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World Festival of Animated Film /
6 to 11 June 2022
World Festival of Animated Film / 6 to 11 June 2022
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ANIMAFEST PRO – WORLD FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM PROGRAM FOR PROFESSIONALS
05/28/2018

Animafest PRO is an important section of the World Festival of Animated Film, dealing with film production and distribution, creation of new high-quality works, networking, as well as critical valorisation and historical and theoretical description of animation. It is dedicated to film industry professionals, primarily Croatian experts and international guests, but open to the interested public as well.

Animafest 2018 edition of the program comprises masterclasses by Robert Morgan, Kim Keukeleire and Pedro Rivero, presentations of several projects (Vimeo Staff Pick, &Black&White animated series by Amulet Studio, European project CEE Animation, stop-motion videogames Harold Halibut and Vokabulantis), lectures by Nicholas Grivel and Animafest Scanner V international symposium. Nicholas Grivel and Pedro Rivero will also hold individual consultations with interested colleagues. All lectures and presentations will take place at Tuškanac, except for &Black&White series, which will be presented at the French Institute Médiathèque. Animafest Scanner will take place at the Balassi Institute (Ul. Augusta Cesarca 10).

Always well attended, this year Animafest masterclasses are proud to host three world-renowned lecturers. Robert Morgan (The Cat with Hands, The Separation, Bobby Yeah) is a British artist and claymation master inspired by Jan Svankmajer, Francis Bacon, David Lynch, brothers Quay, and E.A. Poe. His remarkably gruesome body of work, which occupies a special place in contemporary animation, will be the subject of his lecture On Making Films and More (Friday, 8 June, 11:30) – an extension of the Animafest theme program. It will be an excellent complement to Morgan's Organs exhibition of sketches, drawings, and puppet parts from his works, taking place on 5 June at the ULUPUH Gallery.

Kim Keukeleire is a Belgian animator specialized in stop-motion animation, who has worked on such films as Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs – a smash-hit of this year's Grand Competition Feature Film – as well as Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, screening as part of Animafest 2018 Family Program, and the beloved My Life as a Zucchini. As part of Animafest PRO, she will talk about stop-motion animation of characters in Isle of Dogs (Saturday, 9 June, 11:30).

Pedro Rivero, winner of the Spanish national film award, Goya, is best known as screenwriter and director of short and feature films about a character named Birdboy, created with Alberto Vázquez. As an author of truly unique worlds, Rivero will talk about specifics of screenwriting and storytelling in animated film (Saturday, 9 June, 14:00). He will also be available for individual consultation – those interested may apply by e-mail: [email protected].

Among the internationally relevant projects presented at Animafest, the wider public will be familiar with the acclaimed Vimeo Staff Pick, established in 2008 – one of the most important online video channels and highly valuable award for young filmmakers, this year presented at Animafest as well. Vimeo curator Meghan Oretsky will offer an insider's perspective on the process of curating the daily showcase and reveal the necessary ingredients for the film to stand out to the curating team (Saturday, 9 June, 13:00).

CEE Animation is an initiative for connecting animation professionals and development of animation projects from Eastern Europe, comprising animation forum (pitching competition), workshops, and program for promotion and distribution of works by new talents. The initiative will be presented by producer Matija Šturm (Friday, 8 June, 13:00). As part of the same lecture, there will be a presentation of two CEE Animation projects – Crystal Raiders by Arsen Anton Ostojić and Unwanted by Kolja Saksida.

Game designers Onat Hekimoglu and Ole Tillmann, authors of Harold Halibut project, and Johan Oettinger, author of Vokabulantis, will talk about the interesting, still infrequent, but increasingly valued phenomenon of stop-motion in videogames (Saturday, 9 June, 10:30). Harold Halibut is a handmade adventure by German developers Slow Bros., crafted from different materials (wood, clay, metals, textile) and puppets, relying on self-reflective humour with a nod to the classics of the genre, such as Space Quest. Vokabulantis is an episodic game that merges puppet film with puzzle PC platformer, while tackling the theme of linguistic communication. This single player experience, in which the player uses two characters necessary to successfully solve the puzzles, was inspired by point and click games by Amanita Design, as well as platform games in the vein of Little Big Planet and The Cave.

Nicolas Grivel, literary agent for comics and graphic novels, lecturer and animation scout focused on demanding graphic stories, will hold a practical lecture on building an online portfolio, visibility in animation industry, and managing a career in animation (Friday, 8 June, 10:30). Grivel's primary intention is to show Croatian animators that there are no obstacles in creating and spreading their work across the globe. Grivel will also be available for individual consultation – those interested may apply by e-mail: [email protected].

Amulet Studio will present the animated series (13 x 90 seconds) &Black&White by Darko Bakliža, featuring characters from different countries and historical periods which, using a lot of humour, toys with visual perception (Thursday, 7 June, 18:00).

Animafest Scanner V international symposium will take place on 5 and 6 June, with the aim of creating a synergy of theoretical and practical discourses, enabling the conference and exchange of ideas among animation filmmakers and scholars. This year's keynote speaker is the recipient of the Animafest 2018 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Animation Studies, Paul Wells – one of the leading experts in the field of contemporary animation studies. In his overviews, manuals and innovative analyses of the most intriguing phenomena, Wells has exhibited a wide-ranging and inspirational taste for good animation, a unique and deep insight into the inner workings of the medium, a nuanced understanding of the art of animation, and a true talent for transferring knowledge. His numerous books, like Understanding Animation, Animation and America, The Animated Bestiary: Animals, Cartoons and Culture, Animation – Genre and Authorship and Scriptwriting, are widely admired by scholars, students, critics, and animation lovers alike. In addition to the lecture by Paul Wells, topics of discussion by Animafest Scanner V participants include the relationship between animation and horror, character design in animated film, relationship between animation and sports, and the use of animation beyond the realm of animated film – in live-action films, series, science, diagrams, GIFs, and emoticons.

In addition to the above, the French Institute multimedia library – Médiathèque will host promotion of books by Midhat Ajanović (Film i strip), Rajko Petković (Američki animirani film do 1941. godine), Boris Kolar (Sjećanja i razmišljanja jednog Zagrepčanca), and Vladimir Rismondo (Bakliža – od akta do akta, TBA).

Admission to all Animafest PRO events is free.