Animafest Cyprus: Carte Blanche
23. Countryside Animafest Cyprus in Salamiou, 9.-12.8.2024
Wednesday, 25. 9. 2023 at 12.00 / Vetrinj mansion, big hall
Programme will be introduced by Yiorgos Tsangaris (Artistic Director) and the members of the Animafest Cyprus team.
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This programme highlights certain films presented in a competitive programme of the 23rd edition of the Animafest Cyprus which reflect the spirit of the Festival. Located in the mountain region in the vicinity of Paphos city, in early August the village of Salamiou transforms into a vibrant hub of ideas, interculturality, and curiosity in the most diverse forms of audiovisuality. The inhabitants of Salamiou welcome the filmmakers and animation enthusiasts from around the world so they all together may admire the peacefulness and beauty of the surroundings found both on the screen and in the landscapes.
The festival showcases a selection of the world’s latest productions, focusing on independent, non-commercial films. Countryside Animafest Cyprus, is one of the longest-running film festivals in Cyprus. Being focused on locality, the most important and at the same time an innovative characteristic of the festival, has contributed significantly in the appreciation of independent animation cinema in Cyprus among a very wide audience spectrum and has revitalised many small rural communities around the country.
The Festival also organizes he Contemporary Animation Horizons (C:A:H) is a multiple round international workshop & animation camp launched in 2023 run by Countryside Animafest Cyprus and Primanima World Festival of First Animations. The entire programme is a talent development initiative followed by a series of creative events (screenings, masterclasses, concerts and exhibitions) in Cyprus and Hungary which aim to highlight the ability to expressive potential artistic and experimental animation cinema.
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Yiorgos Tsangaris - Graphic artist, experimental animation filmmaker, a member of the European Film Academy and the founder and artistic director of Countryside Animafest Cyprus, the first International Animation Film Festival in the country. Founded in 2002, the festival contributed significantly to the appreciation of the idea of decentralising the arts and has revitalised small rural communities, creating an interest in independent animation cinema in Cyprus among a very wide audience spectrum. He is the Director of the Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum in Nicosia, curator and organiser of many educational programs, workshops, and exhibitions for the development of artistic animation and Graphic Arts in Cyprus. He has served as guest curator and member of the jury of many international Animation festivals. His work have been presented and received awards in several international exhibitions and film festivals.
01.
The Wild-Tempered Clavier
Anna Samo
2024, Germany, 7'22''
Play: both a verb and a noun — and despite the world’s disasters, an artist insists on both. A story told through a filmmaker’s art, inspired by Bach’s timeless music and painted on rolls of toilet paper in an homage to the tradition of painting directly on 35 mm film.
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Language: None
Recommended for children under the age of 14: No
Technique: Object animation, Pixilation, painting on toilet paperTeam
Animation: Anna Samo
Music: Johann Sebastian BachAbout the director
Anna Samo was born in Moscow, studied animation at HFF Konrad Wolf in Potsdam and is currently based in New York. As an independent filmmaker she uses a variety of analog animation techniques to create emotional and poetic work. Her most recent films OBON, The Opposites Game and Conversations with a Whale were screened and awarded at film festivals around the world.See more
www.samo-animation.com
02.
Lunatic / Lunatično
Robin Noorda (Tropism Art & Science Collective, Morphosis, seriousFilm)
2024, The Netherlands, 16'
This sci-fi environmental comedy tackles urgent earthly issues in a surrealistic and sometimes hilarious way, as seen by a lonely astronaut on the moon.
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Language: English
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: Puppet film, Collage, AI-assistedTeam
Text, art, direction, camera, animation, edit, vfx, sfx: Robin Noorda
Astronaut Puppet: Jeroen Zijlstra, 5 A.M. Studios
Music: Alfred Marseille
Technique: Paul Godschalk
Soundeditor: Camiel Muiser
Re-recording mixer: Jos van Galen
Audiopost studio: Posta, Amsterdam
Graphic Design - Margot van de Stolpe
Producers: Tropism Art & Science Collective, Morphosis
Executive Producer: Marc Thelosen (seriousFilm)
Distribution: Robin NoordaAbout the director
Robin Noorda studied animation, graphic design and photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Rijks Academy both in Amsterdam. In the early eighties he started as designer and animator for the Dutch public broadcasting organisation and was a pioneering computer animator at the first CGI studio in the Netherlands. In that period he also co-founded the art movement Tropism Art & Science Collective and his design company Morphosis. Nowadays he is an independent filmmaker and (back to basics) stop-motion animator. As an artist he is also active in experimental photography and interactive light installations.Filmography:
Lunatic (2024, short stop-motion animation, 16')
Rebirth of Venus (2021, short stop-motion animation 9')
Red-end and the Factory Plant (2015, short stop-motion animation, 15')
Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society (2009, short stop-motion animation, 15')
Shivering Beauty, Soundscape of Mongolia (2007 - dir. cut 2010, documentary / music film, 74', 4K restoration 2024)See more
https://www.robin-noorda.com/
03.
Us Four
Alex Peake (NFTS)
2023, UK, 6'39''
An animated docu-fiction about childhood memories and leaving home. Alex talks to her younger sisters about their past and discovers the reality of them all growing up.
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Language: English
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: 2D animationTeam:
Producer: Bethany Cornelius
Co-writers: Anna Moore, Alfie Flewitt
Cinematography: Owen Cant
Production Design: Shivani Bhawnani
Editing: Andy Sowerby
Compositing: Aleksandra Vilcinska
Sound Design: Alex Lunney
Colour Grade: Ivan Michael
Production Management: Teodora Petra
Production Assistant: Srimon Jeevanatham
Choreography: Margo Roe
Animation Assistant: Maria João Lourenço
Sound Mix: Luke PredethAbout the director
A freelance animation director and illustrator form North London. Worked for: Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Nando's, The Wellness Workout Podcast, Loftus Media, The Times Radio, Why Do I Feel? Podcast, Unison, Leap Films, Heavyweight Sports and Great British Bake - Off judge, Liam Charles.Filmography:
Horny (2022)
It Must Be Normal? (2020)
Perfect Vagina (2017)
04.
Maybe Elephants / Peut-être des éléphants, Kanskje det var elefanter
Torill Kove (NFB Canada, Mikrofilm)
2024, Canada, Norway, 16'47''
In the ‘70s, three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes and maybe some elephants, find themselves in bustling Nairobi. The family will never be the same.
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Language: English, Swahili
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: 2D computer drawn animationTeam
Script: Torill Kove
Animation: Jo Meuris, Torill Kove, Louis Bodart, Parissa Mohit, Eva Cvijanović, Lori Malepart-Traversy, Magnhild Winsens
Music: Luigi Allemano
Producers: Lise Fearnley, Tonje Skar Reiersen (Mikrofilm AS), Maral Mohammadian (National Film Board of Canada)
Sound: Håkon Lammetun
Editing: Alison Burns
Voice: Torill Kove
Compositing: Cathinka Tanberg, Alexandre Roy, James Martin
Creator: Torill Kove
Artistic direction: Magnhild WinsensAbout the director
Torill Kove is a Norwegian-born filmmaker and animator living in Canada. Three of her films (including My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts and Me and My Moulton) have been nominated for Academy Awards®, with The Danish Poet, narrated by Liv Ullmann, winning the coveted golden statue in 2007. Kove’s films are known for her expressive designs and playful and poignant autobiographical themes. In her latest film Maybe Elephants (2024), Kove, at long last, faces her fear of big-eared mammals.
05.
The Girl with the Red Beret / La fille au béret rouge
Janet Perlman (NFB Canada)
2023, Canada, 5'35''
A girl takes a wild ride on the metro in Montreal. Travelling from station to station, she encounters an array of colourful characters in a bizarre musical journey that’s peppered with hilarious and unexpected incidents. This joyful, heartwarming animated film portrays Montreal in all its vitality, creativity and diversity.
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Language: French, English
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: 2D computer drawn
Based on a song by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.Team
Written, Directed and Animated by Janet Perlman
With the voices of Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Lily Lanken, Martha Wainwright
Editing: Janet Perlman
Musical Adaptation, Sound Design: Judith Gruber-Stitzer
Producer: Marc Bertrand
Executive Producers: Julie Roy, Christine NoëlAbout the director
Montreal-born Janet Perlman is a director of short and funny animated films. She was 22 when she completed Lady Fishbourne’s Guide to Better Table Manners (1976) at the NFB. She then made Why Me? (1978) with Derek Lamb, followed by The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin (1981). Janet directed Penguins Behind Bars (2003) for Hulascope Studio, which she co-founded with Judith Gruber-Stitzer. For the NFB she examined conflict resolution in Dinner for Two (1996) and Bully Dance (2000). After Invasion of the Space Lobsters (2005) and Monsieur Pug (2014), she made The Girl with the Red Beret, based on a song by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.
06.
Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child! / Žarko, razmazit ćeš dite!
Veljko Popović, Milivoj Popović (Prime Render Studios, Bagan Films)
2024, Croatia, France, 13'37''
The film recounts the memories of a childhood in Split in the 1980s. These are stories retold after Sunday lunch when everyone is in a good mood, stories filled with emotions we can easily relate to. Based on the book U malu je uša đava by Tisja Kljaković Braić.
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Language: Croatian
Recommended for children under the age of 14: Yes
Technique: 2D animation
Based on the book: "U malu je uša đava" by Tisja Kljaković Braić.Team
Script: Veljko Popović, Tisja Kljaković Braić
Animation: Noemi Ribić, Goran Stojić, Božo Balov, Ambre Gaultier, Ronni Shalev, Anne Renaud
Backgrounds and characters: Tisja Kljaković Braić
Editor: Veljko Popović
Colorist: Mario Vrandečić
Voice actors: Issa Kljaković Braić, Nenad Srdelić, Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Andrea Mladinić, Veljko Popović, Tisja Kljaković Braić
Music composer and performer: Olivier Militon
Sound design: Julien Sauvan
Producers: Veljko Popović, Milivoj Popović
Co-producers: Patrick Hernandez, Veronique Siegel, Lionel Gonzalez, Kevin Bagros
Distribution: BonobostudioAbout the directors
Veljko Popović (1979) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Department of Painting, in 2003. He is the co-founder of Prime Render animation studio. Since 2012, he teaches animation at the Arts Academy in Split. His films have been screened and awarded at many world festivals. He was a member of the jury at numerous film festivals. Filmography: Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child (2024), Dislocation - VR (2020), Cyclists (2018), Planemo (2016), Father (2012, co-director), Dove sei, amor mio (2011), My Way (2010, co-director), She Who Measures (2008).Milivoj Popović (1979) graduated from the Arts Academy in Split, Department of Sculpting, in 2014. He is the co-founder of Prime Render animation studio. Since 2012, he has exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Croatia and internationally. His works have been published in various digital art publications, while his films have been screened and awarded at many world festivals. Filmography: Žarko, You Will Spoil the Child (2024), Dislocation - VR (2020).