The latest film by Tim Burton and many other surprises in the Animash Section

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Every year, Animash brings a selection of long and short films awarded in festivals across the globe. Besides the 6 feature films, the 2013 section provides 37 short films that viewers can vote upon and the winner will receive the Audience Award, offered by Sony.

Animash starts off with the Franco-Belgian animation Ernest et Célestine, directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner, screened on Friday, October 4, from 19:00 at Patria Cinema, in the presence of co-producer Jean-Paul Commin (Les Armateurs: Kirikou et la sorciere, Kirikou et les betes sauvages, Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes, Les triplettes de Belleville). Selected at Cannes in Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Ernest et Célestine will delight audiences of all ages with the story of an unusual friendship between a young mouse and a bear, awarded the César for Best Animated Feature Film in 2013.

A must-see is certainly Frankenweenie, Tim Burton’s newest film, projected for the first time in Romania. A parody and at the same time a tribute to the 1931 classical horror based on the novel by Mary Shelley, with a character design specific to Burton, the film is a 3D stop-motion remake of the short film with the same name made ​​by the director in 1984, in which the young Victor tries to bring his dog, Sparky, back to life, after he learns in school about electrical impulses in the muscles. Casting Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short, the film was nominated last year for both Oscars and BAFTA Awards.

Ari Folman, known for Waltz with Bashir, released this year at Cannes, in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs opening, his latest film, The Congress, an anti-Hollywood dystopia and a criticism about youth obsession based on Stanisław Lem’s novel Futurological Congress. The animation includes live-action sequences with names like Robin Wright, Paul Giamatti and Harvey Keitel. Nominated for European Film Awards, the film is set in a distant future in which Robin Wright signs a contract with Miramount Studios, and then entitles them to use her digital image in any film, without her participation or consent. The screening will invite Sefi Gayego, movie animation supervisor, animator on Waltz with Bashir and former student of the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel.

Approved for Adoption / Couleur de peau: miel (dir. Laurent Boileau, Jung) follows the story of a Korean orphan adopted by a Belgian family, from his childhood in the orphanage to the time spent in Belgium with the foster family, until his return to Seoul during adulthood with a mix of 2D and 3D animations. The film received numerous awards such as the Grand Prize and Audience Award at Zagreb 2013 or Unicef ​​Award and the Audience Award for Best Screenplay at Annecy in 2012.

From the 2013 Annecy selection comes to Bucharest Afterschool Midnighters by Hitoshi Takekiyo, a computer-generated visual orgyunsuitable for children, in which a skeleton and a human anatomical model come to life, with a few mobster bunnies. Hitoshi Takekiyo founded, in 1997, KOO-KI collective, which collected numerous awards for advertising and graphic sequences. Afterschool Midnighters is based on the short film of the same title, from 2007, bought by the French TV station Canal+.
Do not miss the festival’s selection of short films: Preti / Priests, an animated blasphemy by the Italian Astutillo Smeriglia, selected in Clermont-Ferrand and nominated in Italy for the Italian Film Journalist Union Awards and the David di Donatello Award, which follows the friendship of two slightly homophobic young priests, new from school, Der Notfall / Deja-moo, a surrealist-Kafkaesque nightmare directed by Stefan Müller, in which a mad cow, a hysterical mother and an ambulance break down the protagonist’s idyllic Saturday. The German animation was selected at Anima Mundi Rio de Janeiro and awarded at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.

Hollow Land touches the problem of immigrants seeking place in other countries, following a couple that reach a realm of utopian promises. Michelle and Uri Kranot’s animation that combines stop-motion puppet animation with 2D computer software, was projected at Annecy, out of competition. From France comes the delicious 5 mètres 80 by Nicolas Deveaux, an absurd 3D animation about giraffes that are jumping in a pool, produced by Orange .