email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FESTIVALS / AWARDS Czech Republic

International and domestic animations collide at the Czech Republic’s Anifilm

by 

- The festival will showcase animation in the form of interactive VR, 360° videos and video games

International and domestic animations collide at the Czech Republic’s Anifilm
A Colourful Dream by Jan Balej

The Czech stop-motion puppet road movie Even Mice Belong in Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
is about to be screened at the domestic International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm in Liberec (22-27 June), following its recent premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The Czech festival was postponed by two months and will now be able to unspool as an in-person event. Even Mice Belong in Heaven will be joined by another domestic puppet flick in the feature-film competition category: A Colourful Dream by Jan Balej. The competition roster also includes Mariusz Wilczyński's imaginative Kill It and Leave This Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mariusz Wilczyński
film profile
]
, Rémi Chayé’s Annecy Cristal-winning Calamity, A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Henri Magalon
film profile
]
, French comic-book artist and cartoonist Aurel’s animated biopic Josep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aurel
film profile
]
and Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen’s anti-war doc My Favorite War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen
film profile
]
.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The short-film competition will offer 38 bite-size oeuvres defined by different kinds of humour, while the student section welcomes four contributions from domestic rising talents: Old Gramophone’s Ghostly Tones by Martina Tomková, Zuzana Čupová and Kryštof Ulbert; Bára Anna Stejskalová’s Love Is Just a Death Away, which was shortlisted for the 2021 GSA BAFTA Student Awards; Red Shoes by Anna Podskalská, who formed part of the animation team behind The Crossing [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which has just won the Jury Distinction Award at Annecy (see the news); and Marek Náprstek’s Ant Hill. Domestic animation will be on display in a separate sidebar called Czech Horizon, rounding up short films, music videos and commissioned works.

One non-competitive thematic section will revolve around the topic of nature and the environment, under the title Planet A, while Queer Animation will showcase a selection of short films on gender identity. The Anifilm programmers have dedicated a whole section to the best films made by students and debuting artists from Central and Eastern Europe from the previous year – CEE Animation Talents 2021. The envelope of animated film will be pushed in the Midnight Section, a genre-orientated selection jam-packed with horror, “yuckies, nasties and wackies” for shockproof viewers. Furthermore, the festival will home in on how animation crosses over to other mediums, including VR projects, divided into interactive VR, 360° videos and indie video games. On this occasion, independent Czech video-game studio Amanita Design will be presenting its latest project, the absurd psychedelic horror Happy Game.

The full programme of the International Festival of Animated Films Anifilm is available here.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy