Attendees of the 2002 Cinanima Festival were characteristically friendly, but cautious about the future of animation in Portugal. All photos © Cinanima unless otherwise noted.

Zoya Trofimova's film Le Trop Petit Prince won the Grand Prix at the Cinanima International Animated Film Festival 2002, which took place last November in Espinho. This 26th edition of the Portuguese animation festival was a very good-natured affair, with that combination of unpretentiousness and warmth, which has always been the Espinho festival's hallmark. However the mood of Portuguese professionals was rather somber.

The jury had quite a selection of films to judge, screened in seven separate programs, and including many films of a high artistic standard and which made few concessions to the mainstream. A godsend for a jury composed of artists such as Istvan Orosz, Manuel Otero, Joao Paulo Antunes, Jiri Barta and Mark Baker. The general consensus was that this was a vintage selection and the winning films reflected this laudable standard.

The 2002 jury was comprised of (left to right): István Orosz (Hungary); Manuel Otero (France); João Antunes (Portugal/ President of the jury); Jiri Barta (Czech Republic) and Mark Baker (United Kingdom).

An Obvious Grand Prix
With the Grand Prix going to the Folimage production Le Trop Petit Prince, repeating its recent success at the Annecy, Ottawa and Hiroshima festivals, the French studio once again consolidated its now dominant lead in animation festival prizewinner lists. Without detracting from the high quality of films bearing the Folimage logo (and this was a fine one!), the jury's choice probably also reflects a relative shortage of films which dare to take the viewer into truly new territories. In consolation one can tell oneself that in the tide of contemporary TV's general inanity, Trofimova's film provides a real ray of sunshine. These days perhaps that's real audacity. José Miguel Ribeiro was greeted as "local-boy-made-good" and his pre-school series As Coisas Là de Casa (Cartoon Portugal Prize) aroused great hilarity and drew loud applause.