Theodore Ushev, Bruno Collet, Jonas Odell – ANIMA Welcome 50+ International Guests
Skwigly
Over the years, the Anima Festival has positioned itself on the national and international scene as one of the major annual events for animation professionals. Thanks to its numerous partners, the Festival is able to welcome many foreign filmmakers to present their short films or features to the public or come to speak at a conference.
This year, the Festival is hosting eight feature directors, including, for the young audience, Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian for Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Tanguy De Kermel for Samsam, Edmunds Jansons for Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs, and Guillaume Ivernel pour Spycies. As far as films for adults are concerned, producer Stéphan Roelants, and directors Nicolas Blies, Stéphane Hueber Blies and Denis Lambert, will be here to present the preview of Zero Impunity as part of the tribute to the Luxembourg studio Mélusine Productions, Gints Zilbalodis will tell us about his contemplative road movie Away, while Oskar Lehemaa and Mikk Mägi, the directors of the madcap Old Man Cartoon Movie, will come to explain the whys and wherefores of their film.
Spectators of short films have not been forgotten either as some big names from independent animation will be visiting, like Theodore Ushev who will be here to explain the making of his exceptional and melancholic The Physics of Sorrow, or Bruno Collet for Memorable, winner of the last Annecy festival Grand Prize, or Swedish filmmaker Jonas Odell who will speak about this brand new studio The Chapel Films as part of the focus on Northern countries.
The Belgian profession will be well represented through the short film competition which welcomes filmmakers like Lia Bertels with On n’est pas près d’être des super héros, Frank Mukunday with Machini, Pieter Coudyzer with The Passerby, Kris Mergan and Geert Vandenbroele, with The Lying Angel, which also serves as a pretext for setting up a superb exhibition of the creator’s work, or a selection of films from the great visual artist Hans Op de Beeck, to name but a few.
To decide on the winners in all these different competitions, the Festival has called on some big names in animation: Jonathan Hodgson, (Roughhouse), Sébastien Laudenbach (The Girl Without Hands) and Karolina Specht, (Squaring the Circle) for the international competition and Juan Antin (Pachamama), Alex Dudok De Wit (journalist), Sarah Van Den Boom (Raymonde or the Vertical Escape) for the national competition.
The Futuranima professional days, taking place from 27 to 29 February will also have their fill of guests with creatives from the busiest Belgian studios of the moment: The Fridge, Dreamwall, Animal Tank, Fabrique Fantastique, Grid, Squarefish, etc. A North/South forum will bring together Scandinavian and southern producers, and their meetings are planned with big players like Mickael Coedel (Avengers, Star Wars VII and VIII) and Hisko Hulsing, director of the recent series produced by Amazon Prime Undone.
All in all, some fifty foreign guests and even more Belgians will be walking the halls of the great Flagey cruiser to meet up with Anima spectators.