The World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2024 proudly presents films selected for the Grand Competition – Feature Film. The Festival runs from June 3-8 in Croatia’s capital city.
This year’s feature film contenders, selected by Animafest’s artistic director Daniel Šuljić, offer a thematically and stylistically diverse competition of six films which all present inspiring stories driven by the filmmakers’ passionate intent:
Chicken for Linda! – Sebastien Laudenbach, Chiara Malta (France, Italy / Dolce Vita Film, Miyu Productions, Palosanto Films / 2023)
Paulette feels guilty after unjustly punishing her daughter Linda and would do anything to make it up to her. Linda immediately asks for a meal of chicken with peppers, which reminds her of the dish her father used to make. But with a general strike closing stores all across town and pushing people into the streets, this innocent request quickly leads to an outrageous series of events that spirals out of control, as Paulette does everything she can to keep her promise and find a chicken for Linda.
Pelikan Blue – László Csáki (Hungary / Umbrella Entertainment / 2023)
In the 40 years of socialism only a lucky few living in Hungary had the privilege to travel abroad, especially to the West. In 1989, the Iron Curtain fell, and the borders opened up. But the first free generation of young people did not have enough money to travel to the West. What is the value of freedom if you cannot use it?
Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower – Shojiro Nishimi (Japan / STUDIO4ºC Co. Ltd. / 2023)
Based on Osamu Tezuka’s sci-fi masterpiece manga, Phoenix depicts a woman who lived 1,300 years through the universe. It is an epic tale of love and adventure that follows Romi, who arrives on Eden, a planet far from the Earth. At the end of her journey that transcends time and space, Romi discovers “home.”
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds – Benoît Chieux (France, Belgium / Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five, Le ciel de Paris / 2023)
What happens when you get lost inside your favorite book? Adventure-seeking Juliette and her sister Carmen are faced with this very question when they are dropped off at their neighbor’s house and quite literally drop into Juliette’s favorite fantasy book. Now transformed into humanoid cats, the sisters are quickly separated in this new fantastical land, which features flying divas, technicolor dragons and other mind-melting creations, including the mysterious blue-haired wizard Sirocco, who can control the winds. While Juliette and Carmen have to figure out how to reunite and escape back into the real world, they find it harder than they imagined to leave their new magical world and curious friends.
Sultana’s Dream – Isabel Herguera (Spain, Germany / Abano, Fabian&Fred a.o. / 2023)
Taking its inspiration from a feminist sci-fi short story written by Begum Rokeya in Bengal in 1905, Inés sets out on a voyage of discovery around India in search of Ladyland, the Utopian land of women.
When Adam Changes – Joël Vaudreuil (Canada / Parce Que Films / 2023)
Adam is a 15-year-old teenager who has the strange peculiarity of having a body that changes, depending on the teasing and negative comments he receives from those around him. The accumulation of his physical changes just adds a layer to his already complex life.
