ANIMAFEST ZAGREB HAS STARTED
There are two Polish animation films in the competitions
The World Festival of Animated Film Animafest Zagreb was held for the first time in 1972, next to Annecy, it is the second oldest film festival, which is dedicated entirely to animated films, and is one of the most important animated film festivals in the world. This year, 1 700 films from 70 countries were submitted, and 55 films qualified for the main competition. This year, the award for lifetime achievement will go to Raoul Servais.
In the short film competition, there is the Polish animated film by Anita Kwiatkowska-Naqvi "Locus" In the feature-length competition, the Polish-Romanian co-production "Magic Mountain" by Anca Damian will compete for the awards.
"Locus" is a journey through the world of memory: the rhythmic rumble of the train, landscapes passing by and a head full of thoughts. A lonely woman in the compartment immerses herself more and more in her memories. She returns to her family, but in her thoughts, she is miles away, on the road. Time-space bends, returns and departures merge into one tangled life journey.
"Magic Mountain" is the film dedicated to Adam Jacek Winkler. The protagonist is an individualist, he himself believed that in his passionate and simple character he resembles the character of Koziołek Matołek from Polish children's literature. In the spirit of anti-communist resistance movement, he left Poland in 1965. He lived in Paris as an emigrant, where he became involved in active struggle against communism. When he heard about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he joined the Afghan people and fought under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Animafest Zagreb does not include only films, but it also features a series of accompanying events, from which Polish elements are not missing. On Tuesday, June 7, there is the third edition of the contemporary animated film symposium Animafest Scanner III. This year, the main lecture at the symposium will be given by the director, film historian and the director of the International Animated Film Festival Animator - Marcin Giżycki, who will receive the award for outstanding contribution to the animated film genre.
Olga and Michał Bobrowski from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the organisers of the festival Stroptrik will present their book "Obsession. Perversion. Rebellion. Twisted Dreams of Central European Animation" dedicated to subversive and seditious themes present in art house animated films by the film-makers from Central Europe. The presentation of the book will be held on Wednesday, June 8 in French Institute's Mediatheque.