Animated Documentary Festival, Rising of Lusitania, to Hold Pandemic Edition 07-13 Sept
Skwigly
From burning world issues to personal family stories and intimate confidences. From the revision of historical events to topics of exclusion in various aspects. From portraits of people to portraits of cities. The creators of animated documentaries take up various topics, look for a suitable means of expression using the unlimited possibilities of animation. By often asking difficult questions, they inspire critical thinking and to search for no easy answers.
At II Rising of Lusitania AnimaDoc Film Festival, 130 submissions (2017-2020) came from 39 countries, including such surprising ones as Congo, Myanmar, Oman, Senegal, or Yemen. Finally, 36 films were accepted into the competition: 33 animated documentaries and 3 animated mockumentary; 9 student films, and 27 professional films.
Aside from the 36 shorts, the festival program will include a medium-length documentary about the pioneer of animated film LOTTE REINIGER – DANCE OF THE SHADOWS (Germany, 2012), a shocking feature film CHRIS THE SWISS (Switzerland, 2018 – awarded with the Grand Prix of the ANIMATOR Festival); as well as an online lecture about the animated documentaries led by jury member, Agnieszka Powierska.
The special, ‘pandemic edition’ of the RISING OF LUSITANIA – AnimaDoc Film Festival will be held on 07-13 September, so exactly in the dates of the maiden voyage of RMS Lusitania – from Liverpool, England, United Kingdom to New York, NY, United States. But the location will not be Liverpool or New York, or even Gdansk (lockdown in March stopped this plan), but Łódź (Lodz), the city in central Poland. Why Łódź? Because Łódź/Lodz in English means… BOAT and THE very popular ‘promotional’ name of the city is a BOAT CITY, although the city has no access to the sea or even the river. Moreover, the city’s coat of arms depicts a boat!
The Jury
The films will be judged by a 5-person jury composed of Victoria Marinov (Bulgaria/Poland; an author of documentaries and short fiction films, photographer; now based in Poland), Marcin Podolec (Poland; comic artist, director, animator, producer; works mostly on animated documentaries), Agnieszka Powierska (Poland; film and museum educator, focusing on the animated documentaries), Mariia Snisarenko (Ukraine/Poland; visual artist; photographer; now based in Poland), and Denis Viren (Russia; senior researcher/lecturer), plus the audience also awards its prize.
How will ir work?
The Jury will make their decision online; with the results known on 13th September.
Between 07-13 September, in two venues in Lodz – the art-house cinema, BODO, and the artistic space, KIPISZ – all the movies will be presented on the traditional screenings for the audience, with all COVID-19 restrictions.
The organizer of the Rising of Lusitania AnimaDoc Film Festival is Animation Across Borders, in cooperation with BODO Cinema and KIPISZ Club. The festival’s partner is the ANIMATOR International Animated Film Festival. The media patron of the festival is Radio Kapital, Skwigly Online Animation Magazine, and animation-festivals.com