecy and a Golden Globe nomination.
Fest Anča would not be complete without a film accompanied by live music: the 1926 animated fairy tale The Adventures of Prince Achmed by German director Lotte Reiniger. Thought to be the oldest animated feature film, Reiniger's silhouette animation is still used and discussed today. This iconic film follows the adventures of Prince Achmed and will be accompanied by Jonatán Pastirčák's (aka Isama Zing) music.
Children and their parents will also enjoy four family feature films – Even Mice Belong in Heaven, Kvík, Mimi and Liza – The Garden, and Journey to Yourland. The last film is the first feature animation by director Peter Budinský. It tells the story of Riki who embarks into a fantasy world. Visitors can also look forward to a masterclass where filmmakers discuss their productions.
Slava Ukraini
Fest Anča wholly condemns Russia’s aggressive interference in the sovereignty of Ukraine, and expresses its full support for Ukrainian animators and citizens. The festival presented profiles of Ukrainian animators on social media, and their work will also appear in the programme.
In the main competition, Anna Dudko will present Deep Love about a mermaid who longs for human erotic love, while Mykyta Liskov will present her experimental Imaginary Landscapes. In the non-competitive World Panorama section, we will show Regular by Nata Metlukh.
Fest Anča will also present the Ukrainian film series Before War, curated by the Kievan LINOLEUM Festival, which is the biggest showcase of short independent animation in Ukraine. Its director Anastasiya Verlinska will join the jury in the Slovak competition. The accompanying programme will showcase Ukrainian acid/trance/techno DJ and producer Miklei, as well as producer Karaoke Tundra. The Žilina-Záriečie Station will host the Všetko dookola exhibition by Marcel Onisko about current events in Ukraine.
Official Selection and Jury
Over 1,250 films from 68 countries have submitted entries to the Fest Anča International Animation Festival competition in 2022, of which only one sixth made the official selection. "Choosing films was very difficult, so unfortunately many good movies fell short," says Ivana Sujová.
Last year the decisions were made online, but this year the jury can finally choose the best short animated films and music videos live in Žilina. The jury will comprise leading figures of contemporary animation from Japan, Romania, and Great Britain. Japanese animator Sarina Nihei, author of Polka-Dot Boy which won the Anča Award for the Best Animated Short last year, will decide this year's winner of the Best Student Animated Short. She will be joined by Saša Bach, producer of the two Slovenian animation festivals Animateka and StopTrik, and Mihai Mitrică, current director of Animest, the only animation festival in Romania.
The winner of the Anča Award for Best Slovak Animated Short will be decided by Czech animator Michaela Pavlátová who has Golden Globe and Oscar nominations; scriptwriter and writer for the renowned independent animation website Zippy Frames Jair Salvador Flores Alvarez, aka Kropka, and Anastasiya Verlinska.
The following trio will choose the Best Animated Music Video: Michaela Mihályi – animator and co-director of the globally awarded film Sh_t Happens, which won the Anča Award for the Best Slovak Animated Short in 2020, Kate Jessop – award-winning animator who will hold a lecture at Fest Anča called A Guide to Sex in Animation through the Female Lens, and Seafur – the Slovak visual artist, illustrator and occasional performer who will introduce her set that demolishes the concept of guilty pleasures.
Accompanying programme and kids' stuff
As well as animated films, visitors to Fest Anča 2022 can enjoy a quality accompanying programme full of concerts, DJ sets, and discussions about the festival's theme – Women in Animation. Concerts and parties will take place at Žilina-Záriečie Station and the New Synagogue. The festival also includes the Industry Section conference for local professional animators.
On Thursday, Isama Zing will perform his project Blurry AF – full of a surprising variety of creative approaches and cultural/genre fusion, and you can also meet Ima Teva’s atmospheric musical world – steadfast and resilient yet vulnerable and painfully intimate.
DJ and musician from Bratislava w y m e will represent the local music scene with her unique electro-hybrid sound, with performances by producer and DJ Sofia Nøt and Czech artist and rapper Arleta too. On Saturday the ambitious music collective Fairycore Syndicate will perform, as well as the Berlin Manson project from Bratislava and Košice.
This year's kids' programme will take place throughout the festival, but the last 3 July day is specifically dedicated to children and parents. They can look forward to a diverse programme full of family films and international sections of competitive and non-competitive films for children. And the first days of summer will be about more than films! Kids can also enjoy the Ka-Boom! workshop inspired by a TV bedtime story where they can build a volcano, and see the Recept na leva (meaning “Recipe for a Lion”) theatre play by Divadlo Fí.
About Fest Anča
Fest Anča International Animation Festival is the only Slovak multimedia festival focused on animated film targeted mainly at a mature audience. It’s annually held at Žilina’s New Synagogue and Stanica Žilina-Záriečie cultural hub. The festival presents contemporary progressive animated films and classic gems of the genre, and aims to raise awareness about animated film as an autonomous art form and to educate about multiple types and aspects of animation.
The festival includes an international competition of animated short films, music videos, thematic, and focused screening sections. The four days of Fest Anča include presentations, film screenings for children, and numerous accompanying events.
Fest Anča International Animation Festival 2022 is financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and LITA Fund. The event was supported from public funds by the Slovak Arts Council. Women in Animation, Fest Anča’s 2022 thematic focus, is an implementation of the Student Forum Fest Anča.
The Student Forum Fest Anča benefits from a EUR 120,609 grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants. The project has received co-financing from the State Budget of the Slovak Republic of EUR 18,091. The aim of the project is to work with attendees, promote international mobility and cooperation between European schools, share knowledge and skills, and compare animation teaching methods across Europe.
POSTER OF THE THIS YEAR’S JI.HLAVA IDFF WAS UNVEILED
THE 26TH EDITION WILL FEATURE WORLD PREMIERE OF JAN ŠVANKMAJER’S LATEST FILM
The visual identity of the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF has been revealed! Its concept invites us to joyfully discover new and creative approaches to the world around. The author of the visuals, Juraj Horváth, is an award-winning book graphic designer and illustrator who has been the creator of the festival’s visual identity for over two decades.
The festival announced also the first programme highlight of this year’s edition: the latest film by legendary surrealist filmmaker Jan Švankmajer entitled Kunstkamera. The two-hour director’s cut will be presented in world premiere.
The 26th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will take place on October 25 to 30, 2022 in Jihlava and move online for the 2 following weeks. “We want to make the live part of Ji.hlava into an experience, full of stimulating input and inspiring encounters, followed by an online part that brings documentaries not only to those who can make it to Jihlava,” says the director of the Ji.hlava IDFF, Marek Hovorka.
What will this year’s Ji.hlava look like? The festival’s traditional visual identity created for the upcoming festival edition can give us a pre-taste.
“This year’s Ji.hlava‘s visuals capture the joy of discovering our creative presence in the world,” says Marek Hovorka. “Juraj Horváth physically encodes life, his everyday experience, meetings, thoughts in the latest festival poster. Rather than an eye it resembles a retina, on which all perceptions are inscribed as if on a screen”.
The renowned graphic designer Juraj Horváth has been behind the Ji.hlava’s visual identity for over twenty years, and is author of the celebrated EMERGING PRODUCERS catalogues and other Ji.hlava’s visuals. The Ji.hlava 2021 festival catalogue recently came third in a competition for the Most Beautiful Book of the Year in the Czech Republic.
Horváth is also the author of the traditional “poster poem”. This time it is depicting a “left eye inked with indigo” and a “shadow of a moving probe / followed by the camera”. The full poem is at the end of the press release.
THE LAST FILM BY ŠVANKMAJER?
Jan Švankmajer‘s latest film Kunstkamera invites us to rejoice at discovering new things. The two-hour director’s cut will be presented at this year’s Ji.hlava IDFF in a world premiere. The film showcases an exceptional art collection created by the renowned surrealist, visual artist, filmmaker as well as writer, Jan Švankmajer, on his chateau in Horní Staňkov. “The historical experience says that each kunstkamera made until today was sold or stolen or destroyed after the death of its creator,” says Jan Švankmajer who is turning eighty this year. “For example, the collection by Rudolf II, and most recently the kunstkamera of André Breton. These are unique documents illustrating the level of imagination of people in the relevant period. Official museums can’t replace these collections because they lack the personal commitment. I have realized that my collection will undoubtedly meet the same fate and that’s why I decided to use at least the film medium to document the level of imagination of the contemporary people (remnants of the world of magic),” adds the director.
„Instead of merely creating a descriptive catalogue of artefacts,“ says producer Jaromír Kallista, “we decided to make a film with an added value of Švankmajer‘s imaginative view in the sequence of objects and interpretation, and not only the verbal one, of his kunstkamera. The film strives to spread the magical atmosphere of collections at the Staňkovský chateau. Following the Alchemical Furnace, Kunstkamera will logically top up our joint filmmaking production. There is nothing else to shoot at our age,” adds Jaromír Kallista.
The 26th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place on October 25–30 2022, the discounted Early Bird are available until June 30. At least CZK 50 from each festival pass purchased by June 30 will be donated to a public charity collection held by Ukrainian festival Docudays UA that financially supports Ukrainian documentarians.
Download the 26th Ji.hlava IDFF poster, and stills / scene from Švankmajer’s kunstkamera here.
For more information visit www.ji.hlava.com and the festival‘s Facebook and Instagram profiles or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The poster poem by Juraj Horváth:
A Posteriori
Explosion of light on the retina
Left eye inked with indigo
Fixed, not blinking
A smudged image
The shadow of a moving probe
Followed by the camera
As time goes by
I place under the matrix
Hairpins, seeds
Contours of faces, bodies
Signs to decipher
Without the help of machines
Only by touch
Fingertips and palms
I exert pressure
And create
Layer by layer
I go with the flow
I make fire in the stove
I'm surrounded
With samples, paints and tools
Everything has its place
I pick them up repeatedly
I use them
And then I clean up
I often do nothing
Silence
I'm waiting
I step out
Apricots are in bloom
At moments like these
I'm not watching the news
Answering the phone
Thinking about you
Or about the war
Decolonization of Old Ideological Constructs and Film Industry Practice (June 29)
Press releases 28-06-2022On June 29 at 6 pm (GMT+1), join us for the next part of our IDF Industry Sessions series with Daria Badior, Kumjana Novakova, Volia Chajkouskaya and Srdjan Keča. Moderated by Dîna Iordanova.
Four months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and started a war in Europe. Immediately there were large waves of solidarity towards people in Ukraine. There were also immediate calls, open letters or discussions about boycotting Russian culture, including cinema. No matter whether you are for a complete boycott or stand somewhere in between, we all have to make a stand that reflects in our everyday work
How such conflicts influence film industry practice and what needs to be done if we really want to highlight filmmakers and film works from the former-Soviet region? Are there any similarities between the war in ex-Yugoslavia in terms of giving voices to all the countries? These and other topics will be discussed.
Speakers:
Daria Badior - a freelance critic, editor, and journalist from Ukraine. She is a co-curator of the Kyiv Critics' Week film festival, which takes place annually at the end of October. In 2021, she co-founded an NGO Coalition for Culture that analyzes culture policies in Ukraine. In the spring of 2022, she was a non-residential fellow at IWM, maintaining a media project Unwinding Empire, along with her colleagues. During three months, there were 14 articles produced, written by Ukrainian scholars, critics, and intellectuals, issued in international media.
Kumjana Novakova - in 2006 she co-founded the Pravo Ljudski Film Festival in Sarajevo, and acts as its chief curator and director. She was also leading the Film Department of the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Skopje from 2018 to 2021. As an author, her research lies between cinema and contemporary video art, often exploring how moving images address identities, memories and the collective self. Her work has been shown at film festivals across the world (Leipzig, Sarajevo Film Festival, PlayDoc, Museum of the Moving Image, NY, DokuFest, La Inesperada Barcelona). Currently she is an associated professor at Master of Film of the Netherlands Film Academy, while pursuing her PhD in Contemporary Arts and Media in Belgrade.
Volia Chajkouskaya - a Belarusian filmmaker, founder and program director of Northern Lights Film Festival in Belarus and of the company Volia Films. She first established herself in the industry as a producer, her producer's debut The Road Movie, premiered at IDFA and distributed in the US and the world. She moved to Estonia in 2018 and started producing at Allfi lm in Tallinn. In 2020, she takes the leap into directing her short debut Common Language, an intimate family drama, premiered at Ji.hlava IDFF. In August 2020, encouraged by political events in her home country, Volia started to direct her first feature documentary.
Srdjan Keča - a filmmaker, visual artist and educator. Keča's documentary films have consistently screened at leading festivals: IDFA, DOK Leipzig, Full Frame, Jihlava IDFF, etc., winning multiple awards and critical acclaim. Flotel Europa, a found-footage essay film he edited and co-produced, premiered at the 2015 Berlinale, winning the Tagesspiegel Jury Award. His feature-length documentary Museum of the Revolution was awarded at the East Doc Platform 2019 and had a World Premiere at IDFA 2021 In 2015 Keča joined the faculty at Stanford University Department of Art & Art History as Assistant Professor, teaching in the MFA Documentary Film & Video program..
Moderator:
Dîna Iordanova - a notable specialist in world cinema, with special expertise in the cinema of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Europe in general. Her research approaches cinema on a meta-national level and focuses on the dynamics of transnational film; she has special interest in issues related to cinema at the periphery and in alternative historiography. She has published extensively on international and transnational film art and film industry, and convenes research networks on film festivals and on the dynamics of global cinema. She has been credited with creating the Film Studies programme at the University of St. Andrews. She also founded the Centre for Film Studies, which she currently directs.
Organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with DocuDays UA.
With kind support from Creative Europe MEDIA, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Prague City Hall and APA - Audiovisual Producers' Association.
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Eva Zaoralová: A Great Woman And A Friend Has Passed Away
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KKI Talks at ITFS and APD. SMART COLLABORATION – Embracing New Technical Tools in Animation. Live webinar
Press releases 21-04-2022Kids Kino Industry, Warsaw-based international co-production forum for filsm and series for young audience, together with ITFS – Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and Animation Production Days, would like to invite animators and industry representatives to join our live webinar on 3rd of May, 4-5 PM, CEST: SMART COLLABORATION – Embracing New Technical Tools in Animation. The free registration for this session is open.
SMART COLLABORATION – Embracing New Technical Tools in Animation
In this second year of KKI Talks at the ITFS and APD, we want to take a deeper look at how new tools and technologies can be an enriching driving force in international co-sector and cross-sector collaboration and take a glimpse into the future of storytelling using such technologies. Our speakers Kim Adams and Julia Parfitt (Nexus Studios London / Los Angeles) and Phil Stewart (Head of Realtime, Blue Zoo, London) have been experimenting with tools such as Unity, Unreal and Blender and will share case studies to demonstrate the opportunities that these new tools can bring and how they can affect storytelling in animation. They will also discuss the pros and cons of integrating them into the production pipeline.
Meet our panelists
Kim Adams, Director of Real Time Production, Nexus Studios, USA, where she is leading studio initiatives in real-time animation production across original TV and film, branded content and immersive storytelling, and supporting the growth of Nexus Interactive Arts.
She is the Co-Founder of Adventure Lab, a social VR platform that connects audiences with virtual, live hosted, interactive adventures.
Before that, Kim led a team at Facebook in developing the AR “Storytime” app for Facebook’s Portal video device. Kim was the Head of Production and Executive Producer at Oculus Story Studio, shepherding the development of the Emmy Award-winning narrative VR project, ‘Wolves in the Walls’. Previous to that, Kim was at Google Spotlight Stories, and Pixar Animation Studios. Working between Walt Disney Studio, Pixar Canada, and Pixar, Kim produced 13 short films within the beloved ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Cars’ franchises. Previous to Pixar, Kim served as a visual effects producer on several films including ‘Apocalypto’, and worked on the Oscar-nominated visual effects for ‘Master and Commander’.
Julia Parfitt, Executive Producer, Nexus Studios, USA/UK, where she produced some of the Nexus Studios’s most notable work, including the most awarded ad of the decade Honda ‘Grrrr’, recipient of the highly coveted, Cannes Film Grand Prix Award, as well as the Grammy-nominated music video for Franz Ferdinand ‘Take me Out’, no name but a few.
Julia also held the post of Head of Production at Nexus, where she brought her versatile and proactive skillset for almost a decade and oversaw the diverse creative output of the entire studio, ranging from high-profile film work such as the Oscar-nominated ‘This Way Up’, the title sequence for ‘Catch Me If You Can’ with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, several award winning commercials for the likes of Chipotle and Coca Cola, and ground-breaking XR experiences for the global consumer tech leaders.
Most recently, in the role of Executive Producer, Julia has established and nurtured long-standing relationships with further global brands such as Amazon Studios, Netflix, Headspace, Facebook, Google and Duolingo. She often works across platforms and is most interested in exploring how working at the cutting edge of technology can be enhanced with exceptional design and powerful storytelling, which has led her to spearheading a host of projects developed using Real-Time technology.
In 2019, Julia was named ‘Pitch Superwoman’, a UK industry award that recognises trailblazing women and their contributions.
Phil Stewart, Head of Real Time, Blue Zoo, UK, where he is researching, developing and testing new technology and workflows to help the studio achieve it’s ambition of working in the best ways for the benefit of the business and artists. From researching rendering tech and programming a VR-puppet in Unreal Engine, to doing push-ups to test a new Motion-Capture suit, the department strives to stay ahead of the game.
This KKI Talks will be moderated by Prof. Lilian Klages, CEO & Executive Producer of the Danish based company Parka Pictures Aps and the German based company Dreamin’ Dolphin Film GmbH
Participation in the webinar is free of charge.
To join the webinar, sign up here: https://kidskinoindustry.pl/webinar-registration/
On the occasion of Europe Day (May 9th) CE Desks of the Baltic States and their partners offer Ukrainian films to demonstrate strong support to Ukraine and gather donations.
In Estonia the film program Glory to Ukrainian Filmmakers opens on the 9th of May at Artis cinema with the film Donbass (Sergei Loznitsa, 2018). Before the screening a discussion about free media and Russian propaganda is organised by media expert Andres Jõesaar, Head of European Commission's Representation Vivian Loonela and Estonian Minister of Culture Tiit Terik. The project continues with cinemas Artis and Sõprus screening a wide selection of Ukrainan films from 9th till 12th of May. Instead of ticket sales, a donation hotline will be open. As of May 9, also Black Nights Film Festival will offer a list of Ukrainian titles for free on the festival’s online platform. And Estonian Television will program Ukrainian films from the end of May. Glory to Ukrainian Filmmakers is organised by Black Nights Film Festival, Estonian Television, Creative Europe Desk Estonia, Cinemas Artis and Sõprus.
In Latvia the film Atlantis (Valentyn Vasyanovych, 2019) will be made available online for free on cinema Kino Bize online platform from the 8th till the 9th of May. The sales agent Best Friend Forever (Belgium) will forward the fee for the licence to the filmmakers of Atlantis fighting for the independence of their country. The event is organized by Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Latvia and cinema Kino Bize.
In Lithuania the film 107 mothers (Cenzorka, Peter Kerekes, 2021) will be made available for free on film festival‘s Kino Pavasaris online platform KP+ from the 7th till the 9th of May. The film is an example of successful European collaboration, a co-production between Slovakia, Czech Republic and Ukraine, supported by CE MEDIA. And the event is organised by Creative Europe Desk Lithuania together with Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris.
With the activities of Europe Day the CE Desks of the Baltic states wishes to provide their audiences with an opportunity to get acquainted with Ukraine's rich culture and cinema that would deserve much more attention, especially in the context of the current war.
All the cinemas and festivals involved in the Europe Day activities are CE MEDIA supported.
For more info contact:
Anu Ernits, CE MEDIA Desk Estonia This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Lelda Ozola, CE MEDIA Desk Latvia This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Austėja Milvydaite, CE MEDIA Desk Lithuania This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
