This year ‘s Anim’est edition, the Swiss animation is among the guests of honor! After the variety of last year’s German films, the festival releases a new tempting invitation this year: Animated Switzerland. In addition to a selection of important titles presented in the section Guest Country and a series of student animations from the famous school HSLU – Hochschule Luzern, the audience will enjoy a special screening of the film Max & Co, in the presence of directors Frédéric și Samuel Guillaume.
The Swiss prospect includes screenings dedicated to well established names of Swiss animation, and the most promising new-generation animators. Some of the films include L’homme sans ombre (Georges Schwizgebel, 2004), based on a story by Adelbert von Chamisso, inspired by Faust , Nosferatu Tango (Zoltan Horvath, 2002) or Le Carré de Lumière (Claude Luyet, 1992), but also the more recent The Little Bird And The Leaf (Lena von Döhren, 2012), selected in Animafest Zagreb and Berlinale Generation and nominated for the Swiss Film Award 2013, or Not About Us (Michael Frei, 2012), winner at the Melbourne International Animation Festival, Tallinn and ANIFEST Teplice and projected at Annecy .
A highlight of the Swiss program at Anim’est is certainly Max & Co. The stop motion animation presented during the 2008 Anim’est, tells the story of Max, a 15 year old boy who goes into the wide world in search of his father, the famous troubadour Jonny Bigoude. The animation received the Audience Award at 2007 Annecy and is currently considered the most expensive Swiss production .
The film directors, Frédéric and Samuel Guillaume, will be present at both the projection and within a masterclass. Moreover, 10 young animation enthusiasts are expected at a two-day pixilation workshop, held by the two Swiss directors. More details on the masterclass and workshop will be available soon.
The guest school, Hochschule Luzern (University of Applied Sciences and Arts from Lucerne), brings to Bucharest a selection of its students’ best productions, including Animal Kingdom (Nils Hedinger, 2010), from the 2010 Anim’est competition, Signalis (Adrian Flückiger, 2008), Bon Voyage (Fabio Friedli, 2011) or La Fênetre (Camille Müller, 2012). Moreover, dean Otto Adler will be one of the festival’s guests at 2013 Anim’est. Adler was, for thirteen years, the director of the animation program within Leipzig Film Festival and he is a co-founder of Fantoche International Animation Festival and founder of the animation section of the Black Nights Film Festival Tallin. His films include Maderanertal (2009), Papirossy (2007), Architektouren (1993) and The Death Of Dark Animation In Europe (1992).
The Animated Switzerland program was possible with the support of Swiss Film and the Swiss Embassy in Bucharest.
