World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2022 has revealed the official election in the Grand Competition – Feature Film category. This year’s lineup offers a seven-title spread of layered and imaginative works of art, showcasing unforgettable stories as well as technical and artistic diversity.
Grand Competitions – Feature Film 2022:
1970, Tomasz Wolski (Kijora Film / Poland / 2021) — Utilizing historic telephone recordings brought to life with stop-motion animation, Wolski’s documentary unfolds as striking workers in communist Poland protest price increases, while tensions rise in the halls of power and violent repression grows as the revolt intensifies. (Trailer)
Belle, Mamoru Hosoda (Studio Chizu / Japan / 2021) — For years, shy small town high schooler Suzu has only been a shadow of herself. But when she enters “U”, a massive virtual world, she escapes into the online persona of Belle, a globally-beloved singer. The arrival of a mysterious “beast” sets Suzu on an emotional quest to discover her true self in a world where you can be anyone. (Trailer)
Dozens of Norths, Koji Yamamura (Yamamura Animation, Miyu Productions / Japan, France / 2021) — Based on text and illustrations created in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Yamamura’s debut feature is a dialog-free series of vignettes; fragmented memories and meditations on the absurdity and tragedy of human existence, illuminated with pinpoints of hope. (Trailer)
My Sunny Maad, Michaela Pavlátová (Negativ, Sacrebleu Productions, BFILM / Czech Republic, France, Slovakia / 2021) — When Herra, a Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan man, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. (Trailer)
The Crossing, Florence Miailhe (Les Films de l’Arlequin, Balance Film, Maur Film, Xbo Films, ARTE France Cinéma / France, Germany, Czech Republic / 2021) — Evocatively animated in paint, the dramatic journey of two siblings fleeing an unspecified Eastern European country traverses a story about the neverending search for a new home and a better life. (Trailer)
The Timekeepers of Eternity, Aristotelis Maragkos (independent / Greece / 2021) — A Stephen King television movie is compressed and transformed through hypnotic black and white collage animation, meticulously reconstructing and reshaping the supernatural drama to an eerie and profound effect. (Trailer)
Yaya e Lennie – The Walking Liberty, Alessandro Rak (Mad Entertainment; Rai Cinema / Italy / 2022) — As The Institution emerges from the ruins of the world to reinstate order, two free spirits strive to find their place in the world: Yaya, an intelligent if uncouth teenage girl, and Lennie, an eight-foot tall man with a mental handicap. (Trailer)
Animafest Zagreb 2022 will be held June 6-11 in Croatia. animafest.hr
