The 2022 Bucheon International Animation Festival (biaf.or.kr) has slated 11 animated feature films for this year’s competition, once again expanding the category which has grown year-on-year. BIAF2022 will be held October 21-25 in the South Korean city.
This year’s picks hail from multiple continents, with Japan and France being most represented, each with three films produced or co-produced in these countries.
BIAF2022 Feature Competition
Little Nicholas–Happy as Can Be
Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre | France/Luxembourg
Somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny lean over a large white sheet of paper and bring to life a mischievous and endearing boy, Little Nicolas. From schoolyard games and fights, to summer camp pranks and camaraderie, Nicolas lives a merry and enriching childhood. (Trailer)
The Deer King
Masashi Ando & Masayuki Miyaji | Japan
In the aftermath of a brutal war, former soldier Van toils in a mine controlled by the ruling empire. One day, his solitary existence is upended when a pack of wild dogs carrying a deadly and incurable disease attack, leaving only Van and a young girl named Yuna as survivors. Finally free, the pair seek out a simple existence in the countryside but are pursued by nefarious forces. Intent on protecting Yuna at all costs, Van must uncover the true cause of the plague ravaging the kingdom—and its possible cure. (Read More | Trailer)
Dozens of Norths
Koji Yamamura | Japan/France
Dozens of Norths is the first feature film by Yamamura, an Oscar-nominated indie animator and picture book author. The film is a hand-drawn journey that proves the beauty of movement as the director seeks to recapture fragmented memories in the wake of the 2011 earthquake. (Trailer)
My Love Affair with Marriage
Signe Baumane | Latvia/U.S.A./Luxembourg
From an early age, songs and fairytales convince Zelma that Love would solve all her problems as long as she abides by societal expectations of how a girl should act. But as she grows older something doesn’t seem right with this concept of love: the more she tries to conform, the more her body resists. A story of inner-female rebellion. (Read More | Trailer)
Mother Land
Jaebeom Park | South Korea
A precocious girl, Krisha is a descendant of the Yates, the nomad tribe of the tundra. To save her sick mother, she heeds the words of a Shaman and sets off to the edge of this frozen world in search of a red bear; but a Russian army captain and a notorious hunter are also on the creature’s trail. (Trailer)
Nayola
José Miguel Ribeiro | Portugal/Belgium/The Netherlands/France
Nayola follows three generations of women’s experiences, affected by the civil war in Angola. The former Portuguese colony won freedom in 1975, but only after a brutal, 25-year-long conflict fueled by the Cold War. At the height of the war, Nayola goes in search of her missing husband. Decades later, she has still not returned, and her daughter has grown into a rebellious teen and subversive rapper, which make her grandmother fear retribution by police. (Trailer)
No Dogs or Italians Allowed
Alain Ughetto | France/Switzerland/Italy/Belgium/Portugal
In the early 20th century, a young man named Luigi leaves his home in Ughettera, Italy, crossing the Alps into France where he falls in love and founds a new family. Ughetto crafts this authentic piece of family lore with his own hands, bringing his grandfather’s story to life. (Trailer)
Quantum Cowboys
Geoff Marslett | U.S.A..
Quantum Cowboys posits that all humans and animals have their own universes based on their own memories and history. In Arizona in the 1870s, hapless cowboys Frank and Bruno hit the road with a savvy girl named Lind to find a mysterious musician. As they encounter various people through small towns, bars and deserts, the images of each individual universe spinning through time and space join the existential chaos.
Perlimps
Alê Abreu | Brazil
Just like Abreu’s previous work, such as The Boy and the World (2013), Perlimps recreates a fairytale-like appearance on the screen with beautiful colors and the stylized illustration of the film’s enchanted forest setting, where Claé and Bruô, secret agents from enemy Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon, must overcome their differences and combine forces to find the ‘Perlimps’ and save their land. (Read More | Trailer)
Silver Bird and Rainbow Fish
Lei Lei | China/U.S.A./The Netherlands
The chaotic history of Chinese family is retold in a bold visual world of propaganda images, surrealist collage and pop-art animation, travelling between dream and reality. Loss and struggle are retold in five chapters from young Jiaqi’s point of view, just like walking through a photo album. (Trailer)
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
Tomohisa Taguchi | Japan
Kaoru Tono heard a rumor: The laws of space and time mean nothing to the Urashima Tunnel. If you find it, walking through, you’ll find your heart’s desire on the other side…in exchange for years of your own life. Determined to bring back his dead younger sister, Kaoru finds the passage. But when he returns to explore it, he finds he has been followed by the mysterious new girl in his class, Azu. Based on the sci-fi/romance light novel by Mei Hachimoku and illustrated by Kukka. (Trailer)
