Europeans dominate Anima
To kick start the official features competition, the international animation film festival Anima (February 16-25) is opening in Brussels this evening with Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich’s European production The Ugly Duckling and Me! [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, co-produced by Denmark (A.Film A/S), France (Futurikon) and Ireland (Magma Films).
Alongside a number of Japanese smash hits (Satoshi Kon’s Paprika, Tsutomu Mizushima’s XXXHolic and Hiromu Arakawa’s Full Metal Alchemist The Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa), European animation is dominating this year’s event with some red-hot titles from Cannes, such as Anders Morgenthaler’s Danish film Princess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article) and Christopher Nielsen’s Free Jimmy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news).
Other films include illustrator Dave McKean’s debut feature Mirror Mask [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (a UK production presented at Locarno, see news), French directing duo Serge Elissalde and Grégoire Solotareff’s U [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) and Latvian helmer Janis Cimmermanis’ The Three Musketeers.
The festival features two tributes, the first of which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tintin creator Hergé, while the second will honour Canadian animation pioneer Norman McLaren with a 10-hour programme.
Other highlights include competitive screenings of Belgian shorts; a presentation of films from the slate of Belgian director Arnaud Demuynck’s La Boîte Productions, to celebrate the outfit’s 10th anniversary; and retrospectives on the work of English director Joanna Quinn, Sweden’s avant-garde maestro Jonas Odell of Filmtecknarna and Estonia’s Priit Pärn of Studio Tallinfilm.
Futuranima (February 22-24), a three-day event for animation professionals, will also take place during the festival. Several debates are lined up, among which the issue of new means of exhibition, negotiating with producers and the transposition from illustration to animation. New animation technologies will also be discussed with the presentation of Fly Me to the Moon, a 3D feature currently in production by Brussels outfit nWave.
(Translated from French)
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