Films include Oscar-nominated ‘Wolfwalkers,’ ‘Archipel’ by Canadian director Félix Dufour-Laperrière, and ‘Elulu’ by Chilean artist Gabriel Verdugo Soto, showcasing an array of styles and techniques.
The 31st World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2021 takes place June 7-12. Since it began in 1972, the festival has focused on creative animation in all forms, from drawings to stop-motion, CGI, and most experimental cross-media explorations. The event is noted internationally for its competitions, retrospectives, presentations, exhibitions, pitching forums, lectures, awards, panoramas, and workshops.
Six independent feature films have been selection in competition, from an international line-up of artists employing an array of distinct animation techniques. The Grand Competition Feature Film selections include:
Wolfwalkers – directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart (Ireland)
- A young English girl named Robyn Goodfellowe escapes Kilkenny, the Irish town to which she has been brought by her father, in order to explore the wonders of the surrounding forest. In doing so, she turns her back on the world of human beings and opens herself to the world of wolves.
Archipel / Archipelago – directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada)
- Archipel is a true animated film about invented islands. About an imaginary, linguistic, political territory. About a real or dreamed country, or something in between. It is a film made of drawings and speeches. It speaks and dreams of a place and its inhabitants, to speak and dream a little about our world and times.
The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks – directed by Andrey Khrzhanovsky (Russia)
- The film is an adaptation of Dmitry Shostakovich’s avant-garde opera based on the works of Gogol and other classics. It takes place during Stalin's reign of terror in Russia during the first half of the 20th century.
Cryptozoo – directed by Dash Shaw (U.S.)
- The film follows the struggle of a cryptozookeeper’s attempt to capture a baku (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature). They begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a zoo, or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown.
Elulu – directed by Gabriel Verdugo Soto (Chile)
- A scientist/painter returns to his childhood home after the loss of his mother. While trying to find peace, he discovers a caterpillar with superpowers has also occupied the house, on a quest of its own. Eventually the two meet - after a battle, the links between the two are revealed.
Zabij To I Wyjedz Z Tego Miasta / Kill It and Leave This Town – directed by Mariusz Wilczyński (Poland)
- A hero who flees in despair after losing those dearest to him hides in a safe land of memories, where time stands still and all those dear to him are alive. Over the years, a city grows in his imagination. One day, literary heroes and cartoon childhood idols, who in the consciousness of the successive generations are forever young come to live there, uninvited. When our hero discovers they have all grown old and that eternal youth does not exist, he decides to return to real life. And the amazing characters living in his imagination lead him back to the real world.
Additional information is available on the event website.
Source: Animafest Zagreb 2021
